Cracks in gyprock walls at joints

[TRC]

Our house is always moving being on independant foundations and on a mixture of clay, loam and bedrock. A number of cracks have appeared at the joints of the gyprock on the walls. I have previously taped and plastered them, but they keep reappearing. When the weather is very dry, the ground shrinks and the house moves causing the cracks to widen. The opposite occurs when we get a lot of rain. Some of them widen enough to tear the tape, while others are only hairline cracks. I have even tried no more gaps but the larger cracks still tear that as well. The larger cracks are about 3mm. Do you have any solution for this so I can fix it once and for all.

[Jason]

Welcome to Workshop @TRC and thanks for joining in the discussion.

Sorry to read of your difficulties with walls cracking. Hopefully the community will have some advice for you. Let me tag some of our experienced members in @Brad, @ProjectPete and @gippslandhome who might like to kick off the discussion.

Feel free to post anytime you need assistance. We have loads of helpful members sharing advice and inspiration every day.

Jason

[gippslandhome · Accepted solution]

Thank you @Jason  for your continued support and success of this community and for tagging us into this discussion.

Hi @TRC 

Structural movement can be quite severe as you are aware and it sounds like the movement is alot more than normal.

No more gaps would have been my first suggestion, but you have covered that.

Without doing major works to try and sure up the foundations I am wondering if you should first try a silicon based filler that is paintable and has high flexibility.

Bunnings has a number of products, so instead of listing them all here could I suggest a trip down to Bunnings and speak to the team in the appropriate section who will point you to a few options.

Personally the company Bostic makes some great construction sealants but keep an open mind when you speak to the team member.

3 main features you want are

1- High stick. 2-High Flexibility 3- Paintable

All the best and I hope you find a solution.

Kind regards Rob 👍

[TRC]

Thanks Rob. I will go and have a talk. Even if the mastic stretches with the movement, the paint wont so I will still have paint cracking..  Possibly a problem that does not have a quick cost effective solution apart from covering the gap with a dress timber like they did decades ago...

[Brad]

Similar issue at my place but with plaster walls and a strip style foundation on Adelaide's clay based soil. Bathroom, toilet and laundry have avoided the cracking problems by having cement floors. The fix for me would be pull up the floor boards and pour concrete with reinforcing and ignore the poor layout of the kitchen. Another option is the inject whatever it is they use to stabilise the ground, not sure how effective it fixes things in the long term and how it compares price wise to DIY concrete.