Why Is My Drywall or Plaster Cracking? Is My House Falling Down?

Episode #2 is about what causes drywall cracks, Are the cracks cosmetic or indication of a bigger structural issue?

There are many conditions that can lead to drywall cracks so let's start with the minor cosmetic only issues home buyers tend to stress over. Straight line cracks are typical in any home new or old and are typically the result of a poor drywall joint where 2 sheets of drywall connect. Poor installation of drywall is also a common cause of cracks and other defects, hiring the lowest bidder is never a good idea when it comes to finish work. Other drywall defects may be nail or screw pops where the nail or screw are protruding thru the drywall. This is a minor repair, poorly secured corner bead can cause long vertical cracks at corners of walls and ceilings.

Home Inspector's Beware: White paint conceals drywall blemishes very conveniently, so be sure to use a good flashlight when inspecting walls and ceilings.

Major drywall cracks may be described as stress cracks, stress cracks are indication of past or current building movement. The drywall appears ripped or torn in a jagged fashion or some times the drywall appears to be compressed/crushed on itself causing a lip or bump on the wall. Expansive soil or failed foundation and or wood framing members can cause this condition.

Transcript

John Laforme: 0:00

Buying a home? Don't panic. Just listen to the rest of this podcast welcome to Home Inspection authority podcast with me, John laforme. Are you a homebuyer, a realtor, or maybe a home inspector? If you are, then this podcast is definitely for you. So let's get right into some straight talk about home inspections. Okay, everybody, I am back, John here from home inspection authority. I want to start off by saying thank you to everybody for the really good, positive comments regarding Episode One and the launch of my podcast. Very inspiring and inspiring enough to have me start up so too. So here we go. So episode two, I want to discuss drywall, cracks, nail pop, screw pops, wavy walls, sagging ceilings. All this has got to do with drywall, or plaster, in some cases on the older homes. So I've noticed over the years that a lot of clients get fixated when they see a crack in the ceiling, or a crack in the wall. And 95% of the time, it's just cosmetic. But it really really gets them worried. I've noticed that they get really panicked when they see that. So I want to try to put everybody at ease with that and let you know when it's typically a problem and when it's typically not a problem. Drywall has been around since the early 1900s however, it became really popular around 1940s 1950s. And now it's commonly used as the go to material for any wall or ceiling finish. So let me try to explain what drywall is. Drywall is simply to paper boards that sandwich gypsum, which is a powdery white sulfate mineral. And that's it, it's it's not like made out of steel or wood, it's just it's a fragile material and under stress, it can crack, it can rip. If the wood framing behind the wall starts to twist from drying out, it can cause what's called nail pops or screw pops where you actually see like a the screw with a nail is trying to push itself out towards the living area. So it looks like a blemish. So how much does drywall cost? Drywall is right now it's about $12 A sheet for half inch, which means it's eight feet long, four feet tall and a half inch thick. And then you can get into you know a five eights, which would be the same with in length. However, the five eights is typically used in garage applications for fireproofing between the home and the between the garage and the home. To keep fire from spreading in the event there was a garage fire. It's also used for attach townhome developments as fire barrier between the units, and it also has some soundproofing characteristics as well. So some developers may double up on that five, eight drywall in between the buildings. And that way there, you're going to get your fireproofing and a better sound barrier. So did you even know that drywall gets cut with a razor blade, that's how you cut it to size, you simply cut one side of the paper and you snap it and then you run your blade down the backside. And that's how you cut your drywall. So another example of how fragile the material is. So if you're curious as to Hey, what is this stuff all about next time you go to Home Depot or Lowe's just go to the lumber section and as somebody that points you in the direction of the drywall or sheetrock if you want to call it that and just take a look at it and I'm sure you're gonna see a bunch of pieces of it laying on the floor because every time somebody picks it up and bangs the corner on the ground, it breaks off. So it's very fragile if you're beating on it, but if it's installed correctly on a nice straight lumber wall or or ceiling and you know you shouldn't have too many problems with it as long as it's screwed down properly. If you see a crack that is perfectly straight. Typically, that is the