After being out of town for almost 2 months we returned and noticed cracks along the seems in various places in the house. Corners, ceiling, up against the start of wall tile in bathroom and at what I assume is the drywall seems. We live in Louisiana and this was during the extreme heat wave and drought we had. I am thinking it could be due to heat with house expanding? We normally have that trouble with doors sticking during summer months, so I guess with the extreme heat the rest of the house suffered? Wondering if this is a plausible assumption and if so, should we wait until cooler months to start repairing or does it matter? Thanks

 

Welcome to the forums!

Do you normally run your HVAC system? Usually humidity is a bigger issue than heat or cold.

 

Yes we had the A/C running. It was left on about 78 while we were gone.

 

That is strange
Not sure what would have caused the tape to break loose. How old is the house? have any of the neighbors had issues with their drywall taping?

 

I don't know if they have or not. But even with A/C running humidity is outrageous here, it pentrates everything. Expecially with the heat we had. I think it was 60+ days over 100 degrees and no rain previous or after, and louisiana humidity is bad even without those conditions. The house is less than 100 yrs old, one story. I think the previous owners did alot of self repair. And on one wall (where the seem is cracked all the way down) I was able to peel off some of the paint, it looks like there isn't any tape over drywall seem, and there's a noticable seperation between the two pieces. I can stick my fingernail in between. And looking closer I'm not so sure it's a seem, because it's not two straight or clean edges, almost looks like a straight crack down the middle of a piece. But it goes from ceiling down to where the awful wood paneling starts, so maybe it is a seem. There was an electrical fire that took most of the house back in the 60's or 70's and they had to redo all elctrical, so whatever is there isn't as old as house. Other cracks above door frames aren't straight though they are angled. What was a little crack in the popcorn spray around the LR ceiling fan in now alot longer, and there are more in different areas of ceiling. The problems in bathroom are where the half wall tile meets the drywall. It's seperated all along that seem. Just seems like it's all pulling apart rather than just cracking if that makes sense.

 

What kind of soil do you have down there? I heard people in Texas talking about the clay soil they have shifting because of the drought. If this isn't from humidity changes, my next thought is some kind of movement of the structure, settling seems unlikely given the age.

 

There is alot of clay here but I don't think it's alot in the yard. There is a mix in the soil but not all clay. Since it's a house wide problem could
It be safe to say fix the problem areas and if it happens again over the winter period than maybe there's a more serious problem other than the extreme weather?

 

Do all your doors still fit the frames correctly and close/latch properly? If so, I would bet the house did not move to cause all of this.

 

Since your HVAC is run yr round, it shouldn't make much difference what time of year you make the repairs. Has all the plaster been replaced with drywall? or are some parts still plaster. The angled cracks over the doors sound like settlement or a poorly installed door, some type of structural movement is usually the cause.

 

I am not sure if it's plaster or drywall. By the looks of that worst crack it may be plaster there, it seems denser than drywall when knocking on it. And that one door was probably a DIY by previous owner and we do have problems with it lining up at times, so it's probably the problem there.Though it does seem like only a surface crack in the paint. But the other doors in the house are fine.