What causes a vertical crack in sheetrock

[SSEiYah]

I bought a fairly new house, recently, ~10 years old. A big 9 foot tall narrow crack appeared from the floor to the ceiling in the last week or so in the living room. The crack is the same width on the floor as it is on the ceiling, about 1/16th of an inch. No other cracks in the house, the brick is fine on the outside. I'm just wondering what causes these types of cracks. It seems like a horizontal shift in the house occurred, but I dont know why.

[stile99]

The easy/engineering answer: stress. But I suspect you're really asking about the source of the stress, in which case there's not really an easy answer. Foundation issues? Earthquakes? Really strong winds? We have those last two in abundance around here. I'm by no means a construction expert, but being that close to a corner my first thought would be someone did a half-assed job.

[Jim Kyle]

Quite possibly a foundation issue. Much, if not most, of the residential construction in these parts for the last 50 years or more has been based on the concrete slab. While the slabs are quite sturdy against many factors, they DO have a tendency to crack if the ground settles beneath them -- and our temperature and precipitation extremes do cause the underlying soil to shrink or expand over time.

My own home, of which we're the initial owners, was built near the start of 1982 and we moved into it on July 31 of that same year. It's been making a few noises to us ever since as the underlying soil shrinks or expands. A couple of doors no longer latch properly, and tiny cracks are visible a few places in the garage where the slab isn't covered. We've had a few small cracks above a door in the master bedroom. However it remains structurally sound, and as the ground recovers some of the moisture and expands, the signs of stress tend to vanish. And while it may not last for another 36 years, I suspect that the same is true of my wife and me! We don't consider the problem dire enough to require a foundation repair service.

[OKCRT]

Look on the outside of that area and see if you see any cracks in the brick.

[rezman]

If it was a jagged crack that ran up at an angle, then I would be concerned. But since it is a vertical crack only , it’s more than likely just poorly taped and bedded drywall joints that have separated over time, and not a foundation issue. I see it is right next to a doorway, which is a common stress point as well. Was your house freshly painted inside when you bought it?. If so, then it could have already been there and it was floated over to ready for sale. To correct this, you have to cut out the old tape joint from floor to ceiling, properly re-bed and tape the joint , re-texture to blend and repaint. Not hard to do. Really more time consumming than anything as it has to be done in steps.

[OKCRT]

If it was a jagged crack that ran up at an angle, then I would be concerned. But since it is a vertical crack only , it’s more than likely just poorly taped and bedded drywall joints that have separated over time, and not a foundation issue. I see it is right next to a doorway, which is a common stress point as well. Was your house freshly painted inside when you bought it?. If so, then it could have already been there and it was floated over to ready for sale. To correct this, you have to cut out the old tape joint from floor to ceiling, properly re-bed and tape the joint , re-texture to blend and repaint. Not hard to do. Really more time consumming than anything as it has to be done in steps.

That"s what I'm thinking also. Look on outside and if no cracks then prob just tape joint coming loose from maybe a but of settling.

[Richard at Remax]

Yes been seeing this plenty lately. The vast majority of the time it's poor taping, or the sheetrock sheets weren't as flush as they could have been. I wouldn't be too concerned, since there was no evidence of movement on outside.

[SoonerDave]

Judging from that picture, it looks like a plaster or tapr-and-bed crack that runs nearly perfectly vertically along that corner, so I think you're ok. You could probably patch it up yourself. If it gets wider, that might be a problem, but at this point, no need to borrow trouble.

[BlackmoreRulz]

If it was a jagged crack that ran up at an angle, then I would be concerned. But since it is a vertical crack only , it’s more than likely just poorly taped and bedded drywall joints that have separated over time, and not a foundation issue. I see it is right next to a doorway, which is a common stress point as well. Was your house freshly painted inside when you bought it?. If so, then it could have already been there and it was floated over to ready for sale. To correct this, you have to cut out the old tape joint from floor to ceiling, properly re-bed and tape the joint , re-texture to blend and repaint. Not hard to do. Really more time consumming than anything as it has to be done in steps.

Can't really tell from the pics but it looks like a bullnose corner there which is a piece of plastic molding that they attach to the outside of the sheetrock. The sheetrock on these corners are usually cut back a little ways to make room for the radius of the molding and sometimes they don't always do a great job of it, the molding is attached numerous ways, nails, staples, glue etc.

The cause of the failure could be a number of reasons besides poor craftsmanship, settling, flexing of the wall from a slamming door, someone bumped the corner molding causing it to crack the full length of the molding,