Repairing drywall

[Unregistered-mjoe1941]

I have several small breaks/cracks in my drywall. one is a horizontal break in a narrow strip on a post seperating railing overlooking game room upstairs. Most of them are just out from the tape on some edges. The worst one goes all the way up a wall in this same general area. It is cracked open just outside of the inch line of tape on the drywall. They seem to have been caused by the house settling a little. The house is only 5 years old so we were told to expect some of this from the builder. Any suggestions on how to best repair the above? Thanks, Harold

[kbmcdowell]

The quick fix is just fill the cracks with drywall compound, let dry and paint. You might need to sand a little prior to painting, depending on how good you mud the cracks.

The more correct solution would be to tape some adhesive-backed fiberglass tape over the cracks, and skim drywall compound over that. You would have to be fairly handy with drywall compound to get this to look right, or have a fresh supply of sandpaper ready after it dries. The screen-type sandpaper for drywall is great. Turn fans and forced-air system off when sanding. A good vaccuum cleaner when all is said and done.

If you are not that drywall savvy, and you have the cash, you might want to consider having a drywall contractor do the job.

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