Sudden cracks in ceiling - help!

Hi all,

New to this forum and thanks in advance for any feedback! We noticed last night that a long, straight crack had appeared in our upstairs bedroom ceiling that runs the length of the wall. It's not especially wide (picture attached).

Then upon waking up we noticed that similar cracks had occurred in every bedroom upstairs and in the ceiling in the hallway right where the door to the attic is. One crack in our son's room runs the length of the ceiling then hits a corner and runs down the corner of the wall.

We were really alarmed by the suddenness of them. Our house was build in 1989, located in Maine. The attic is basically a third floor, unfinished. How concerned should we be with this? Is it safe to stay in the house?

Thank you all. Again, I appreciate it.

 

From the picture it looke to me like the edge of the tape used to finish the drywall. It is folded when installed on corners so about 1" on each side. Since it is through the house, I'm thinkibg a moisture problem. Have you added a humidifier recently or any other activity that would raise the moisture level significantly? Is ther any moisture showing up on your windows?

And a big welcome to another Maine-iac

Bud

 

Thanks Bud.

No moisture problem that I'm aware of, although we had a significant amount of rain the past few days combined with cold weather in the evening. I was just alarmed with all the cracks showing up at once upstairs. They weren't there on Friday then they showed up last night.

I've attached another photo for additional reference...curious about the tape, since it doesn't appear to really be peeling and it feels/looks like a crack in the ceiling...this seem like it would still be tape?

Thanks again!

 

Curious, are your ceiling joists and rafters "truss" construction? Not sure why this would be suddenly showing up on a 15 year old house. Have you lived there for all 15 years?

Ya, I'm up in the Bangor area and we got a mixture of rain and snow, with more coming Tuesday night.

Since you will want to eventually fix what you see, find an inconspicuous spot and dig a little to see if that is the edge of the tape. I'm still thinking a sudden shift in moisture, like high humidity and now the heat is on and drying everything out. But if you have lived there for many years, why now?

Are you storing a bunch of firewood inside? Drying cloths in the house or venting the dryer inside? Did the last storm form any ice dams?

I know these are silly questions, but I'm searching.

My next questions will involve checking the temp and humidity around the house, so pick up an inexpensive meter if you don't have one.

Bud

 

I agree that looks like tape that is coming loose. The 2 main reasons for tape to come loose are not enough mud under the tape when installed or moisture that has degraded the joint compound and allowed the tape to come loose.

 

Thank you both. As a first-time homeowner with limited experience with these kind of things, I do appreciate the feedback.

This might be a dumb question, but would tape look more like it was peeling? This looks like a straight crack across the ceiling and when I touch it, I can't feel a tape edge. Or am I thinking of "typical tape", like a masking tape, and this is different and would produce this kind of cracking?

Also, should it be concerning that these cracks occurred suddenly, all at once in four rooms upstairs?

I called our insurance company to be safe as I was a bit concerned about the structure of the house...

Thanks!

 

Thanks for all your great questions as well! No, we've only lived in the house since May so this is our first real experience with the winter.

I was beginning to wonder if the previous owners did some sort of patch job, although nothing was noticeable in the inspection.

We do heat the house sporadically, usually it gets around 68 when we're upstairs for a few hours and then the heat goes down to 62 when we're asleep.

I can certainly invest in a meter to give you more details.

Thanks for all your help.

 

Drywall tape is about 2" wide, has a crease in the middle so you can fold it for use on corners/angles. The joint compound is the 'glue' that holds the tape in place. More mud is applied over the tape to make it disappear. If the j/c looses it's bond with the tape, the tape will come loose. It isn't uncommon for the tape to 'pop' in a straight line.

The odds are that humidity changes caused the tape to come loose. Generally structural issues will also show cracks in the drywall and often start at the foundation of the house. Let us know what the ins co says.

 

Since you are new to the home, your suspicion that the previous owner did some repairs prior to selling is probably correct. The temp and humidity cycling up there isn't helping, but your temps are still within the range people often use, without the tape behaving like yours.

Mark or others may have a guess as to what they might have used for mud (joint compound) that could have added to this. I'm a stick in the mud and use virtually the same joint compound all the time, but there are different ones for different applications.

As for structural concerns, IMO, there are none. This is just a cosmetic pain, but one you will need to identify before you just cover it over.

Did the previous owner do a full remodel, new drywall and such? Was this an abandoned home that sat unheated for a year or two? If the drywall was allowed to become very moist and the previous owner just covered over everything, those walls could just be drying more now that the heat is on. In that case I would expect more of the same as the winter progresses.

Bud

 

Mark & Bud,

Thank you both for the feedback. One other final question for you - is it common for the tape to come loose and present cracks in several different room, suddenly and all at once?

I also notice some cracking from the ceiling that runs down the corner where it meets the wall and all the way down to the floor - is this common? Finally saw a few diagonal cracks develop at the corner of door frame up the wall.


Would change in humidity/temperature have this effect throughout the house?

I'll keep you posted on the insurance company.

 

Humidity changes can make wood expand/contract. I would be more concerned with diagonal cracking in the drywall than just tape coming loose. That usually indicates movement of the framing. Cracking at door frames is often due to slamming doors, especially when the framing has been in place [trouble free] for years. Most drywall finishers like to thin the mud so it will flow better/easier BUT if the mud is thinned too much - it won't hold the tape in place well. When tape pops loose from mud that is too thin - that usually happens within the 1st yr or 2 after the drywall is finished.