I have some hairline cracks in my celing between the drywall sheets, what could this mean?

Question

I have two thin cracks between two pieces of drywall in my celing. The cracks are right in where the spackeling is applied. I have also noticed that over the years, the spackeling in my celing has "expanded" where you could notice where the peices of drywall were patched together.

I have a one story house with my attic directly above. What do you think the cause of this is?

Thanks for your input!

Answer 1

Housing material expansion or contraction is the cause of cracks. High levels of moisture will cause expansion. Low levels of moisture will cause shrinkage or contraction. Material stress will cause cracks. That is the twisting, pulling, shearing, falling, lifting, of construction members. Shrinkage and expansion causes stress through the process of heating and cooling.
Your concerns can best be addressed by a CERTIFIED Construction or Structural ENGINEER.

Answer 2

There is only one solution to the problem. If you do it right the first time in most cases you will not have to come back to it. You need a serious scraping knife to dig out the cracks. This means digging them out from the beginning to the end of each crack no matter how small. You need to dig them out seriously deep, don't worry about making a trench there. The deeper you go the less likely it will return. Than: First process fill it in with Mud (puddy) smoothly with a puddy knife. You will have to do this about 3 times till it is really filled and stops from receding. To be sure it does not return: Take drywall tape and add one more layer of puddy over that making sure everything is smooth. After a nice sanding and painting you should not be able to see where the crack was. Good luck!

Answer 3

The house is settling. Check around the outside of the house for cracks in the walls or a tree that's too close to the wall.
I have the same thing and I had to kill a tree that was right next to the wall becasue of the roots lifting the corner of the house.

Answer 4

Settling is the most likely possibility. It would be necessary to look at your foundation structure, framing and any supports to determine that. If the separations are small, don't worry about it. All houses settle to some degree.

Answer 5

I agree with all of the above and would recommend a product called "crack be gone". Not expensive and works quick.

Answer 6

question....why is there spackling there when it should be a taped seam? Just retape, and remud, but you might have to float it out a bit to make the ceiling surface smooth and even after adding more mud, then texture and paint.

Answer 7

the house is settilling this is normal you will have to do the how thing unless you are an expert they can patch paint you will never know unless you lived there

Answer 8

If it was done correctly it probably wouldn't have cracked.