Ontario's Plain-English Guide to Custom Home Buildingπ 705-533-1633 | βοΈ 1-866-868-6606 | βοΈ info@icfhome.ca
Drywall Cracks and Screw Pops: Truss Uplift, Settling, Shrinkage and Bad Fastening, Which Crack Is Which, and the Fix That Stops It Coming Back
Drywall, Taping & Painting
Cracks and Screw Pops: Five Kinds, Four of Them Normal, One Worth a Phone Call, and the Fix for Each That Does Not Reopen in March
Every new house cracks. The framing lumber was delivered at 19% moisture and dries to 8% in the first heating season, and it shrinks as it goes, and the drywall screwed to it does what it can. Most of the cracks and pops you see in year one are that, and most of them are fixed once and gone. A few are the house moving every year and will reopen until you fix them differently. One kind is the foundation, and it is the only one that needs a professional opinion before a taper. Here is how to tell them apart from the shape of the crack.
The five kinds
| What it looks like | Cause | Serious? | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| A crack along the top of an interior wall where it meets the ceiling, opens in winter, closes in summer, upstairs under the attic. | Truss uplift. The roof trusses bow upward in cold weather and lift the ceiling board away from the wall. How it should have been hung. | No. Cosmetic and seasonal. | Float the ceiling edge (remove the screws within 16 in. of the wall and clip the ceiling board to the wall) or hide it with a crown moulding fixed to the ceiling only. Compound alone reopens every year. |
| A diagonal crack running up from the corner of a door or window. | Framing shrinkage and movement concentrated at the opening; a joint placed at the corner instead of away from it. | Usually not. Common in year one. | Cut a V, paper tape, three coats, once the house has had a heating season. Done before that, it reopens. |
| A hairline crack straight along a joint, often with the tape lifting. | Taping: mesh tape with all-purpose compound, a dry bed coat, or a joint coated too thick too fast. Tape. | No. A workmanship defect. | Cut out the loose tape, bed new paper tape, three coats. The taper’s callback if it is within a year. |
| Round bumps or dimples in a line, paint cracked in a ring around each. | Screw pops: the lumber dried and shrank away from the board, leaving the screw head proud. Or a nail, in an older house. | No. Universal in new houses. | Drive a new screw an inch away, set the old one deeper, three coats over both. Do it after the first winter, all at once. |
| A stair-step crack following the joints, wider at one end, or a crack with one side higher than the other; doors that stick; a crack in the foundation wall below it. | Settlement or foundation movement. | Yes. Get an engineer or a foundation contractor to look before anyone tapes it. | Depends on the cause. The drywall is the last thing to fix. |
What Tarion covers in a new house
The first-year warranty covers defects in work and materials, and drywall cracks and nail pops from normal shrinkage are on the standard list: the builder repairs them, once, usually at the year-end service, and repaints the repair. Most builders do one pop-and-crack visit after the first heating season for exactly this reason, and it is worth waiting for rather than listing every pop in month three. Truss uplift is on the Tarion construction performance guidelines as a condition the builder addresses cosmetically once. Foundation cracks that leak or structural movement are covered longer, under the two- and seven-year coverage, and are the ones to report in writing the day you see them. The Tarion coverage page is linked below.
The fix that lasts
- Wait for the house to finish moving. Fix shrinkage cracks and pops after the first full winter, in one visit. Fixing them in October means fixing them again in April.
- Cut, do not fill. A crack filled with compound is a crack with a thin layer over it. Cut a shallow V, bed paper tape, feather three coats. The tape bridges the movement.
- Flexible compound where it keeps moving. There are elastomeric crack compounds for the corner that always moves; better still, a moulding that hides it.
- Prime and paint the wall. Every repair flashes if you only touch up the patch. Why.
- Keep the house between 30% and 50% humidity. A new house at 20% in January cracks more; one at 70% in July swells. A humidifier on the furnace and a dehumidifier in the basement are cheaper than tapers.
Questions people ask
Are drywall cracks in a new house normal?
Yes, in year one: the framing dries and shrinks and the board shows it as hairline cracks at corners and openings and as screw pops. They are fixed once after the first heating season and mostly do not return. Wide, stepped or offset cracks are the exception and get a professional look.
Why do my drywall screws keep popping?
The lumber shrank away from the board as it dried, leaving the screw head proud under the paint. New screws beside the old, set properly, after the first winter, and three coats. Pops that keep appearing in year three are a wet house or a ceiling that moves.
Why does the crack at the ceiling come back every winter?
Truss uplift. The trusses bow up in cold weather and pull the ceiling board away from the wall. Filling it does nothing; floating the ceiling edge or a crown moulding attached to the ceiling only is the fix.
When is a drywall crack serious?
When it steps along the joints and widens, when one side is higher than the other, when doors and windows nearby stick, or when there is a matching crack in the foundation. Those are the house moving, and an engineer looks before a taper.
Price the fix
The repair calculator prices cracks and pops by the count with the painting. For the one crack in five that is not cosmetic, the new-home regrets page has company.
Sources and further reading
- Tarion warranty coverage: what a new-home warranty covers for drywall cracks, nail pops and paint in year one and year two, and what it does not.
- Gypsum Association construction standards: GA-216 application and finishing (the hanger’s bible: fastener spacing, ceiling framing limits, joint treatment) and GA-600 fire resistance design manual, with the free downloads.
- Keeping the Heat In: Natural Resources Canada. The air barrier at the drywall, poly, and why the vapour barrier matters more than the paint.
