howto cover crack in wall

December 31, 2005 7:15 PM

Help me cover up a crack in the living room wall.

We just moved in to a new house and while the house is nice and all, there's this crack in the wall. It stretches from 3/4 of the height of the wall to one side, and meanders its way to the floor, and is roughly the hypoteneuse of an imaginary triangle. Please suggest creative or clever ways to cover this crack.

posted by dhruva to Home & Garden (9 answers total)

Hmmm... How wide is this crack? Large cracks can be a sign that the foundation is settling or the walls are bowing out (if there are too many layers of roofing, for example). Before covering the crack, make sure it's not an indication of bigger problems.

If it's just a hairline crack, a little spackle and a touch-up with paint should do the job.
posted by Quietgal at 7:37 PM on December 31, 2005

Response by poster: It's slightly bigger than a hairline crack, but not a large crack. I'd rather not go into painting if I can avoid it.
posted by dhruva at 7:53 PM on December 31, 2005

If you're certain there's no structural damage (see post above about foundation/walls issue) ... and assuming the substructure is something more interesting than bare studs (brick? stone?) you could artfully make the crack bigger and expose the substructure. Make it look all urban and cool and shit.
posted by frogan at 8:02 PM on December 31, 2005

What's the composition of the wall? If it's drywall, it's pretty easy to remove the damaged section(s) and put up new drywall.
posted by SPrintF at 8:18 PM on December 31, 2005

Hang a tapestry over it. Or a velvet Elvis.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 8:19 PM on December 31, 2005

mathowie asked a similar question last year.
posted by geekyguy at 11:37 PM on December 31, 2005

When you say "new house" do you mean newly-built? If so, get the builder to fix it. New (newly-built) houses usually have a warranty to cover this sort of thing. Do try to find the cause, even though some settling and stress-relieving is normal in a new house.

If it's not newly-built, do still find the cause. If it's an old house but is still settling, bad news is possible.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:03 AM on January 1, 2006

Response by poster: No, it's a rented house, which is why I'd rather not do major alterations. I reckon it's just a crack in the plaster and the wall itself.
posted by dhruva at 3:59 PM on January 1, 2006

Go to your local paint store and tell them your problem. They will hand you the business cards of a couple of handyman types. Call a couple of them and get estimates. It should be pretty cheap; I had a whole housefull of cracks done for about $50. They'll take care of the entire thing and paint over it, too, if you have the original paint. You'll never be able to tell that anything was done.
posted by LittleMissCranky at 4:15 PM on January 1, 2006