Tips to Fix the Cracks in Sheetrock Walls

Cleaning

• If the crack has been there a while, there's a good chance that the edges have started deteriorating, leaving a crudded-up mess that needs to be tended to. The first step is to cut a groove on each side of the crack with a box cutter, and clean it out. You shouldn't proceed until you have a nice seam to work with. Next, you need to find a way to stabilize the area around the crack so that it doesn't reappear in the future.

Stabilize

• The best-case scenario in stabilizing the cracked sheetrock is that you have a 2-by-4 wood stud directly behind it, which allows you to put a line of nails or screws along each side of the cleaned seam to keep them from curling up in the future. If not, the layers of mesh tape and drywall repair mud you'll apply in the following steps will have to provide the strength for the repair, though the area might be susceptible to house-settling in the future.

Repair

• Hardware stores have small bags of powder you can mix up into a muddy drywall repair mud. Add water, and stir according to instructions, paying particular attention to the amount of time you have before it starts to set. Fifteen or 20 minutes should give you plenty of margin for error, according to professional drywall installer and repairman Mike Bell. A 10-inch taping knife is a good tool to apply the mixture to the wall.

Finish

• At this point, it's merely a matter of repeating the process. Smooth and feather the coat of mud, then let it dry. Regular mud might need to set overnight, but your 20-minute drywall mixture should be ready to receive a second coat after about half an hour. You might decide to apply one or two more coats, depending upon the size of the crack. After that, scrape it, sand it, prime it, paint it, and you should have a nice blank area on your sheetrock wall where a crack used to be.