I have an open concept split that shifted when the soil dried too much a few years ago, the result was a nasty crack in the ceiling drywall. It would be a relatively easy fix if the darn thing wasn’;t covered in that popcorn finish that seemed to be the rage in the 70’s. One side of the drywall has dropped about an inch and needs to be ‘rescrewed” to the joist so there will be some screw penetrations,
To add to the PIA factor this is in the main entrance to the house so every eye is drawn to it; the reapir must either be invisible or desinged to camoflag the repair.
I thought about boxing it in with 2×4 on the wide edge (possibly with 1 1/2″ ridgid styrofoam inside (R 7.5) the box just to fill it with something useful and add R value while I was at it) The crack starts 1/2 way from the far wall over the door to the basement extending to end at the wood beam.
I am afraid that approach will look like a bandaid and I want to either hide the repair entirely 😉 or disguise it so it looks lie it “supposed” to be there.
Any thoughts?
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I've never seen a popcorn repair that didn't look repaired. I'd scrape the entire entry, make the drywall repairs and either apply a trowel texture or spray new popcorn in that area. A patch always looks like a patch.
Yeah, we've got a couple of cracks like that, though not quite as bad. I've been putting off working on them for at least 5 years, and now with this bum arm I can probably convince my wife that I can't fix it.
But luckily you don't appear to have true popcorn but rather a course sand finish. You can scrape/sand it flat, make the repair, and then re-coat with the appropriate grit mixed with paint. (Apply with a roller -- it takes 3-4 coats.) I know this because that's what I did when I fixed up the downstairs bathroom -- turned out well enough that I can't even make out the edge of the repaired area.