Newly skimmed room cracked at scrimmed joints

[phatboy]

I have just had our lounge re-skimmed, walls and ceiling.

The ceiling is plasterboard from the 1950's, There were cracks showing at the board joints, so I added plasterboard screws along the joists, put 4" scrim tape and then greened it before it was skimmed. In a few places the cracks have still managed to re-appear within 10 days of plastering.

When the room was skimmed it was warm, and the next few days were also pretty warm. Could this alone be the cause?

And what's the best way to fix it? Do I need to rake out the cracks which are hairline, or can I just filler over them using drywall jointing compound and sand?

Thanks!

 

[stevethespreader]

i had a crack run all the way across the room and it goes into next door as well and the house after that, i done all the right things ect reenforced the joint with more screws but it still came back im convinced its a stress crack or movement , anyway i took the old tape out replaced with paper tape and jointed it ive added the procedure in an album called stress crack for you to look at its been a few months now and have not come back im not saying it wont come back but time will tell, i cant say why your cracks have come back but this is what i done to mine

 

[phatboy]

Thanks Steve. Removing 4" tape sounds like a nightmare!

Your pictures are helpful thanks. For now I will just fill it and paint and see how it goes. If it's not good I'll go for your more severe option!!

 

[phatboy]

Hi, so the cracks have re-appeared already so I need to go with Steve's option.

There is 4" scrim there at the moment, will it be OK to cut back 2" of plaster and fit paper tape? Did you use Easifill on the repair?

Thanks!

 

[stevethespreader]

Run a stanley knife down either side of the tape then rip the tape out before you put paper tape in put easyfill in to bed tape then cover with easyfill I had the luxury of going over the easyfill with joint cement which is finer than easifill but you should be ok using just easyfill I also had the same paint left over in the attic so I didn't have to paint the whole ceiling don't forget to seal the easifill with a mist coat

 

[phatboy]

Well, I took off all the cracked areas today. There were more than I thought when I got close. Some of the boards were a bit loose so I suspect this was the cause.

It's not pretty.....

I decided I can't be bothered sorting it myself as I'll be forever. A plasterer has offered to do it for me, said he will scrim it and then re-fill with multifinish. As the boards are now more secured I hope that will do the trick. I will then re-decorate as needed.

I had already bought a roll of paper tape and a bag of Easifill!

Tearing out the scrim, and then the hessian scrim under the old layer of plaster has wrecked my hands!!

Tim