I’ve got a couple of pesky cracks in the 1/2″ drywall ceiling of a 1950’s ranch which are driving me nuts. They meander across the ceiling and keep reappearing. Years ago I repaired them with some kind of fiberglass tape like open mesh joint tape and a vinyl-like spackle; all components of a “system” supposedly guaranteed the cure the problem. Of course, it failed to perform. These cracks are probably related to an issue involving seasonal framing movement. They’re not joint failures (crooked, not straight, and longer than 8′), and no new cracks appear, just the old ones.
Short of skinning the whole ceiling with a new layer of sheetrock, any ideas? I’ve thought of using the roll fabric painters call liner, but given the tape fiasco, it probably won’t work.
It’s too bad that they never got into the habit of strapping ceilings in this neck of the woods.
Replies
i have 50/50 luck with this but it's a lot easier than rocking a clg. go in and v out the crack, buy a bag of durabond 90 min mud. don't buy the easy sand you want the hard sand stuff! i fill the crack with mud,lay a layer of fiberglass tape,at the same time while thats still wet spread a little more mud and put a layer of paper tape on. let dry and proceed with reg. mud. good luck. larry
hand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.
if you used fiberglass tape and vinyl spackle I doubt anything else will fix it. Sorry.
You may wanna check the insulation above it if there is any and if its its installed properly.
If Blodgett says, Tipi tipi tipi it must be so!
TipiFest 06~~> Send me your email addy for a Paypal invoice to the greatest show on earth~~>[email protected]
I'm not a big fan of fiberglass tape for this kind of repair. It seems to allow too much movement.
Here's what I would do... remove the paper layer an inch to either side of the crack, prime the exposed core to re-secure any crumbly bits and allow to dry, lay paper tape in the recess embedded in all-purpose joint compound and finish as usual.
This won't work if the cracks meander too much and you may want to try a test area first because if it doesn't work, the cracks will be even more noticeable.
-Don