Cracks in Your Drywall: What Does It Mean and What Can You Do?

Do you have cracks on the drywall on the inside of your home?

Surprisingly, your problem may actually be a sagging crawl space and not settlement of your foundation walls. Your cracks could also be caused by a sinking floor or upheaval of a concrete slab.

Crawl spaces can sag when their support beams sink into the ground. They can also sink when mold or rot weakens floor joists and girders. As the crawl space sags, the floor above will also sink. And as the floor sinks, it can pull on the walls attached to it, leading to cracks in the drywall.

Crawl space supports should be installed to stabilize the crawl space and in turn your floors and walls above it. Mold and rot issues should also be addressed by installing a crawl space liner and a dehumidification system to remove the excess moisture. At Connecticut Basement Systems, we recommend our Smart Jack System, which uses heavy duty, steel crawl space jack posts. These posts are installed quickly and can restore floors and walls to their original positions. They also address the issue of poor supporting soils by distributing the weight of the home.

When the soil underneath a slab floor settles or is washed away, the floor itself will begin to sag. When the soils expand, the slab may lift upwards or heave. In either case, movement in the floor can cause cracks along the drywall.

Before doing any repairs to your foundation, it’s important to have the problem officially diagnosed as heaving. The cracks caused by heaving can easily be misread as foundation settlement because the symptoms are often similar. Start by having an experienced foundation specialist inspect your issue and identify the cause of your problem. Once the problem is correctly identified, a customized solution can be proposed to repair the damage and address the cause of the issue.

Connecticut Basement Systems’ first priority will be to eliminate water sources wherever possible. We can check for underground water line leaks, clogged drains, broken sprinkler lines or faulty gutter systems. Once we have identified the water problem, we can fix your problem with solutions such as concrete repairs, soil stabilization or helical piers that can both support your foundation and keep it from heaving again in the future.

Foundation heave is a complicated problem but no matter what kinds of problems you may be experiencing to cause those cracks in your drywall; our in-house team of foundation experts are here to help. We offer free, personal consultations to help you decide which repair solution is right for you. Each consultation includes an on-site inspection and free written estimate.