Project 12: Crack is Wack

Remember when our foundation shifted and left some big'ol cracks in our Dining Room walls?

Well, let me show you how I got rid of them!

Step one:
Use a blade to cut away the top layer of any drywall sticking up. Cracks are normally either where the drywall has separated (walls being pull apart) or buckled (pushed together). My cracks where where the drywall buckled so there was kind of a lot to cut away.

Sand away any pieces sticking up so you have a nice smooth surface:

 This is what it looks like when you're ready to start:

Step Two:
Use lightweight Sheetrock Joint Compound and a putty knife to fill in the crack. 

 Scrape off as much extra as you can, but don't worry, it doesn't have to be perfect, it shrinks as it drys and you'll need to do multiple layers.

Step 3:
Let it dry overnight, then sand it down. To sand it down, use one of these, a Drywall Sanding Block:

 I didn't even know that this tool existed a month ago, but now I love it. It has a great shape and does a great job of gently sanding away the extra joint compound without scratching your walls.

 (I switch which crack I was taking pictures of because of lighting, but it's the same process)

Wash, Rinse, Repeat... Err. I mean  Joint Compound, Dry 24 hours, Sand Down, Repeat (just doesn't have the same ring to it).

Adding second coat of the Joint Compound:

 I let it dry, sanded and then applied the third coat of compound. I"m showing you all three so you can see how each time it takes less and less compound to fix the crack. This third coat is very shallow, just filling in a slight depression left from the previous coat.

Here is what it looks like when the third coat is dry. It's not perfect, but it's WAY better. I thought about trying for a fourth coat but I didn't think it would make a big difference.

Step Four:
After the last coat of compound is dried and sanded you can paint your wall just like the crack was never there. And guess what? It looks even better when it's painted... 

NO MORE CRACK!!! :)  Want to see the before and after of the diagonal crack on the left?
Before:

After:

I have to be honest, I was surprised at how rewarding this project was. Getting those ugly cracks to disappear made the room just look so much nicer. And it was relatively inexpensive. You can do this to walls already painted as long as you have enough paint to do a touch up job when you're done. 

Project Cost: $12 for the joint compound + $3 for the sanding block = $15 (I already had the putty knife and was painting anyways).

Time: Total, maybe 2 hours for both cracks, but that was divided up into many different sessions so it didn't feel long at all.

Difficulty: I'd honestly say easy. I think it's one of those projects that looks like you need to know what you're doing, but in fact it's hard to screw up. Too much compound? Just sand more. Sanded too much? Just add more compound.