The best expansion joints are made of vinyl, which resists denting and take advantage of the flexible properties of vinyl , limiting wear and tear and the need for repairs. Expansion control joints are even available in fire-rated versions , allowing you to meet code with minimum fuss and labor. While it may seem obvious, it's worth mentioning that one of the leading causes of cracked drywall, especially in commercial and multi-family environments, is natural wear and tear.
As clients come and go or tenants move in with all their possessions, it is easy for them to bump into a corner and leave it cracked or dented. Traditional metal corner beads offer some protection against these kinds of impacts because they offer good tinsel strength.
However, the downside of metal beads is that once deformed, they do not spring back, so any dents or damage will be permanent. Alternatively, vinyl corner beads offer similar resistance to damage, but are flexible and bounce back. This reduces the need for repairs as vinyl can deform temporarily in response to impact and then return to its original shape.
Drywall subcontractor Drywall Nation demonstrates how metal bullnose is no match to the resilience of vinyl. A second advantage of vinyl is the ease of manufacturing vinyl into various shapes, allowing vinyl beads to be produced in a variety of styles that make it particularly well-suited to luxury multi-family structures where a custom and homey feeling is desired.
Manufactured housing has to address all the same concerns of stick built housing, plus it must concern itself with the safe transport of fabricated architecture to the site. As a result, manufactured housing companies turn to vinyl as high quality inexpensive material, and a long-term solution. Learn how vinyl products solve the challenges of drywall finishing manufactured housing. Adding to the complexity of solving problems related to building movement — especially expansion — is the fact that materials expand and contract at every single edge, including internal ones.
That means that there is also the potential for expansion and cracking! For these cases, you should consider products that not only seal against the environment, but offer the flexibility required to keep doors, windows, etc.
Where the drywall meets the window and door frame in this image, Super Seal Tearaway should be used to create a clean finished edge that offers protection for the drywall as well as a seal. Beyond the many environmental factors like building movement that contribute to cracking drywall, they are plenty of factors that relate to the correct installation and finishing of the drywall surface. For instance, one very common cause of cracking is applying drywall mud too thick. As the mud dries, the surface dries first.
When the mud is too thick, the surface hardens while the material below is still drying. This differential can result in cracking To avoid this problem use several thinner coats of compound. As a result, it dries more quickly and shrinks less, making it less prone to cracking. A glue-like drywall mud additives such as Mud Max can be mixed into your mud of choice to make it more malleable when dried. This gives the mud more flexibility and allows the mud itself to move a bit in response to environmental factor.
Glue-like additives can help limit cracking in the case of movement. Butt joints - where two pieces of drywall meet, is an area susceptible to cracking. To minimize cracking do your best to place your butt joint where they are the least exposed to movement. For instance, notch your drywall around doors and windows instead of breaking drywall at these movement prone areas.
For your bedding tape coat choose Durabond or another general purpose compound not lightweight , which will dry harder and contains more adhesive. Use paper tape or FibaFuse for your bedding coat instead of mesh. Mesh tape has the tendency to twist causing a crack to form. It sounds like air leakage carrying moisture is wetting the interior of the wall and causing the mud to rehydrate and crack upon drying. Also Know, should I sand between coats of drywall mud?
Yes, knock off any bumps between coats , but there's no need to get it perfect. A screen sander on the end of a pole is the best tool for this job. And it goes without saying that you should minimize any bumps while the mud is still drying to avoid having to sand it later.
Fill the crack with new drywall compound, and apply a thin coat of compound to the wall surface where the old tape was removed.
While the compound is still wet, place a strip of fiberglass tape over the seam , bridging the gap between the ends of the existing tape image 4. Start by laying a thick bed of joint compound down the center of the seam. If the mud on your fresh drywall is cracking , painting over the problem only serves to make the cracks more noticeable. Drywall mud often cracks because it has dried too quickly or because the application was too thick.
Instead, you can patch the cracked area once the mud has dried. Are spackle and joint compound the same? We used fiberglass mesh tape for our joints and Green board for the bathroom walls. When we did the work 2 months ago, we noticed the drywall compound took quiet a while to cure - so we gave it some more time - like 1 or 2 days.
Humidity in the house seemed fine when we did the work. We kept the bathroom fan on to keep the air flowing. The new bathroom fan was well rated for the size of the room, and we installed one of those switches that senses humidity and turns on automatically works great. The house was air conditioned the entire time.
We painted the undercoat and top coat, everything seemed to go fine. Just months, and many showers later, we're getting these cracks. Any suggestions on how to fix them? Smythers , Nov 27, Joined: Sep 2, Occupation: Retired Systems engineer for defense industry. Location: New England. Was this the pre-mixed, or dry powder drywall mud? Cracks in the pre-mixed tend to come when the stuff is applied beyond the recommended thickness. It shrinks, cracks, and can peel away from the surface sort of like mud in a puddle after it dries out.
Think alligator cracks. The dry stuff, over watered when mixing can cause cracks from shrinkage.
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