# New Home, cracks in drywall. Whats the cause? fix?



## hurricane87

I bought a new home 6 months ago and just recently I started noticing cracks in my drywall. They are all in the corners of rooms. Almost all the corners of my house has a hairline crack but these in particular are pretty bad. 

I am wondering what caused this? I have been doing research and think it might be settling cracks, but I want some opinions to see if it might be something more serious. Its a pretty bad eye sore.

Any suggestions on repairs?


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## user1007

Someone forgot to mud and tape your corner joints.

Your new house will settle but the corners should not look like this in new construction unless you have major foundation problems too.


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## tpolk

be worth digging out that bad corner see if there is tape but that does'nt look like a tape prob in first pic. how old is home?


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## Scuba_Dave

Where are you located ?
Is it a 1 floor , house, 2 floor....happens on all floors ?
Basement, crawl space or slab ?
If basement any signs of cracks in foundation ?
Have you contacted the builder ?


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## Bob Mariani

Check that these corners even have tape. They do not look like it. If taped and a foundation issue the crack would be more ragged. If the studs where two wet (this happens too often) the cracks should not be this long. If you see that no tape was used you will know to look for many many more low quality workmanship in the house.


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## Daniel Holzman

These are vertical cracks, which is inconsistent with settlement. Settlement cracks are almost always diagonal, and certainly would not appear exclusively in the corners. I go with the theory that the corners were not taped properly, or possible not taped at all.


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## hurricane87

tpolk said:


> be worth digging out that bad corner see if there is tape but that does'nt look like a tape prob in first pic. how old is home?


home is 6 months old.


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## hurricane87

Scuba_Dave said:


> Where are you located ?
> Is it a 1 floor , house, 2 floor....happens on all floors ?
> Basement, crawl space or slab ?
> If basement any signs of cracks in foundation ?
> Have you contacted the builder ?


Located Southeastern Massachusetts near Cape Cod. Its a split level raised ranch, only see see problem on main level. There are 2 hairline settle cracks on inside of foundation but nothing serious.


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## hurricane87

Im going to try to get in touch with builder, him and I haven't had the best relationship. After the first few repairs he stopped answering my phone calls. As much as I try to think otherwise I do realize he half-***** my home. I don't know what action I can take to get him to take responsibility other than legal action which is sure to be an expensive option. :furious:

Excuse me for being a total newbie (first time homeowner) but how easy would it be to fix the problem if it was that the corners weren't taped? What would the repair consist of?

Thanks to all.


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## tpolk

it is mind numbing to me that all corners would not have tape. I have seen improper fastening of corner framing move, have also seen movement in corners if framing was closed up to soon after being wet and not drying properly (which happens alot in todays hurry up finish it). Have also seen movement from not overlapping top plates , just butting walls. sounds like some excavation called for.


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## RickyBobby

_"Excuse me for being a total newbie (first time homeowner) but how easy would it be to fix the problem if it was that the corners weren't taped? What would the repair consist of?"_

This could turn out to be a rather big job if all of the corners are done this way. Repair would consist of taping, finishing, priming, repainting.

My concern would be that since the corners were not done properly, where the walls meet the ceilings may not have been done properly either. If a house was built and the taping step was skipped......I am at a loss for words.

Do what tpolk said, dig into the corner and see if you can peel out some tape. The corner is ruined already anyway. If it is missing, check the others and where the walls meet the ceilings. If you don't find any, I would seek legal advice on how to get the builder to make it right. 

I really hope that is not the case though.


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## Kevin M.

tpolk said:


> it is mind numbing to me that all corners would not have tape. I have seen improper fastening of corner framing move, have also seen movement in corners if framing was closed up to soon after being wet and not drying properly (which happens alot in todays hurry up finish it). Have also seen movement from not overlapping top plates , just butting walls. sounds like some excavation called for.


HMMM! I'm was thinking the exact same thing. Maybe they failed to nail the corners correctly. It would be interesting to see what the framing looked like! I would cut a section of rock out and start pulling on the framing. Actually, the reason I am mentioning it is I just ran into that very issue last week. I grabbed a stud and moved it two inches LOL!!!

Do you have a written warranty document from your builder? 

KK


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## HandyPete

I agree with everything said so far. 

One other point (and correct me if I'm wrong): Sometimes the joint mud is poor quality or not the right stuff for bedding tape. I always use DuraBond or SheetRock45 for bedding and from my experiences, it make a far better joint!

