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We have an old balloon frame house that used to have plaster over lath. We beat out the plaster and had the house sheetrocked. The sheetrock has always had a cracking problem where the walls meet (interior corners)and where the walls meet the ceiling. I assumed it was some type of strange foundation problem, although these are not the typical diagonal cracks you see with a foundation moving, and it is the entire house, not just a room that has sunk….It occurred to me that maybe it has nothing to do with the foundation, but that the walls are “breathing” because of some sort of framing problem. Any help or advice on the true cause/correction would be very much appreciated. I need to understand the problem so that it can be properly fixed. (if you are wondering about the foundation, we are on a clay soil, pier and beam, and I have little confidence in the foundation industry here due to problems with another house. The other house had an engineer say it was OK even though at times you might trip in the kitchen due to a hump that comes and goes, the den has a curve and the sliding door barely opens, etc. Foundation contractors have variously said do nothing, do everything, do the left, do the right. Such is life.) Thank you for any help you can give.
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What is the time frame with all this moving and how much?
How long ago did you do the sheetrocking and at what time of year was it?
Was the house occupied prior to your doing this work?
Where are you located?
What is the rest of the exterior wall composition?
Gabe
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Sounds like you have a poor foundation that came with the house when it was built. Piers need to be deep enough and numerous enough to replace a normal solid foundation. You might consider setting new piers outside the house perimeter and connecting them with beams underneath the house to transfer the load of the house to the new piers. Not cheap, not easy. As for the walls breathing, no--there are a lot of balloon frame houses on this continent that do not have your problem. I'm living in one.
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We have an old balloon frame house that used to have plaster over lath. We beat out the plaster and had the house sheetrocked. The sheetrock has always had a cracking problem where the walls meet (interior corners)and where the walls meet the ceiling. I assumed it was some type of strange foundation problem, although these are not the typical diagonal cracks you see with a foundation moving, and it is the entire house, not just a room that has sunk....It occurred to me that maybe it has nothing to do with the foundation, but that the walls are "breathing" because of some sort of framing problem. Any help or advice on the true cause/correction would be very much appreciated. I need to understand the problem so that it can be properly fixed. (if you are wondering about the foundation, we are on a clay soil, pier and beam, and I have little confidence in the foundation industry here due to problems with another house. The other house had an engineer say it was OK even though at times you might trip in the kitchen due to a hump that comes and goes, the den has a curve and the sliding door barely opens, etc. Foundation contractors have variously said do nothing, do everything, do the left, do the right. Such is life.) Thank you for any help you can give.
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Is it possible that your mudding contractor didn't use fiberglass tape on the inside corners? I did that ONCE. They'll keep opening up.