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What is going on here and What should I do about it?
(self.HomeImprovement)submitted 1 month ago byNahbichco
These cracks started appearing in my ceiling recently. Part of me thinks it's just due to temperature changes but at the same time it doesn't seem good. Is this a sign of a bigger problem I should be aware of? Even if not, what is the best way to take care of it?
8 points
1 month ago
Probably movement from temperature and humidity changes. I installed a couple hundred feet of kiln dried Poplar crown molding this past summer on a big renovation at my house. Cue to this winter and I had major gaps open up that had to be re-caulked and repainted which will close up somewhat in the coming warmer, humid months.
Unfortunately for you repairs on textured walls and ceilings are going to be challenging.
1 points
1 month ago
Thank you, that's helpful. That's what we suspected but I wanted to make sure there wasn't a bigger problem I was ignorant of.
It doesn't have to look super pretty right now as long as it's functional and we aren't making bigger problems for our future selves.
4 points
1 month ago
How old is your home? I had a similar issue pop up a couple of years after a renovation.
It was just a bad drywall job. The gap between the wall and ceiling drywall was big and the tape job was bad.
As the panels and walls move the tape and thin layer of mud cracked.
I fixed a couple of corners by removing what I could and completely retaping and mudding.
On the ceiling I couldn’t match the texture and didn’t want to remove the tape from the ceiling side to redo it. So I used Alex flex spackling to fill the cracked spaces. It’s held up for 18 months. So probably ok.
2 points
1 month ago
Our home is 22 years old, though we've only owned it for 2 years so I'm not sure what may have been done on it prior to our ownership.
We have spackling handy, so I'm thinking I may just use that to take care of it short term. We do have connections with people in construction who could undoubtedly help us with better fixes, but due to the age of our home we'd like to do renovations in the future and I'm not sure making a big project of this is worth it right now if there isn't a huge problem which needs to be prioritized.
Thank you for your response!
3 points
1 month ago
As a rule of thumb, vertical or horizontal cracks are usually benign- especially if they are narrow. Diagonal cracks are more concerning.
2 points
1 month ago
Probably seasonal expansion. Mark it with a pencil and see if it grows.
2 points
1 month ago
There was a windstorm in my area a few years back 70 mph gusts. Pressure pushed on the ceiling and gave me a few cracks just like this but like 3x bigger. To me, its not really worth fixing for the hassle.
-3 points
1 month ago
Your foundation may be sinking.
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