Question regarding cracks in new drywall

[DrB2319]

Live in NEO.

Just finished the inside of the garage this past July. 1/2" on walls, 5/8" on ceiling.

Early October noticed a crack in the finished ceiling, from front to back of garage, 23'. Yesterday noticed a crack in the back wall, from top to bottom. Both cracks straight as an arrow and are on the drywall seams. I know cracks do happen but I want to know why, and why right now?

Entire garage and pad is new, from late 2011. Here's the background on the pad

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=114994

That had been resolved. Got a real concrete guy to come in and knock off the curbs of the old new (horribly done) pad and simply poured a new pad over that one, just went a hair wider etc to overlap the existing pad. The new new pad turned out really great, pitch correct, finish very nice, saw cuts, perfect curbs etc. Honestly with everything we went through with this pad I now have could handle a tank parked in there.

So my thought is the drywall cracks are not due to any settling issues as this pad has already gone through a complete year of seasonal changes, and there is not one single crack on the floor. Temp changes, lumber drying out, materials settling? Don't laugh I even checked for seismic activity in the region just b/c, you never know right?

I'm at a loss for why and why now, my carpenter does nice work and hasn't really came up with an explanation he is sold on either. I'm not pissed, just disappointed as we all want things to look as good as possible and I've started putting up gladiator storage on walls and decorating if you will.

Thoughts?

 

[luvit]

hey, i can't answer your question, but i have an awesome permanent cover-up if you have a textured ceiling.. let me know.

got some pics?

.

 

[Tim The Tool Man]

Heat and cold = expansion & contraction. This is very common in garage ceiling drywall. The attic area can get quite hot in the summer, then add a little moisture and all of a sudden the joists all start to expand. Then along comes winter and fall and everything shrinks.

This could have been minimized (probably not eliminated) had your drywall sheets been staggered like bricks when installed.

Unfortunately there is not much you do to repair it (short of adding a new layer of staggered drywall over the existing surface). It will just reappear next season if you re-tape and mud it. I would just seal the cracks with a decent latex caulk (if they are wide crevices) and then paint the whole ceiling flat white and live with it.

 

[LSU]

I think you have a change of seasons issue.

If you want to, I might suggest you float and tape it with some fiberglass sheetrock tape (I find it "gives more") with constant change in temp.

If you're going to float and tape, you might want to consider adding some screws and floating them also.

You've got a bit of a mess but I think if you let it settle a while and redo the floating and taping you'll make progress.

You might also want to consider the texture you use as some hide cracks better than others.

 

[camarotoolman]

Mud used for taping was to dry. The lumberis drying out, shrinking, twisting etc. I don't think it has anything to do with the slab. There is a dry wall foreum, you might ask there. Quick fix is use latex chalking

 

[retrobuilder]

I'd take a taping knife or puddy knife and scribe a gouge line in the cracks. Then use a mesh poly sheet rock tape and retape them and "mud" wider. or rent a Porter Cable sheet rock sander to remove most of the mudding surface at seams. With colder weather avoid trying to over heat space to dry the compound...will be more likely to crack.

Bead board cover would look good too!

 

[joaquin12345]

A couple of questions I have, where the sheets staggered like the picture that was posted above? Did they use screws or nails. If the sheets are staggered then it sounds like you do have some leveling of the home. And what I would personally do is either live with the crack for a few more months to see if it gets any bigger and then repair it. If your going to do the work yourself you can always tape and float the crack and redo it later if it cracks again. Tape and joint compound are cheap anyways. The only thing is that your going to have to make sure the sheets are attached really good. I would use screws especially if previous install used nails. I redid a living room where the ceiling had cracked about 25 feet, the crack was about 1/2 inch. After I started looking I noticed for some reason the sheets where all loose right down the middle of the crack on either side. I screwed everything back together, then taped everything xtra good, floated it, and 6yrs later still no crack.

 

[DrB2319]

A couple of questions I have, where the sheets staggered like the picture that was posted above? Did they use screws or nails. If the sheets are staggered then it sounds like you do have some leveling of the home. And what I would personally do is either live with the crack for a few more months to see if it gets any bigger and then repair it. If your going to do the work yourself you can always tape and float the crack and redo it later if it cracks again. Tape and joint compound are cheap anyways. The only thing is that your going to have to make sure the sheets are attached really good. I would use screws especially if previous install used nails. I redid a living room where the ceiling had cracked about 25 feet, the crack was about 1/2 inch. After I started looking I noticed for some reason the sheets where all loose right down the middle of the crack on either side. I screwed everything back together, then taped everything xtra good, floated it, and 6yrs later still no crack.

