Crack repair in drywall

[DerbyDad03]

ome structural work done in this area before I owned the house. We think th ere had once been a wall between the living room and the kitchen that wall was removed, and if so it would have stood right about there.

Holy crap!

I couldn't view the picture until I got home, so I was just reading the res ponses about retaping, replacing corner bead, etc.

Then I get home and click the link to the pictures, fully expecting to see some minor drywall damage, a few hours of work, etc. But holy crap, that's not just a seam repair.

In the second picture you can see a horizontal crack that runs behind the c urtain. I'll bet dollars to donuts that if you pull the curtain back you'll that the crack s tarts at the top of the rough opening of the window.

There is definitely some structural issue going on. Something settled and m ay be continuing to settle.

[Eagle]

The only way to know is by inspecting the framing. The driwall moved, so replacing the tape and joint compound won't fix the framing, if that is the problem.

[Doug Miller]

[e-mail] wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I doubt your pot rack did that. Looks more like foundation movement to me, and if it were my house, I think I might want a structural engineer to have a look. There's a LOT more going on there than just "a crack in the drywall".

[Doug Miller]

"TomR" wrote in news:na85n3$kgj$ [e-mail]:

Because removing a non-load-bearing wall wouldn't produce damage that extensive.

[Eagle]

He did say driwall, so it would be bast to ask Him if it's driwall or plaster. We both agree the framing is most likely the problem, so patching the tape and compound is just covering the reason for the cracks. All we can do is judge what those two pictures show, and to Me, the framing is the cause of those cracks.

[FrozenNorth]

I am actually going to agree with you, just this once. :-) That is way more than a crack, serious structural problem going on, get a professional opinion, a band aid will not fix that long term.

[Dan Espen]

I think you've hit the bulls eye.

The crack looks like load bearing wall was removed. The ceiling and wall are moving.

[clare]

Don't KNOW it was load bearing, but looking at the damage it is very consistent with poor structural integrety - and hearing there used to be a wall there it all just makes sense. Also what little was shown in the picture of the surrounding building features

[TimR]

I looked at the photo again on a better monitor and I see a lot of cracking I missed the first time.

This one is begging for somebody who knows what they are doing to look at it in person. I think a significant structural issue is possible.

The pattern of cracks looks like it may be following a block wall? Too much unknown here.

[TimR]

PS I think the wall is moving because it wasn't a bearing wall, it was a shear wall. Somebody took a look, determined it wasn't bearing, and thought it could come out, not realizing there are other forces a wall may be resisting.

[Paintedcow]

I once lived in a house that was added on to. The addition was built on concrete blocks that aooarently was not put below the frost line. Every year the two corners of the room cracked, and a spot under a window mid-wall. After patching it at least 5 times, I bought some quarter round molding for all 4 corners, and some flat trim which was about 1/4" thick and 1 1/4" wide. I nailed them over the cracks and painted them to match the walls. Those cracks could shift all they want, becuse they were covered by that trim. Some people would not accept this "Fix" but I just got tired of patching it, and knowing it would crack again.....

[Mayayana]

Is that a skylight shaft above? It looks like there was faulty construction building that. Hard to know not seeing the site. But it's possible you can make a permanent fix. Scrape off what's sticking up and loose. Then use fiberglass mesh tape to span the crack. Then use Durabond 90 as a first coat. It's like flexible plaster of paris. Very hard. Then finish with joint compound and sand it or sponge it.

It doesn't work as well to use normal joint compound for all layers because it has no strength. It's not much more than a chalk deposit. Spackle is similar. The newer lightweight spackle is pretty good, but it's still not made for strength. It will usually re-crack over time. The joint tape acts like rebars in concrete and won't re-crack in most situations.

[Eagle]

Oh shit, the world is coming to an end! :')

I'd like to see the framing exposed and see if all this guessing has merit. Maybe He will post a few shots with the gypsum removed?

[Eagle]

I wonder if waterproof paint on the exposed block would prevent moisture getting into those blocks and causing the cracks....

[clare]

My youngest brother once bought a small farm with a rather "ramshackle" house on it. The foundations and floors were not level and it was drafty as a barn when he bought it. He did some repairs and modifications to make it "liveable". There was an early addition on the hose that was more or less level and square. One day while he was on the road and his wife was gone into town for shopping, the house burned down. There was enough left for the fire marshall to determine the fire was caused by an electrical cable running between the old house and the addition which had been worn through thy the shifting between the two parts of the structure over the years. It chose that day to light the place.

[TomR]

Maybe, maybe not -- IMHO.

[TomR]

Ok, got it. I can't tell for sure either way from the photos.

It looks like the right side of the photo shows a sloped ceiling that maybe goes up to a skylight or is just a cathedral ceiling in that area. And, maybe, what was removed was only a wall that came out a few feet and maybe it did support that part of the ceiling. Going across the whole ceiling, I didn't see any evidence that the ceiling joists were going across the photo. If they were, I think maybe there would be evidence of a crack on the whole ceiling where all of the ceiling joists going across were not tied in to a header.

But, it's all just guesswork without more info from the OP. That is one reason why I suggested that the OP remove some of the plaster along the ceiling crack(s) and take a few more photos to post here. Maybe that would show some of the underlying structure.

[DerbyDad03]

The vertical and then horizontal crack that heads over towards (or emanates from) the window concerns me also. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'll bet dollars to donuts that if he pulls the curtain back we'll see that the crack starts at the top of the rough opening of the window.

Assuming there is a proper header above that window, it's quite possible that everything to the left of the ceiling cracks, including the wall, have settled.

[Paintedcow]

I guess I was not clear. The cracks were not in the blocks. The walls were drywall over studs. I mentioned the blocks meaning the foundation was not adaquate and that part of the building shifted. It was an old farmhouse, and this is common on old buildings, which were sometimes built on nothing but a "footing" of some rocks and mortar built right on the soil surface.

I think thats why they used wallpaper so much in the "old days". It covered the cracks in the plaster!

[strangways]

hi.. im the OP Yes the sloping ceiling goes up to a cathedral ceiling in the living room. I'll take a look for a local professional. But in the meantime, for anyone interested i'll post more picture, what do you want to see?