_Pete


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## firehawkmph

There are many reasons for joints to crack, in addition to what's been said. I seriously doubt they omitted the tape. I would be willing to bet they did the hillbilly corner deal with one 2 x 4 overlapping the other with an offset to catch the other piece of drywall. While I have seen this a lot and not seen the same resulting cracks, if the two pieces of 2x4's were poorly nailed, I could see this happening. It doesn't really take much movement to crack paper tape. 
If the house was built during lousy weather, temporary heat like kerosene or propane, along with all the added moisture of paint, drywall mud, etc. this would not be uncommon as the house dries out and the wood shrinks. 
Like Ricky said, start with the simplest things first. Dig in the corner a little bit and see if you see the paper tape. If you aren't sure what you are looking for, get somebody over your house that does. If there is tape, I would cut some holes on either side of the corner and see what they did underneath. Chances are your problem will be only with these two corners. Drywall is not that hard to fix, just have somebody do it that knows what they are doing. Don't practice on your own house.
BTW, did you get any nail pops?
Mike Hawkins


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## tpolk

like he said dont practice on your own house :laughing:


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## hurricane87

firehawkmph said:


> There are many reasons for joints to crack, in addition to what's been said. I seriously doubt they omitted the tape. I would be willing to bet they did the hillbilly corner deal with one 2 x 4 overlapping the other with an offset to catch the other piece of drywall. While I have seen this a lot and not seen the same resulting cracks, if the two pieces of 2x4's were poorly nailed, I could see this happening. It doesn't really take much movement to crack paper tape.
> If the house was built during lousy weather, temporary heat like kerosene or propane, along with all the added moisture of paint, drywall mud, etc. this would not be uncommon as the house dries out and the wood shrinks.
> Like Ricky said, start with the simplest things first. Dig in the corner a little bit and see if you see the paper tape. If you aren't sure what you are looking for, get somebody over your house that does. If there is tape, I would cut some holes on either side of the corner and see what they did underneath. Chances are your problem will be only with these two corners. Drywall is not that hard to fix, just have somebody do it that knows what they are doing. Don't practice on your own house.
> BTW, did you get any nail pops?
> Mike Hawkins


oh yeah I have nail pops


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## firehawkmph

Hurricane,
Assuming (hate to use that word) you don't have any major framing issues, once the house goes through a couple of heating, cooling seasons, things stabilize. So once you fix the cracks and the nail pops, they should stay put.
Mike Hawkins


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## bjbatlanta

Improper fastening and or lack of nailers in the corners are the likely candidate. I hardly think the corners were left untaped. Years ago I hung a few houses for a builder (Pulte or some other large outfit) who used corner clips in the angles. There was a stud on one side of the corner and clips were used to fasten the opposite corner. A nail in the top into the plate and a clip slipped over the edge midway and at the bottom of the board were nailed to the corner stud opposite. The clips only slipped onto the board 1/2" or so so if the corner was out of square somewhat the clip had to slide closer to the stud for nailing and often just barely stayed on the rock. The slightest twisting or shrinking movement in the stud and the clip would be off and rendered useless. Even if the clips held, there is a lot of movement without a properly framed corner. Don't know if clips are still being used, but it's another possibility. And as stated above, the rock could have been just butted in the corner without being fastened at all due to lack of framing or some other reason. The only real way to tell is to tear the corner tape out and/or possibly the drywall itself. If you've got a cracked corner in a closet, that would be the likely place to start.....


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## bden843

*Faith/repair*

:thumbup: Well Im 17 from SC, and we have about 3 places in our house that have something very similar near and around the corners. Mainly what I would say Is I worry about this all the time to, Just keep your Faith in God, that he will provide, and just repair them I guess.


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## 747

I'm going with half ass drywall job


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## danpik

747 said:


> I'm going with half ass drywall job


 did anyone notice this is a 4 year old post that was dredged up


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## langless28

are you walls actually plastered and not drywalled? i live here and have been told that MA is one of few states that still do whole house plaster jobs. my walls are plastered and i have this problem on every corner in my whole house.


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## paparocks

freezing mud w/ loose mud equals huge cracks.. What I see is more than just a crack. it looks more as if the mud on the bead is just falling off. bad mud caused this.


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## ToolSeeker

Could be;
no tape in corner- it happens
wrong mud- topping or ultra lite
bad mud job- put on too thick
no nailer in corner so one side has movement
someone tried to use mesh tape in corner
If house is only 6 months old I would not do anything until you get ahold of the builder and have him look at it. Then let him deal with the drywall crew. A 6 month old house should have some kind of warranty program. If you go punching, probing, and cutting you may void that warranty.


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## unknown9993

I got the same problem can some one help?


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## oh'mike

unknown9993 said:


> I got the same problem can some one help?


I suggest you start a new thread--members seldom pay attention to these old ones---(welcom to the group)

Do you know how to start a thread?


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## paparocks

same as above ----how old is your home?


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## unknown9993

drywallfinisher said:


> same as above ----how old is your home?


about 2 years.


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