seam between two sheets of drywall and it may not have been taped properly, or for some reason it just came apart and did not work. work out well. So, a straight crack is typically not any kind of sign of a structural problem with your house, it's typically just a poor tape job where the two joints came together. Now, if you see a crack that is kind of jagged, and you can actually see the paper tearing, and the, the crack is not going to be straight, it's very seldom you'll see him straight like that. However, that is a indication that there was movement at one time of the building. So because we live in California, we always have to consider that, that hey, maybe the house just got shooken up real bad, and the last earthquake, and no one ever fixed it. And that's, that's a good assumption. Most of the time, that's probably what it is. Now understand, when you're getting your home inspected, your home inspector hasn't been at a house before most likely. So he can't tell you how long it's been there. The best thing to do is ask the seller, if they have any history with that crack, did it just happen? Was it from years ago, and they ignored it? Or did they patch it, and it came back. Now that's another point I want to go over real quick. If you see that a crack has been patched and then it's cracked again. Well, then that may be an indication of an ongoing issue with the building one condition that may cause this could be expansive soil. I mentioned this in episode one. And this is very possible that the property is unexpensive soil. So if a crack keeps getting fixed, and it keeps reappearing, that's a good indicator that that may be the problem. Another issue, along with the expense of so could be drainage issues. There's inadequate drainage, there's no roof gutters, all that can play a role in causing cracks around the house. If the right side of the house stays, stays still, and then the left side of the house or the middle of the house starts to raise or lower, well, then that's how you can get cracks. Now if the house you're looking at has just recently been remodeled, and there's cracks throughout the house, then that's something I would be concerned about, if it has all new cosmetics inside, which means it may have new drywall. Of course, it has new paint everywhere and that you and your home inspector or yourself may point out a lot of cracks in different rooms, then, yeah, so that may be a current issue that needs to be evaluated to see what's causing it. When I see this condition, I typically come to the conclusion that before the remodel the house had a lot of cracks in it. So, once again, this could be because of the foundation, expansive soil, it could be something from under the house causing movement. So he may need some floor framing work reinforcements, you may need some foundation work, it's it's hard to tell until the entire house has been inspected. And then your home inspector can give you a good assessment of what he thinks might have been causing that issue. Let's now cover settlements. Typical settlement of a house, let's say you have a new construction house, you can expect to see cracks within the first three years of that house being built. Why? Because as the house is built, more and more weight are added to the structure, which means all that weight is transferring down into the ground. So if there was any soil that wasn't compacted completely, then it's going to settle until it finally compacts. So in other words, settling means movement. So if one side of the house settles and the other side doesn't, you may experience some tearing cracks, stress cracks, I like to call them when I see torn drywall, or crushed drywall like it's forcing itself down on top of itself. And I refer to that as a stress crack. And that's all about movement. So the takeaway here is the house moves. If it does move, that's how cracks happen. And now has it stopped moving, hopefully, typically the cases, like I said, new construction, first three years, you could experience some settling. Now, other homes are not that lucky. And that means there's a lot of settlement. And some of the settlement can be very severe. And the reason for that is manmade fill. Some homes are built, let's say on a uneven grade. So the developer has to push dirt onto the property to make the pad big enough to cover the whole house structure, so that they can then dig the hole and pour the foundation. So let's say for example, 75% of the soil your houses the new house is sitting on is just natural soil that's been sitting there forever. And then 25% of it is manmade. So which means a bulldozer pushed a bunch of dirt up to the existing dirt, and then compacted it all down. Now, doesn't mean it was compacted perfectly correctly. So over time, manmade fill can then settle. And the rest of the soil does not move. That alone can cause stress on the wood framing, which can twist, which can definitely cause some pretty significant cracks. But when that happens, typically you'll see floor deflection in the house, which means you get to one