Drywall Crack Repair in Phoenix
Settling cracks over doors, seams that split, nail pops, and the ceiling crack that comes back every summer. Fixed so they stay fixed.
Arizona ROC #366903 · Licensed, Bonded & Insured
Cracks in drywall come from movement. The house settles, the framing shrinks and swells with the seasons, and the drywall, which doesn't move, splits along the weakest line. Filling a crack with compound and painting over it works for a few months. Fixing it so it stays fixed means reinforcing the joint so it can move a little without opening again.
Cracks over doors and windows
The classic Phoenix crack runs diagonally up from the corner of a door or window. The corner is where the stress gathers as the house settles, and the drywall splits there first. These are the cracks that come back if they're just filled, because the wall still moves slightly.
The fix is to open the crack a little, tape over it so the joint is reinforced, and finish it in thin coats like a new seam. Mesh tape and a setting-type compound make a joint that flexes instead of cracking. Then it gets textured and primed.
Seam cracks and lifted tape
A straight crack along a seam between two sheets, or tape that has bubbled and lifted off the wall, means the original tape lost its grip. That happens when the first coat of compound was too thin or the wall got damp. The loose tape gets cut out, the seam gets fresh tape and compound, and it's finished and textured.
Nail pops
Nail pops are the small round bumps or dimples that appear in rows. They're nails backing out of the framing as the wood dries and shrinks, and in Phoenix framing dries fast. Each one gets a screw driven next to it to hold the drywall tight, then the old nail is set below the surface and both get covered.
The ceiling crack that opens and closes
A crack where the ceiling meets the wall, or across a ceiling near a wall, that opens in summer and closes in winter is truss uplift. The roof framing moves slightly as the attic temperature changes, and it lifts the ceiling off the top of the wall. Patching it rigidly just moves the crack to next summer.
Those get handled differently: a flexible caulk in the joint, or a crown molding or trim strip attached to the ceiling only, so the joint can move behind it.
Cracks that mean something else
Most cracks are cosmetic. A few are worth a second look before patching:
- Cracks that keep getting wider over months
- Stair-step cracks that follow block joints in a block wall
- Cracks that show up with doors that start sticking at the same time
- A crack with a bulge or a soft spot next to it, which is water, not movement
If a crack looks like one of those, we'll say so, and a structural engineer should look before anything gets patched.
Problems we fix on this page
- Crack over a doorway
- Crack from the corner of a window
- Crack in the ceiling
- Crack where the wall meets the ceiling
- Cracks that keep coming back
- Nail pops in rows
- Tape seam bubbling or peeling
- Corner bead cracked or dented
- Bullnose corner damaged
- Vaulted ceiling crack
- Beam on the ceiling cracked
- Faux wood beams loose
- Tongue-and-groove ceiling boards gapping
- Ceiling crack along the peak of a vaulted ceiling
How it starts
Send a photo of the crack and one from a few feet back. If it's been patched before, say so. We send back a fixed price, you say go, and Levi shows up to do it. Several cracks in one room are usually one visit plus a short return for texture and primer.
Questions
- I filled the crack and it came back. Why?
- Filler alone doesn't hold a joint that moves. The crack needs tape over it so the joint is reinforced. Then it stays closed.
- Is a crack over my door a foundation problem?
- Usually not. Those cracks come from normal settling and show up at door and window corners. Cracks that keep widening, stair-step cracks in block, or doors sticking at the same time are worth having a structural engineer look at.
- Can you fix a crack without retexturing the whole wall?
- Yes. The repaired strip gets textured to blend into the wall around it. On a wall with heavy knockdown it blends well. On a smooth wall it's easier still.
Related pages
Drywall repair
Holes, cracks, water stains and dents, patched and textured so they're hard to spot.
Texture matching
The reason patches show is texture. We match orange-peel, knockdown and skip-trowel so the repair is hard to spot.
Carpentry & trim
Baseboards, casing, crown, shelving and the small wood projects that finish a room.
Ready to get it fixed?
Tell us what needs doing. Quotes are free. We usually reply within minutes, and always within 24 hours.