Drywall lines not straight


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Old 06-27-09, 12:52 AM
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Drywall lines not straight

It has come to my attention that a few of our walls ceiling lines are not striaght. There is a little dip in the line for about 18 inches. Then it comes back up to meet the adjoining wall.

Whats the easiest way to minimize this look?
 
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Old 06-27-09, 05:02 AM
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That might be challenging to fix. Is the dip in the ceiling? or is it in the wall? if unsure, use a straight edge held up against the ceiling/wall.

Installing crown moulding might be the easiest way to hide the low spot. Fixing the drywall may include - pushing the low spot up and rescrewing [if possible] or floating out the ceiling/wall on both sides which may require retexuring unless it's a slick finish.
 
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Old 06-27-09, 06:41 AM
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Originally Posted by marksr
That might be challenging to fix. Is the dip in the ceiling? or is it in the wall? if unsure, use a straight edge held up against the ceiling/wall.

Installing crown moulding might be the easiest way to hide the low spot. Fixing the drywall may include - pushing the low spot up and rescrewing [if possible] or floating out the ceiling/wall on both sides which may require retexuring unless it's a slick finish.
Its a dip in the ceiling, not the wall. I thought of a crown moulding too, but thought if I could hide it with maybe a line of caulk or something. Its not a huge dip, but is noticiable.
 
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Old 06-27-09, 12:18 PM
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Why did it just come to your attention? Were you about to paint along that line, or did you just buy the house, or ?

I like unsolvable problems. How many dips like this are there, and how abrupt are they? Is there any problem with you adding mud to that ceiling joint?, that might cause you to go through a lot of retexture/repainting?. Or don't you really care, and would prefer to better hide that (those?) dip(s), and then texture blend or completely retexture and paint?

As far as you maybe thinking that crown molding would not help, because the problem is on the ceiling(it sounded like you were alluding to this) - I think you could kind of make it work if you carved out the top edge of the crown moulding to allow the hump of the dip to become built into the crown moulding. Then caulk the edges of the crownmolding. Nobody but you would likely know.

But if you do not want crown moulding, I am thinking that you can broaden way out that dip, to make it less noticeable, with mud. You could gob on a bunch of mud on each side of the hump and use a straight edge and screed it toward the interior direction of the room. The dip then, would become a rather unoticeable "bow", along the entire ceiling line, that depending on how hangy-down it first was - one may not even hardly notice this bow.

But before you proceed - take a stud sensor and see if the dip is caused by ceiling joist at that dip. (Or in some other fashion figure out if a joist is there). If there is indeed one there, then run a nail through the sheetrock and feel if the sheetorck is drawn tight to the joist. If it is, then proceed with the mudding or crownmoulding ideas. But if there is a gap above the sheetrock, then first do what it takes to try to draw that sheetrock back up tight to the joist. You could even whack on the dip with a block of wood and hammer, in case some old sheetrock screw or a fallen down knot was causing the problem.

But for the best advice we need to know how much, in fraction of an inch, this, or these dip(s) really is(are).
 
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Old 06-27-09, 12:52 PM
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We have had the house about 2 years and I just noticed them. Now that I know they are there, thats all my eye is drawn too... Dammit! lol

This is my first house and I am a perfectionist but not very knowledgeable about home repairs.

I could up load some pics for you, but how do you do that here? I dont see a pic upload button....
 
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Old 06-27-09, 01:23 PM
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Originally Posted by Tenacious--M
I could up load some pics for you, but how do you do that here? I dont see a pic upload button....
Everyone here loves to look at pictures. But I have to plead the Wizard of Oz. I don't know how it works. Somebody else hopefully reads this and helps out. Supposedly you have to go to some picture hosting site. That's all I know.
 
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Old 06-27-09, 01:27 PM
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Post the pics to a hosting site like photobucket or similar. Copy the HTML code of the image and post it in the box that pops up when you click the button above the reply text box. The one that looks like a post card of a mountain.
 
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Old 06-27-09, 01:36 PM
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K, here we go...

The sag is to the left of the speaker... harder to see in pic, but you get the idea... looks worse in person. Probably lighting...

 
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Old 06-27-09, 02:22 PM
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Either this is in a mobile home, or the ceiling has otherwise been lowered? You can see the swag because how close it is above the top of the door trim. Normally there are more inches above the door than what your pic shows, if on an 8 foot ceiling.

It is not too bad of a swag though. I'm afraid you are not going to be able to hide it because of the proximity to the door? trim, unfortunately. If you paint the ceiling different from the wall color, it will stick out worse. The swag looks gradual NOW, so my suggestions will not help, from what I can tell of the pic, at least.

See if you can get to the bottom of why the ceiling is low. That may provide the clue to the possible cause and possible remedy of the sag.

...........................................

Relooked at photo. Err......hmmmm. What IS that? Is that a door with a curve topped mirror on it? Or some fancy way someone cased around a mirror? Or someone square trimmed out around an archway? What IS that?


If you have any other pictures of bad stuff to show us about your house, or yard, or car? - at least you know what to do now.
 

Last edited by ecman51; 06-27-09 at 02:31 PM. Reason: added more below + within body of post
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Old 06-27-09, 02:29 PM
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So I couldnt sand it down and re-texture and paint to make it smoother?

Or like you said, take a piece of long wood and hammer it a little to press the sheet rock in those places a bit and then cault for a nice line and paint?
 
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Old 06-27-09, 02:46 PM
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Please reread my last post, as I have editted it. I have to get off computer soon and am anxious to understand all this.

Also, if that speaker were not there, you could screed-skimcoat that ceiling area, as I earlier suggested. But you can't do much that way due to the closeness of that speaker to the wall-ceiling joint.

You may be able to improve it tho', SOME. Don't forget that by sanding, if it is sheetrock, you will be into the paper. But, I suppose if that were your only alternative, it could be done if you sanded right through the paper into the chalk, and then painted the chaulk to lock and seal it and then fiberglass mesh taped and mudded over the painted chaulk. I've done such repairs already with damaged sheetrock. I get creative.
 

Last edited by ecman51; 06-27-09 at 02:55 PM. Reason: added much more/2 paragraphs
 

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