A friend and I were discussing a crack in her family room ceiling tonight, as we drank some wine and looked at it. It goes all the way across and lines up with the door from the foyer, so you see it as soon as you walk into the room. The house is 3 years old, and the builder ‘repaired’ the crack twice, only to have it reappear in a few weeks. She’s given up on the builder. I think she needs to put fiberglass tape along the length of the crack, finish it with joint compound, and sanding, etc. Leave it sit for a few weeks before she primes and paints, and watch it. I figure there’s some settling going on and the fiberglass will flex. She thinks she can fix it with paper tape and some pink spackle stuff she likes that turns white when its dry. Does anyone know the best way to permanently fix a reoccurring ceiling crack in a young house? She’s not crazy about the prospect of ceiling tiles.
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Welcome to BT.
Is the crack along the tapered edge of the sheetrock?
Trusses if first floor? or two story.
At the location of an engineered beam?
Opens up seasonally?
If you do use fibreglass tape, first coat with regular Durabond, finish with bucket mud. You should also consider screwing the sheets both sides of the crack to the framing b/4 you start mudding.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Framing probably was to green before the board went up, or could be joist uplift. Calvin is on the track.
In my experience, fiberglass always cracks. With the moisture content being fairly consistent with the air, paper, mud and framing, they should expand and contract together.
If its way up, good flexible caulk may be the trick. Knife it into the joint then paint. I would not recommend that on most applications, only with serious behavioral problem children.
-zen
Before I repaired the crack, I'd wanna know WHY it was happening.
If it's been fixed twice and is still opening up, fixing it again probably won't last.
If the crack runs parallel with the joists, then its because the drywaller did not stagger the joints. Take out 4' of each on both sides of the crack and install a full 8' one.
Thanks all. Since I don't know the answer to these questions, I've e-mailed your replies to my friend for the answers, and invited her to join this discussion. I didn't realize it was so complicated, but my husband and I have renovated 4 old houses, and I know ceiling cracks can be real buggers to fix permanently.