Interior Walls and Ceiling

Although drywall possesses many desirable qualities, like all building materials it has limitations. Normal house settling and shifting may cause small cracks to occur at door and window openings and at some wall and ceiling joints. Such cracks are not serious and do not reflect any weakness in the structure. Changes in the weather (temperature and moisture content) will cause these small cracks to widen on occasion and almost disappear on others.

Don't immediately repair these cracks, because further shrinkage may reopen them. The best time to repair hairline cracks is about one year after you move in, after most shrinkage and settling should have occurred. There is no feasible method to prevent hairline cracks caused by settling and shifting of the home.

During the first year or two, additional drying of framing materials (studs, beams, etc.) and general settlement may cause nail pops on interior wall and ceiling surfaces. (Try to maintain an even temperature throughout your home to assist the drying process and reduce shrinkage cracks.) We consider these to be normal homeowner maintenance responsibility. The following is an explanation of how to repair these items.

Nail Pops

These are simply nails coming loose from studs, or joists, pushing dried joint compound ahead of them. The result is a bump or blister in the drywall surface. To repair a nail pop, remove the protruding nail entirely. Then install another drywall screw an inch or two above or below the nail pop, sinking it below the paper surface. Cover area heavily with spackling compound, let dry, sand smooth and repaint surface.

Crack in Drywall Joint

Easily repaired in much the same manner as a nail pop. Cut a small "V" joint along the length of the crack about 1/8" deep and 1/8" wide. Fill heavily with Spackle or joint compound, let dry thoroughly, sand smooth and repaint surface.

Settling

All homes settle to some degree, resulting in adjustment of lumber and framing members. We have engineered your home to make this settling as even as possible. You may notice minor separation of molding at the joints or small interior wall cracks around doorways, archways, and wallboard joints. We recommend waiting at least 2 years before repairing minor cracks, when most of the settling and shrinkage will be complete.

Fill molding cracks with wood filler. Reset loosened nails with a hammer and nail set. Fill holes with wood filler or Spackle. Fill and sand small cracks before repainting walls.