Cracks in Sheetrock Walls (1 Viewer)

[LewB]

My living room, dining room and kitchen are above a cinder block wall, concrete floor crawl space that is about 4ft high. I live in a damp area and the crawl space frequently gets water in it.
There are 3 doorways (kitchen to dining room, kitchen to living room, slider to deck) that have developed cracks in them. These cracks start at the upper corner(s) of the doorway and either go straight up or at a 45 degree angle from the corner of the door.
I'm guessing that this is due to settling (house is about 25 years old) made worse by the water in the crawl space and the wet ground around the house. Something tells me I might be looking at a major repair here. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated. I already contacted one of those 'b-dry' companies, but they won't even work in crawl spaces due to more frequent worker injures.

 

[Chu Gai]

Well, you could try gouging out the affected area and then applying a wire mesh screen and spackling that over but I think it'd reappear after a while. Perhaps a better long term solution is to get rid of the sheetrock in that area and replace it. It's a job you can do yourself.

 

[Dave Poehlman]

I'm guessing that this is due to settling (house is about 25 years old) made worse by the water in the crawl space and the wet ground around the house.

Water in your crawl space would indicate you've got a grading or drainage problem with the land around your house. If you're seeing cracks in the walls, there's a good chance you've got some bowing or sagging going on in your foundation.

If it were me, I'd take a look down there and see how the cinderblocks look. If they're not too out of whack... you might be able to stop further damage by repairing the grading around the structure. It's something you could do by hand with a few friends and a lot of back breaking labor.

Also, check your downspouts to make sure they're draining several feet away from the house... downhill. A clogged or leaky downspout can wreak havoc on a foundation.

Rather than a b-dry guy, you might want to contact a foundation specialist to have a look.

 

[LewB]

The entire front yard, as well as the neighbor's driveway slope in towards the house, add that to the fact that my development is built on landfill of a former wetland. I have downspout extensions to take rain water away from the house, but I have a feeling the major problem is the slope of the land itself.
I'm past the point of attempting back-breaking projects. I like your idea about calling in a foundation specialist. Looks like I'll be cracking open the piggy bank big time

 

[Colton]

Is moving out of the question?

 

[LewB]

Yeah, been there 20 years and like the neighbors and living on a dead-end street. My fault for not addressing the water problem before.