Drywall Cracking/Matching Paint

I bought a previously lived in home about 6 months ago. I do not believe it has been recently repainted where the issue is occuring. In a corner of the home where drywall meets drywall a crack nearly the length of the seam just "appeared" about the width of penny. There is no corner tape on the wall. Could this be why this happened? Also, If I fix the corner tape issue I am not sure that I have the paint code for what is currently on the wall. I know I can take in a sample to Lowes and they can match it but its kind of difficult since I can't take a wall in. Does anyone have any suggestions for paint issues and/or the cracking?

Note: The foundation of the home looks fine, this is a split level home and the cracking took place on the upper portion that actually sticks out from the rest of the house. So maybe some wood has just flexed a little bit or something? I don't know.

 

Welcome to the forums!

How old is the home? is it drywall? or plaster?

The simplest thing to do would be to caulk the crack. You might get by without painting it. To get a color match you can cut out a little bit of drywall paper from under a light switch cover and get them to match it. Since you don't know the brand/line of paint - figure on repainting both walls.

 

Inside corner? If so, caulk would be ok. If you want to completely fix it, then yes, you would want to add joint compund and paper tape to the walls. I wouldn't try to match the existing paint, even the same paint doesn't always touch up well after a while and you end up painting the whole wall anyway. Works even less well when you try to have someone match your paint because you don't know what's there in the first place.

You didn't ask this but just as an FYI, you'll get better materials at a paint store than in a paint department in a big store.

 

Built in 1984. There is a certain guy at my local Lowes that went the extra mile to ensure I got a perfect match when doing my home exterior so if I go through him I dont think the color match will be a major issue. Another thing is that the walls are sponged ontop of the primary coat so it will be difficult to get a good sample. I cannot tell if its plaster or drywall. I'm not too knowledgable about this stuff. Outside of this could my home have a major structural issue you think?

 

I want to do touch up cause my entire house is painted this color unless you are saying getting a close color match and repainting the two walls in my living room would be good enough

 

So not only are all the walls the same color, they have a faux finish on them?

If so, I would try to avoid any painting as well.

 

here it is (that is my pinky too for size comparison [medium-large hands]), so maybe the best option is a good caulk and take some paint behind a switch for a color match and put a thin stream of paint over the caulk? how will the repair fair in the long run?

 

Picture makes it tough to tell - this is an inside corner, right? Kind of looks like a crack in the middle of a flat wall in the picture.

 

Yes, the crack is on a 90 degree corner.

 

Yeah, I'd try to get a color-matched caulk and only worry about mudding and papering the corner if the crack gets worse (which means you need to investigate the movement) or you want to paint everything.

 

Where do I get color matched caulk?

 

I'm not sure how big of a selection a big box store has but paint stores sell caulking in various colors. A few stores will mix caulking for you in any color you desire. I wouldn't worry about a perfect match as long as you can get a colored caulk close to what you have. Do a neat job of caulking. Use a wet rag/sponge to carefully wipe the excess caulk off of the wall. That way you end up with a thin stripe of caulk that won't be all that noticeable. You'll always know but many won't even notice

While tape and mud is the correct repair, caulking should hold up fine. When ever you get ready to repaint, you can then evaluate whether or not it needs to be fixed right.

 

Sorry - I said 'color matched' when I meant just get a caulk colored closely to your paint.

 

I just wanted to update my thread. It is now almost may and this crack has closed back up. A hairline is still visible but it is not like it was.

 

Your issue appeared in the winter and disappeared in the spring, I bet it comes back again when things get cold.

This would be difficult to remedy.

 

About the only surefire fix is to run the HVAC all the time and keep the humidity at a constant level.