point in the house and the floor either goes downhill or uphill. In the case of settling, it's probably going downhill. But if you walk in the reverse direction, it's going to be going uphill, if the house you're buying has undergone a major remodel, or had additional square footage added on, then you can expect to see cracks, where the new addition connects to the old structure, the original structure. And the reason for that is while the original structure has been there, probably for a long time. And now you have a new structure attached to it. So the new structure has the ability of settling, it may settle a little bit, it may settle a lot. And whether it's a little or a lot, it can cause cracks where it connects to the older structure. So expect to see that if you have a brand new edition added within the first three years. Okay, here's a true story for you. A few years back, I inspected a home for a realtor that I was doing business with. He was purchasing it for himself. And it was a complete remodel flip. Everything was new in there. Every wall every ceiling, kitchens, baths, you name it, it was completely redone. And overall, it looks pretty nice. But when I got under the house, right away, I could see a lot of shrinkage cracks in the soil. And right away, I could see all kinds of foundation work that was already done. So I think I counted 10 to 14 Foundation straps. What that means is there was cracks in the foundation, at least 10 to 14 locations. And a foundation contractor came in and installed straps, which means they drill a hole in one side of the crack drill hole on the other side of the crack, they put a piece of metal across the two and they bolted in. So it's they're intended to help prevent the crack from getting wider. So this was threw out the crawlspace. And you know, yeah, I believe even the some of the wood columns were, you know, kind of tilted and just they've been taken a beating from the expense of soil because it's obviously it's been there for a long time. It was an older home that was flipped. So at the end of my inspection, I let them know. I said hey, look, you know, this is this house is definitely on expansive soil. I'm going to recommend you have a soils engineer come out and take a look at that to confirm that. And and I told them what to expect. I said, right now the walls and ceilings look good. But I'm telling you, it's only a matter of time before you start seeing cracks all over the place because it's going to happen. It's just a matter of when. So I'd say a good year went by. And I happen to just remember the house and I started asking them questions. He said, Yeah, he goes, I have been noticing cracks and the ceilings in the walls. So this means that the house is moving when the soil gets wet. And when it dries, it moves again. So, expansion contraction with the expansive soil can and will cause cracks. Now, I want to talk directly to new home inspectors. So, listen up everybody, whether it's you're going to be your first inspection or your 10th inspection or your 3040. Be careful when you have a pushy client, or a pushy realtor, trying to get you to explain stuff. Before you finish your inspection. I do not recommend that you try to identify how a crack arrived on a wall or a ceiling until you have completed your inspection, which means you've evaluated the foundation, you've evaluated the attic. You evaluated the conditions around the house, like, you know, is there drainage around the house? Is there rain gutters on the house? Is there any negative grade around the house and so forth? You have to have all this knowledge already. Before you can honestly answer those types of questions. Now, if you start your inspection by doing the interior First, I would definitely not comment on those cracks. I would say Well, ma'am, ball, sir, please, you know, let me finish my inspection and like a better answer those questions is the smartest thing you can do. Because if you decide to take the oh, oh, that's an easy one. That's just a crack, don't worry about it. And then you decide to go into the house. And then you see some major issues on the day that probably caused the crack, you're going to sound like the fool for saying what you said prior to knowing the condition of the entire house. So Do yourselves a favor, it's giving a good advice. I've been down this road before. I've seen other inspectors put on the spot and just below it and say stuff they shouldn't have said. And without having all of the information at hand. So make sure you have all the facts before you try to identify the cause of the cracks. Otherwise, you may put your foot in your mouth and sound like a fool. And if you do that, you're going to put doubt in your client's head about anything else you might have told them. So I'm trying to give you really good advice here. Stay away from those situations, control the inspection and let them know you'll answer the questions when you're done. On occasion, I will find a sagging ceiling in a home that I'm inspecting, and typically it's a early 1900s home. So