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I bought a house 8 months ago the inspector said everything was fine with the house.

This past weekend I noticed this crack that goes the entire length of my garage and down the wall. House is 14 years old, wood frame, on concrete foundation. I went up in the garage attic and the crack is exactly where the two pieces of drywall meet.

Are these something to be concerned about? Foundation problems? Who should I call to come check it out?

This is the ceiling in the garage. That crack runs the whole length of my garage and extends down the wall about half way.

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    Please take a wider view. A single crack does not tell the story.
    – r13
    Commented Dec 22, 2021 at 11:13
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    Some context would be helpful. Where is this? Inside, outside? What is on the other side of the wall? What's below this? Right off this looks to be quite superficial but that's only going by what little you have shown.
    – jwh20
    Commented Dec 22, 2021 at 11:22
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    Correction: The inspector said everything was fine that they inspected. Home inspectors vary wildly in thoroughness, and there's a whole list of things they don't even touch. I'm not trying to scare you, but it's not really relevant what they said.
    – isherwood
    Commented Dec 22, 2021 at 13:41
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    In the garage, you say? FWIW, I have a crack in the garage ceiling's drywall, along a seam, that opens up every winter. Closes every summer. Apparently, the cold, dry air causes one of the rafter boards to warp a little every year. It could be as simple as that, or it could be something structural.
    – Jamie M
    Commented Dec 22, 2021 at 14:02
  • It is foundation problems
    – Curtis Singleton
    Commented Dec 31, 2021 at 4:19

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Cracks in drywall can happen anywhere where drywall is connected to other materials. Temperature fluctuations result in different materials shrinking and extending in different ways, which causes stress and can cause the weaker material to crack. Rooms which aren't properly heated (like most garages) and thus experience greater temperature swings are of course especially susceptible to this.

So cracks like that are usually harmless as long as they don't appear in massive load-bearing walls. They are mostly a cosmetic problem. They can be fixed by filling them with acryl sealant and then painting them over with latex paint. Although this is best done in the spring or autumn when there is an average temperature outside. When you do it while it's cold, the cracks might reopen when it gets hot and vice versa.

If cracks do appear in massive load-bearing walls (as opposed to drywall where the wooden framing hidden behind them is load-bearing), you better call a structural engineer and have them confirm that the building is still structurally sound.

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  • I went up in the attic and the crack is exactly where the pieces of drywall meet together
    – Curtis Singleton
    Commented Dec 22, 2021 at 16:01

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