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Q. I hope you have some ideas on what I can do. I have a crack in an interior wall that is drywall. Seems to me it is likely due to settling of the house over the years. The crack runs about 12 inches horizontally from a window frame to the corner of the room, maybe 7 feet off the floor. Then the crack turns up that corner and runs another foot plus to the ceiling. I can't be sure but it looks like the crack then turns at the ceiling and runs a short distance along the seam between the ceiling and the wall adjacent to the window. I have tried trimming the crack and filling with spackle, but that doesn't seem to last. So, any ideas?
A. Pesky recurring drywall splits and cracks such as the one you describe are the bane of many homeowner’s existence. They tend to occur at the seams between the sheets of drywall and at edges and transitions such as walls and ceilings as you describe.
The cause, although it looks like what we call common settlement, is more likely shrinkage of lumber as the frame responds to normal atmospheric humidity levels. Generally they show up right around the time a house is about a year old and the all the new lumber has had time to dry down to between about six to eight percent moisture content by weight. The lumber was about ten percent wetter when it was framed new and the loss of the ten percent due to drying results in a slight dimension change. All of a sudden corner bead becomes visible and seams between sheets of drywall especially in large center halls bulge slightly, nails pop on walls and homeowners pull out their hair.
I normally recommend that folks wait until they are getting ready to repaint before addressing them-- a process known as pointing up the drywall. Hiring the services of a professional drywall finisher will usually result in a top notch result. Many profe ssional painters are good drywall pointers so asking around should result in positive results.
But as you say this crack tends to return after your efforts and you are wanting to do the job yourself because in the scheme of things the job is too small to hire out, let me give you a few pointers.
Try to determine if the crack is in fact at a seam. If so you'll want to replace the paper tape that may have failed with the yellow fiberglass mesh type drywall tape. It’s self sticking and after you’ve cleaned the crack out well and applied the tape build the drywall compound up over it feathering it out eight to ten inches on either side of the tape. The trick here is to use as wide a drywall finishing knife as you can find. Most amateurs will use a four or six inch drywall knife and the repair will look worse in the end than the crack did.
Use sweeping strokes and don’t try to be perfect with the first couple of coats. Sand with #100 grit drywall sandpaper between coats. As a quality control measure take a strong light and holding it close to the wall surface have the beam of light wash across the work. That is a humbling experience for novice drywall workers as it will expose any minute imperfection in stark contrast. Don’t despair, just use what you see as a guide to try to do better. In the drywall world the standard is if you cant see a blemish under normal light standing six feet away then the job is acceptable. Becomming proficient at drywall finishing is an acquired skill-- no one is born with it.
Completely rebuilding the joint with the new tape should help. For smaller pesky cracks I have had success carefully using an elastomeric paintable caulk on the crack. It will have a tendency to move before it cracks and fails opening up a crack. I use a white tub and tile caulk that is water soluble until it sets up and I tool it smooth with a wet finger. A low tech approach but you’d be surprised how well it works.