Hey all, got a question about drywall movement and crack repair.
We worked on a 2-story brick home that had a nasty crack in the brick work outside. A foundation/piering company made the repairs to the foundation and outside of the house and we were responsible for the inside repairs. In addition to external work, the foundation guys also used a 3/4″ all-thread and ran it through the upstairs floor joists into the structure about 12 feet, blocking between the joists, putting nuts.washers against the joists to further support their external repairs.
The problem is this. After 3 weeks, our repair of a “butt” joint seam in the ceiling cracked after 3 weeks. We repaired it again, both times using fiber/mesh tape, and 90 minute hot-patch. It has failed again. Is this a function of the daily heat/cool cycle of the building, working on a newly created weak point in my ceiling?
I have seen an “elastomeric sealant” sold at Sherwin Wiliams that claims it will hold up to a 70% joint movement. Has anyone used something like this, and could I cut an inverted “V” in the ceiling joint, squeeze that stuff or something like it in there? The ceiling has a sand finish on it.
Any suggestions? I’m all ears, call me Ross Perot…
Thanks,
Tom
Replies
I dont necessarily have a solution, but do you have trusses up top or rafters.
It could be truss movement.
We had similar repair once. Patched a whole ceiling including corners. They were good till the next season change.
It's rafters. The foundation guys drilled a 3/4 inch all thread through the joists, bolted them together and screwed them tight to hold the outside brick wall in place.
After structural repairs it can take up to a year for a full cycling of seasons to get a house settled back in.but every case where I've ever seen SR joint cracking was where mesh tape had been used.
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What do you suggest in the meantime? Have you had any experience with these paintable silicone/latex caulk hybrids? Should I use this stuff, or just tell this homeowner they may well see this cracking thing for a while, while the house settles into its new position? It actually makes sens to me that this thing would crack after the repair is complete. The foundation guys put some obscene stress on this house to move things back into their places.
Re-screw the boards on either side of the crack, use paper tape and Durabond for the first two coats.
The awful thing is that beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the heart of man.- Fyodor Dostoyevski
Put a new drywall ceiling up, stagger the joints from the old ceiling. Should be good to go with that.
Second what MarkH said. Put another layer on staggering the joints. You could use some glue too.
I doubt that would crack.
With the 3/4" thread and blocking on the joists, it made the ceiling stronger and less prone to twisting. I gather you put the butt joint on the joist and not inbetween the joists with backblocking. Get rid of the mesh tape..it's garbage. As someone mentioned, use DuraBond on the first two coats, wet the paper tape before you use it. If that fails again, wait a year and then repair it or cut the rock back to inbetween the joists, get some 7/16" OSB, 6 inches wide and use that as the backblocker for the two new butt joints inbetween the joists. Use adhesive, preferably drywall glue, on the OSB backblocker and the new butt joints..that will never fail. Use drywall screws in two rows down the butt joint, one row an inch from the end of the drywall and another row 5" spaced every 4" without glue, and 7" with glue.
It's the mesh tape you used.
I've seen and patched so many butt joints with paper tape crack. Did a senior citizens center about 6 years ago, on the 2nd floor ceiling trusses, about 250 of them cracked, then I started to think about this problem and I know I solved it with backblocking and made a tool for flat butt joints..never had a problem since then.Trust me on this ..I know what I'm talking about here...just remember I was the ONLY one here who picked the Giants over the Patsies and gave the reasons for it..ask Mikie Smith :-) Even the Giant fans here were just hoping to beat the points!
Edited 7/10/2008 8:22 pm ET by Zano
I would remove the necessary rock and put the butt seam somewhere else.
Mike
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