Ceiling crack?

[Mark Burns]

Friends house has a very thin crack that extends the whole length of the living room ceiling. Directly in the middle.....any ideas? (sorry no pics)

[Michael Roberson]

Mark, Pictures speak volumes, and would help allot. Take about 5, and post them here.

[Joe Funderburk, CMI]

Along the seem of the sheetrock? Narrow crack? Sounds like settlement. They all do to some degree. How old is the home? If new and under warranty, keep a list because other sheetrock defects will appear. Ask the builder to repair before 1st year is up.

If the house is more than a few years old, normal settlement should be complete, so there may be other issues. Things to address: foundation settlement. Do the gutters function and direct water away from the foundation? Does the grade slope away from the home? If on a crawl, is it dry beneath...

[rbero]

Age of the home? drywall or plaster? sheetrock , rocklat, or lat and plaster every one of these crack in a different manner A pic would tell the best

[Philip LaMachio]

If this is a plaster ceiling, I have addressed this issue at length on my website.

In my opinion, settling shows up mostly in walls. Straight-line cracks in ceilings, particularly plaster over gypsum/metal lath, are tell-tale signs of attachment failure and need to be confirmed and addressed.

The eventual result of not addressing this issue properly may be that the ceiling collapses.

Since my website is new, I don't have any images of the straight line crack you are referring to, (I only recently began documenting this), however I have seen them and repaired them for years.

If you will take the time to read my page on 'transitional ceilings' you will understand the issue. There are other pages of interest to home inspectors, particularly, public buildings and home inspectors info.

I have been doing plaster restoration for almost 25 yrs. Hope this helps.

Philip LaMachio
www.estateplaster.com