I have a long crack about 1" in from the ceilings.

[gabagoo]

The house is about 30 years old and I started noticing in 2 rooms on the second floor this crack just about an inch from where the ceiling meets the wall. In the winter it gets larger as the cold weather seems to pull the roof up a bit.... I thought I would go up on a ladder and slip some drywall compound into the crack and then push the tape back up into place. I realized pretty quick that it is not drywall tape and it is infact a corner bead. I have never seen this done before. In any case I am not sure how to secure this back up as I don't think there is any wood to screw it into.
Is this a common practice to do where inner walls meet the ceiling?

How can I fix this easily?

posting a pic

 

[bud16415]

What you have is a common problem called (truss uplift) you can google that and there is a lot of information.


What it is the bottom of your truss is buried in insulation and is warmer like the inside of your house and the top of the truss is up in the cold space. Wood expands and contracts with the temp and because the truss is different temps it changes shape and pulls away from the ceiling in the winter.


If you patch it with plaster or compound it will crack again next season most likely. Some people have had some luck using a rubbery caulking and others have given up and put a trim strip that lets the crack open and close behind it.


There are some tricks that can be used when building the house that allow the ceiling to flex enough but that needed to be done 30 years ago.


That’s my two cents maybe others will have some other ideas.

 

[Jeff Handy]

Fill the crack very neatly with paintable caulk, wipe off any excess that is not in the crack.

Let it dry, it will probably get sucked up there, so apply a second accurate layer just at the cracks, wipe off excess.

Leaving any excess will create shadow lines.

Then paint it and forget about it.

 

[gabagoo]

Thanks for the caulk tip it worked and you cant even see it from a short distance...no paint required either... Thank you

 

[nealtw]

Thanks for the caulk tip it worked and you cant even see it from a short distance...no paint required either... Thank you

The fix is to go up in the attic and pull the nails that hold the trusses to the wall, hammer the top plate back down and add uplift truss clips.
The corner bead was the last guys attempt at holding it down.