Drywall Ceiling Repair of Corners

The ceiling drywall joint often reveals separation. This occurs for reasons that possibly include stress, incorrect taping and finishing procedures.


Lifting Tape:
Looking at the ceiling to wall joint, if separation of the tape occurs, where it actually appears to be lifting, the joint must be fully cleaned out and the faulty tape removed.

Assuming that water damage has not played a part, and with the paper of the drywall still intact, knife on the mud and tape. Finishing to a final skim coat and texture to match.

Cracking Seam:
For a crack that has shown in the joint -- you may need to take a putty knife and scrape enough to reveal the cause of the cracking.

If the area failing appears to have been repaired on first sight, it is not uncommon that the joint was never repaired properly.

Often this is the case where the person fixing the area was apprehensive about matching any surrounding texture, or simply did not want to wait on drying - he or she simply caulked the open drywall seam and did not apply mud and tape. Or the tape could have been left out altogether. Caulking will commonly result in cracking, it is not a recommend fix, even for cracking due to movement. But if the cause is structurally oriented, due to movement in the framing, the problem will likely recur.

All caulking must be scraped free without damage to the drywall paper. Beware if silicone caulk was used, it can be extremely difficult to clean and prevents proper adhesion for the recommended fix.

Regardless, the exposed open seam must receive mud, tape, be skim-coated and sanded.

For repair of a ceiling area that is textured - those repairs near the corner should not be a problem. Repairs that enter within the texturing should blend with a slightly lower set when dry, before proceeding to match the existing texture.

For broader area drywall repairs the fix will somewhat differ.

When done, a ceiling painting can help restore to a uniform look.