the ceiling may be still made out of plaster. And that's all very heavy. So what I do when I see that is I want to take a good look in the attic and see what's going on with the framing up in the attic. Because back in the early 1900s The framing members are much smaller than today's building standards. And what happens is those thin joists and supports they they'll split over time that is split because there's this inadequate support over the years. And I would definitely not walk in that area if you're in the attic. And I would definitely not poke at that ceiling from below. You don't want to make it worse. And the important thing here is that's a safety hazard. If that ceiling was to fail, and fall on somebody below, it could really hurt him. So you don't want to overlook a sagging ceiling. When you're inspecting a house. You want to take good look at that stuff. And like I said, typically in early 1900s home, I don't typically see it otherwise. On occasion. If I can recall, I've seen maybe a few homes that had one room with a sagging drywall ceiling. And that turned out being it just wasn't screwed properly. And it wasn't nailed properly and it just started to fail over time. So something else to look for with drywall. Okay, so what causes a wavy wall? Why does my wall look like it has a curve or a bend in it? Well, that could be different things that could be really poor framing. And it could be a condition where the wall that you're looking at is the wall that has all the plumbing vents, running through it. And if it's an older home with cast iron, that pipe takes up a lot of space inside the wall. And if the framers not in good communication with the plumber, and then you know, the framing is done, and then the plumber does his rough work, and then his pipe is sticking past the wall, and the framer doesn't see it. Cuz if he did see it, he would probably further out the wall. So it's, the pipe is not sticking past the wall. And then, if but if that gets overlooked, well, then here comes the drywaller, he's not going to try to fix it, he's just going to run a drywall right over it, or his plaster right over it. That's typically what causes a wavy wall. It's just cosmetic, it's just probably going to be an eyesore, you can fix it may require pulling off the wall sheathing the drywall or plaster and then and then straightening the wall and then and then reapplying the drywall of the plaster. But it's typically not a big issue. It's just a cosmetic issue. Okay, so now I want you to ask yourself, does your current home or apartment have cracks? If so, does it look like your house is falling down? Probably not. So keep that in mind. When you go in to buy someone else's house. It's just, I'm trying to remove the panic from the crack issue because it happens a lot. A lot of buyers are just very, very stressed out over this. And it seems to be their main focal point throughout the inspection. And I think they're going into it with the wrong mindset. So the expectations are just wrong. Going into the purchase of the house. If you're buying a house, it should be fun and not stressful. So you really want to educate yourself on what it is you're going to buy. Keep in mind, the number one thing that you should always be aware of is what is the age of your house. Was it built in the early 1900s is 1950s Is that the 1980s the age of your house plays a role in what might be wrong with your house. So that's why it's important to know the age. Just a reminder, drywall is only $12 A sheet. So if you have cracked drywall, it's an easy repair. Just get someone who knows what they're doing to install it. And you can just get rid of those cracks that are annoying the hell out of you. So that wraps up Episode Two, the drywall crack saga. Yeah, so thanks for listening everybody. And full disclosure, I'm now going to do an infomercial about myself and my company. So here we go. Home Inspection of offers general Home Inspections obviously, also covers sewer camera inspections, swimming pool inspections, indoor air quality testing, and mold inspections, and testing. So if you need any of those, give us a call 800-950-8184 You can also visit my website, which has a lot of helpful information regarding my services. And you can also schedule online on the website. Also, I want to point out if you enjoy comedy, you might want to check out my YouTube channel, this and funny stuff on there regarding what I find at work on a daily basis. So check it out. You'll also find some informational videos, home maintenance videos. And for the home inspectors listening there's some good tools, video, a tool videos that I recommend using and so forth. And I recently started at tick tock which I'm still trying to learn how to do so. Bear with me on that. And it's my tic tock addresses authority inspector and my Instagram is also authority inspector. You can also find me on Facebook, Home Inspection authority. And I hope you found today's episode, helpful and informative. And I hope I've answered a lot of your questions you had about drywall issues.