To me it doesn't look like the drywall sheets were staggered (IMO a pretty hacky thing for a good carpenter), and the crack is not very wide or deep on the wall. The crack on the ceiling is deeper and wider. I was told the ceiling crack might be from the heavier 5/8" sheets settling or maybe not being quite tight enough. IIRC all sheets in entire garage were screwed in.

 

[Herb]

You might fight this problem forever, sorry. Maybe use something like one of these...http://www.hamiltonnw.com/AP_TrimTexExpansionJointsRevealBeads.asp...to replace the ceiling joint that is cracking, maybe the wall, too.

 

[Jakkle5]

If he didn't stagger the seams, that's your problem. Expect the rest of your seams to do close to the same. The crack found the weakest spot and now it will find the rest. If you don't stagger the seams you're not tying the entire wall together, only that 4-8ft section of wall.

 

[cgall]

My Dad had several problem areas that kept cracking year-to-year, we used bondo on the cracks and had good success.

 

[gnxtc2]

Get rid of the drywall and install a metal ceiling. Maintainence free.

Billy T.
[email protected]

 

[retrobuilder]

That is a great setup, water resistant, mold resistant with great lighting too?

 

[Outlawmws]

Silly question, but did the dry wall guy actually USE tape on the seams?

 

[Outlander]

Most of my lake house is wood - knotty pine. The bedroom is gyproc, and of course is cracked. House shifts daily as it heats and cools. City place is the same, although in particular places - only certain rooms. I will try the latex caulk on my trouble spots to see if that prevents yearly rework.

Cheers.

 

[Tim The Tool Man]

Most of my lake house is wood - knotty pine. The bedroom is gyproc, and of course is cracked. House shifts daily as it heats and cools. City place is the same, although in particular places - only certain rooms. I will try the latex caulk on my trouble spots to see if that prevents yearly rework.

Cheers.

Use a very good quality (= expensive) latex caulk, not silicone or silicone modified unless it is paintable. I have had luck with running a damp tapping knife (flexible scrapper type blade) over fresh caulk. Gives a decent finish which is almost invisible once painted.

 

[Big-Foot]

A few things -

Your foundation / Slab will likely not quit settling in your lifetime. I had a 24x24 slab in my garage that was over 50 years old. It was 10" thick on the footers and 6-8" thick across the surface. It was spalling badly. So badly it was painful to walk on. And it had a few cracks. I consulted a concrete contractor that told me that they could saw-cut and bust out the center and re-pour the slab for 6k, or they could cap it with 2-3" of 4000 PSI along with secured rebar for 2k and it would be fine. We did the cap. Guess what. 3 months later, the cracks that were in the base telegraphed into the cap.. And worse. More cracking through the sides of the slab to the outside. So while the original slab had slowed in the settling process, it now had the weight of the cap on it which made it start moving a lot more.

Cracks in sheetrock joints - agree with what some of the others are saying about staggering. I don't use paper tape anymore as I find that the fiberglass mesh just works better in the long haul for areas where temp/moisture differences can be on either side of the joint. Bathrooms this is a BIG deal. Garages where it may be heated or not, AC or not - you get the picture..

Joint compound - a lot of guys will try to rush the joint by cutting the number of fill steps. You do that and you get cracks in it right away because the compound cures at an uneven rate. I make 3 passes at my joints. No cracks. Yes more time.

Your cracks - while you may be as **** as I am, you may want to just consider what the old carpenter once said - "Eff-it, Caulk it....".... A good 35 year paintable latex caulk will flow into that crack and adhere well.. With a satin or flat paint over the top, only you will be able to point it out - no one else will ever see it or know...

Good luck!

P.S. wth is NEO?

 

[luvit]

Use a very good quality (= expensive) latex caulk, not silicone or silicone modified unless it is paintable. I have had luck with running a damp tapping knife (flexible scrapper type blade) over fresh caulk. Gives a decent finish which is almost invisible once painted.

i'm getting a bunch of PMs.. lol.
and want to elaborate with TtTM.

my answer is also latex caulk.. DAP brilliant white, paintable.
on a textured ceiling you can apply it thick and wide, and then swirl/stomp it around to the pattern of your textured ceiling. -- you'll never see it.
if the texture is knocked-down stomp then it may be a little tougher.
if the ceiling is flat, there is a good chance you will see the caulk, unless you make it too thin.. i've not tried the wet-sand approach with latex caulk.

i would actually call it a perfect solution for the few times i did it... it's so pliable that it lasted 9 years before i moved-out.

