I bought a house in July and soon after developed a crack in the ceiling inbetween the dining room?

Question

and living room. Can I use my insurance to fix this?

It wasn't mother nature... No storms... just started little and now has grown to about 10 feet long. I think the house needs a permajack.

Answer 1

You may not need to.

If you purchased a new home, from a builder your home is probably under warranty and should be covered under that. If you purchased a previously owned home, the seller may have extended a warranty to you as well. You will need to review the terms of the warranty. Most homeowner warranties are for a 12 month period.

You also need to determine how the damage was caused, and your insurance company can help you with this.....poor workanship, then the builder is still responsible. Worse case scenario, you can call your insurance company to make the claim, and they will help you take care of it, and if it is covered under warranty, they will either go after the builder or warranty holder for reimbursement. If it is not, it will just be a claim under your homeowners insurance.

Answer 2

If it is a new home: Chances are the drywallers did a poor job of installing it. Is it a straight line? If so, the tape broke and exposed the two drywall sheet ends. Easily repaired, but shouldn't be your responsibility.
Older home: Simple settling causes this all the time. The same problem and because of the same thing. As one person stated above, it would be a good idea to find out why it has done this. Do you see ANY type of water damage? Is it noticable that the lid is sagging? Which way do the rafters or above floor joists run? These are things that need to be determined before jumping to conclusions. Also, does it look like it was once repaired? It's easy to check that. Just peel away some of the drywall mud and see if it has excess thickness. Someone may have tried to cover up an existing problem with a quick fix! You really do need to get to the root of the problem.
Good Luck To You!

Answer 3

Chances are that your homeowners insurance will not cover it.

If it is a new house, settling is normal and you should expect to see small cracks in the walls.ceiling over the first few years. This is absolutely normal and impossible to avoid. A house breathes and moves, the wood absorbs moisture in durimg the humid months and drys out during the dry months. You could try contacting the builder but he will probably tell you that it's normal (unless its a really big crack)

If its an older house. Find out why it is cracking. If there is an attic above the ceiling, go up there with a flashlight and look for what is causing it (termites, water damage..)
If there is a basement go in there and make sure that everything looks ok down there. If it keeps getting worse get a contractor in there to check it out.

Answer 4

If the house is new (just built) you need to contact the builder. If it was an existing home, you can try Homeowner's insurance, but most will not cover it unless it was damage caused by an incident. Most insurance purchased by agents to cover items for the first year is geared to cover appliances, HVAC, roof, etc... doubt it covers a crack in the ceiling.

Before fixing the crack, you might want to try to determine the REASON for it... if the home is not new, that is. Could be a leaky pipe up in the ceiling or something else.

Answer 5

what is above that? Could be an improper places purlin brace with not enough strength at the foot and the ceiling rafter is sagging a little. u need to check it out.

Answer 6

Depends. Did mother nature do that? Earthquake? Storm?

Answer 7

Surely the seller included a 1 year home warranty - only cost them $300.- which most realtors include.