LESLIE: Janet in Michigan, what can we do for you today?
JANET: Well, I have cracks that have formed. I had some outside work done on my 15-year-old house last year. And first I thought it might be from settling but then I realized, no, these have formed after the house was long settled.
LESLIE: Well, tell me where you see them.
JANET: Well, do you know where two walls come together and form a point into the room?
LESLIE: OK.
JANET: OK. It’s about an inch-and-a-half from that pointed area.
TOM: OK, what that is, is that’s the drywall tape loosening up because – this is an inside corner, correct?
JANET: The corner is pointing at me not away from me.
TOM: Alright, so it’s an outside corner. So what you’re looking at is the metal corner bead.
JANET: That’s what I thought. But I don’t know how to fix it.
TOM: Well, it’s very easy. What you want to do is re-nail that corner bead. You would use some drywall nails which have big heads and so secure it because it’s going to be loose. You want to nail it in a bunch of places. And the trick of corner beads is that you want to sink the nail into it so it’s below the surface of the outside corner. That assures that you can cover it with spackle. You’re just going to have to put a few more nails in that and then re-spackle it and you’ll be fine. Nothing to worry about there. That’s pretty much normal expansion and contraction. It happens all the time.
JANET: Terrific.
TOM: Janet, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974.
Leave a Reply