LESLIE: Keith in Illinois, you’ve got The Money Pit. What can we do for you today?
KEITH: Yes, I recently purchased a one-and-a-half-story home. It’s a new home.
TOM: OK.
KEITH: And I’m having trouble with truss uplift. During the winter – my builder says that the truss has expanded and contracted and they – on the second floor, you can see where the tape has pulled away from the drywall.
TOM: Right.
KEITH: And right now, he’s saying the only solution will be to put up crown molding on the second floor rather than fix it. And I was hoping you had a better solution.
TOM: Why don’t we try to fix it once and we can mold it second? But there is a condition called truss uplift and trusses do expand and contract. But trusses are also designed to work with drywall.
Now, if this paper tape is coming off, what I would do is I’d pull off all the loose paper tape and then I would sand off all of the excessive spackle that’s there. I would replace it with fiberglass drywall tape, which is much tougher and easier to …
LESLIE: And more flexible.
TOM: And flexible and easier for you to let the spackle sort of permeate that surface. And then give it a year and see what happens. I wouldn’t go right to the molding step; that’s sort of when all else fails, put molding over it kind-of-a-thing. But I would definitely try to replace the paper tape with fiberglass tape, because I think you will find that it’s a lot more durable and less likely to peel off.
KEITH: Alrighty. I appreciate your help.
TOM: Alright, Keith. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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