- In this video we talk about why does
house settling cause dry wall cracks.
Vertical cracks, horizontal cracks,
and when you should actually be worried.
That's starting right now.
- Welcome to Homebuyer's School,
brought to you by
Brookfield Residential.
- Hi everyone, Karl Yeh here, welcome
to another Homebuyer School video.
A channel where you get the latest strategies,
tactics, and tips from home buying experts.
And remember if this is your first time on this channel,
hit the subscription button below
hit the little notification bell so you don't miss anything.
So today I'm joined by Kurt Gibson
field operations director with Brookfield Residential.
And the question we're going to answer today
is what is house settling dry wall cracks?
So Kurt I know we talked about house settling before,
so can you tell me more about potential cracks
in the dry wall while the house is settling?
- For sure again we've talked a little bit
in previous videos, but the big thing is there
is so much wood that goes into building homes typically,
and I mean it's also a lot more cost effective
to build with wood then metal too.
But so the reality of it is when you have wood,
there is moisture content in the wood
and when your putting in metal screws versus dry wall
which doesn't typically have a ton of movement
in it, you're going to have some shifting
and cracking is going to occur.
I think people need to understand that it's normal
for that to occur, it's really just what
are the tolerances and what to look for to determine
whether it's serious or not serious at different points.
A lot again is outlined through the Alberta Home Warranty
program and you can find information
on that through their website.
The big thing is that drywall you'll see pops and cracks
again most builders will come out and repair
those things at the end of one year.
If they have a one year program,
or they have a two year program they
may be the end of the second year too as well so.
- So why does house settling actually cause dry wall cracks?
- Well again, we've talked a bit but there's
so much moisture in a home.
You know concrete has a lot of moisture,
it's a water based product when they pour it.
And it has to settle, and it has to have
a lot of the moisture come out of it.
It's the same thing with wood.
There's so much, a lot of moisture in it,
and it has to come out especially in the Calgary climate.
So when that happens, it starts to dry out
and then you got metal screws going in or metal nails
going in, and the wood's coming up against it.
And then there also metal joints on the dry wall
on the taping and things, those things
have a tendency to shrink over time,
and then what happens is settling happens
and then you get cracking on it.
I mean minor cracks are, they're very normal.
- Okay and remember if you want to know more
about house settling, check out our video above.
Now so is there a difference between
vertical or horizontal on drywall cracks?
Or is kinda the same thing?
- Well I think a lot of times when you see
a vertical crack versus a horizontal
it really just defines where the issue is at.
Sometimes you'll get vertical er
horizontal cracks over windows, or down lower in the floor.
And that's really where, I'll go back to windows
there's what we call headers or beams that go over top
of windows and they're typically larger material.
And they can be shrinking and that's where
you can see that, where vertical would be
the horizontal members or the vertical members
going up and down your studs and stuff
that could be cracking and causing some settlements so.
- And when you talked about windows and doors,
and I know we talked bout this in our previous video
but when a house is settling, it's the same thing
in terms of like the windows not closing properly,
or the doors not really fitting in,
is that kinda normal as well?
- It is very normal.
I mean it's a really good sign is if you've used
shifting your window back and forth, and all of a sudden
it gets a little tougher to do it then obviously
that could be certainly putting pressure on the window
and could be causing issues that way.
Very normal again we can those adjustments
should be able to be easily made
by a customer care technician to be able to do that.
But it's not unusual.
It's really when it gets to the point
where it doesn't move at all I would say
there's more of a concern, again you know
there's tolerances that are again outlined
through the Alberta Home Warranty,
but you shouldn't see anything more
more than a 16th through an 8th
of an inch of movement in that stuff.
And if you do have then it's maybe
it's a different discussion at that point in time so.
- So how do you know, I know vertical horizontal
let's say your dry walls are cracking,
and it's part of the normal house settling,
but how do you know if it's actually just part
of the settling or an actual more serious issue?
- Again I mean in more serious issues you'd see
some very significant cracking and a lot of it
like you'd see you know in houses where
we have seen issues, it is probably all kinds of cracking
and it's very wide cracks again more than
a 16th of an inch, an 8th of an inch,
you can even see baseboard encasings split
or move apart, rare it is very rare but it does happen.
And you know sometimes even our best doing our best work
there is soil conditions sometimes you'd
have concrete you know concrete can settle
sometimes if there happens to be a pocket in the ground
that got missed and it starts to settle
but there are ways to correct all that.
I mean seeing it before it's pretty easy
to fix for the most part so.
- Perfect so do you have anything else
to add in terms of drywall cracking?
- No again just I mean if people have any concerns,
I mean I think the big thing is not
to be too concerned about it.
It's really to determine and check the Alberta Home Warranty
that it's within tolerances and if you feel its a concern,
then I would contact your builder for sure.
- Perfect well thank you very much
for joining us and we'll catch you next time.
- That's another edition of
Homebuyer's School.
Tune in next time for more
expert tips and tricks
and visit homebuyersschool.ca to bring
you one step closer to
finding your dream home.
As with everything it would be great
if you like and share our videos.
Also please let us know if you have
any home buying questions
you want us to answer.