 

[wssix99]

Cracks can be caused by movement or by poor mudding or by movement. A dry mud should give you small hairline cracks, while movement will be more pronounced. (You'll either get wider cracks where sheets pull apart or ridges from compression where they press together.) Do you have any pics?

So my thought is the drywall cracks are not due to any settling issues

Correct. Houses with modern building materials and engineering do not "settle." If you do have a settling house, your problems are much larger than cracking drywall!

this pad has already gone through a complete year of seasonal changes, and there is not one single crack on the floor. Temp changes, lumber drying out, materials settling?

Temperature expansion/contraction and the little bit of shrinkage you get with new lumber are all normal and a proper drywall application can withstand those forces. Just think of all the houses out there built with the same materials in the same environments, which do not crack...


There is no easy way to fix a crack. You can make it look better, but unless you address the circumstances of the movement, the cracks will 100% come back.

Early October noticed a crack in the finished ceiling, from front to back of garage, 23'.

Ceilings are special. In addition to the normal forces that walls see, they also have to deal with gravity pulling them down towards the ground. To minimize the movement of these panels, they should be glued to the rafters above and reinforced where panels overlap off of rafters. Do you know if your ceiling was glued or blocks were put behind the seams off the rafters? If the crack is on a rafter, then the issue is probably due to a lack of fasteners.


So, if your crack is off a rafter, you'll need to get reinforcing blocks up behind the seam. Preferably, the would be glued and screwed to the drywall. (If you have access above from an attic and have a helper, this is easier to do. If not, you'll have to cut openings in the drywall.)

If the crack is on the rafter, then you should just be able to fasten it better to the rafter.

Yesterday noticed a crack in the back wall, from top to bottom.

If the panels were installed correctly so the vertical seams are all on studs, you probably don't have enough fasteners in the drywall or the nails/screws that were put in missed the stud. (This is the easiest type of crack to fix - if the drywall was put up correctly.) Just fasten it to the wall better. (The stud underneath, if put up correctly, should not move - so if the drywall is moving relative to it, the drywall is not attached properly.)

I'm at a loss for why and why now, my carpenter does nice work

The last time I checked, they did not teach drywall in carpenter's school and I've never met a carpenter to didn't tell me that they do nice work. lol

[he] hasn't really came up with an explanation he is sold on either.

If he comes up with an explanation, it will definitely cost someone money to fix.

 

[Dominico]

I have been reading this thread for a couple of days now and as a person who grew up in a family business that did Plaster and Drywall for many years I couldn't resist on giving you my two cents.

First of all you can never "completely guarantee" that the walls will not crack (especially in a garage) however you can prevent most of them with proper hanging & finishing techniques. It all begins with hanging & fastening the wallboard correctly. I won't go into hanging details since the question is how to "fix the crack"

Many times drywall finishers miss or skip a critical step in the wallboard prepping process. This step is called Pre-filling the board to accept the tape. Any areas where the paper is loose must be dug out. All of the **** seams of the wallboard must be clean as well i.e no loose pieces dig all of them out with your knife. The same goes for fixing a crack dig or "V" the crack out with a utility or drywall knife. If you can get some more screws in the area it will help. Another tip is to "back-lock" the board from the backside if you can access it. Back-locking is simply taking a couple pieces of scrap board and gluing them on the backside between the seams to hold the two pieces of board together. This will prevent or help the board from floating.

Once the areas are dug out and fastened mix some Durabond 90 and fill the areas with mud. The consistency of the mud should be rather thick as this will prevent the mud from sagging & excessive shrinking (do not over mix). Durabond comes in 5,20,45 and 90 as well as light weight or premixed. I recommend the dry and mix it yourself in a pan or bucket. The higher the number the longer the set time will be. A 90, meaning you have approx. 90 minutes to work with the compound before it sets. I suggest you use the light weight as it is easier to apply and sand. Keep in mind, depending on thickness of the area to be filled as well as shrinkage you may have to Pre-fill twice prior to finish taping.

The purpose of Pre-filling the area is to provide a more "stable surface" for the tape bedding as it will not shrink or get sucked into the seam during finishing thus preventing cracking. The reason for digging out the bad or loose areas is to prevent popping or bubbling behind the tape or mud. As far as paper or fiber glass tape is concerned, I would use the fiberglass for "repairs" however that is debatable. Apply at least two coats of compound over the tape lightly sanding as necessary between coats. For small repairs I would finish with a Durabond 20 or 45 (depending how quick you are). Do not rush the process. It is best to apply multiple coats if necessary. I also recommend a good fine grade sanding block for finishing. Hope this helps you and good luck!