Crack in drywall at corner of door

[Les]

I had a crack develop on an interior wall at the upper corner of a doorway. I cut out a piece of drywall about 3 feet wide and 2 feet high and replaced it. The piece is 'L' shaped so that there isn't a joint extending up or horizontally from the corner of the doorway. I was careful to make a clean corner on the inside corner of the drywall before installing the replacement piece. After several months, another crack appeared at the corner of the doorway in my replacement piece. The joints at the top and bottom of the patch are opening up as well. I used paper tape and premixed mud. Both sides of the wall have the same kind of crack. The house is around 15 years old. The crack seems to open and close over extended periods of time (months). Not sure if it's seasonal or what.

What can I do to prevent this from happening again (after I repair the corner again)?

One thought I had was to glue and screw some 2x2's on the studs so that I can glue and screw plywood flush with the existing studs. Then cover with drywall as usual.

[RayV]

Caulk (latex painter's) the crack and paint over it.

[BobK207]

Caulk (latex painter's) the crack and paint over it.

Yup!

I'd polyseamseal caulk really good stuff., work in down into the crack with your finger so you have some volume there.

If the structure is moving (slightly) drywall will have a very hard time since it is neither strong nor very flexible (in plane)

cheers Bob

cheers Bob

[Les]

I caulked it with siliconized acrylic caulk. The joint closed up and squeezed the caulk out (months after the caulk dried/cured), leaving a ridge about 1/32" tall along the crack. So this seems to be a no-go solution.

[Muff]

Better check to see if you have some settling of the house sounds like a bit of jacking and shimming might be needed before the door is unable to close. Putting a bandade on it will not fix it from cracking again. Muff

[mm]

It seems good to me. Take a single edged razor blade in a putty knife style holder and slice off the caulk if it is sticking out. If it closes up more, do it again. If it opens up again, put in more caulk. If the surface is not white like the caulk, paint with latex paint. My experience is that touch-ups of latex paint by the same paint can't be seen, even a couple hours after the new paint is applied.

There is no way sheetrock, no matter how well applied, will stop the house from moving around. Moving around might be a problemm but not so likely if it moves one way sometimes and back the other way other times.

[Frank K.]

I have the exact same problem at the doorway to the bathroom in the master bedroom. The door is within six inches of the outside wall. The crack widens and narrows with the season. I put a lolly column under the wall about five years ago, but it hasn't made a difference. The crack is on both sides of the doorway and goes up at about a 30 degree slope toward the center of the wall. I'm thinking there is a problem with the studs adjacent to the doorway, but haven't opened it up to look. I have it on my list of things to do when I remodel the bathroom.

Let me know if you find the problem.

Frank

[BobK207]

If the sub-structure is moving (seasonaly); crack opening & closing......short of fixting it with the seasons (filling when open & triming when closed) there is not much that can be done

No sheet rock, plywood, glue or fastening will stop the house from moving

That said, here's a fix that might work for the OP.

If you sheath over the affected area just nail the plywood at it's perimeter..... you might be able to "spread" the crack width's movement over a longer distance. A flexible system moves, a stiff/brttle one cracks.

that is, get the whole area to expand & crontract slightly ragther than taking all the movement over the crack width.

Or just learn to live with a caulk ridge or valley....your preference.

cheers Bob