Goodbye cracks?

[Phil Thien]

I have a hip roof and the ceilings on the second floor are sloped towards the outside.

I get seasonal cracks in the (real) plaster. The previous homeowners did a lousy job patching the cracks, they would have been better-off leaving them alone. They used a 1" or so knife, smeared some spackle on, and painted.

I don't tape these cracks because I know they will come right through the tape. I know that from experience, these cracks are the real deal. They aren't wide, but they are long and are from the framing of the roofline. I've done a lot of paper and fiberglass tape in my days, these cracks would laugh at any tape.

So I'm painting a couple of the rooms and thought I'd give the Goodbye Cracks a shot.

My only real concern is whether the stuff makes future repairs more difficult? I don't want to go after a crack some day down the road and start pulling a rubber layer of Goodbye Cracks off.

[JosephP]

We have one of those in drywall. We are having a drywall guy put knockdown ceiling on (side bar: we found somebody else to scrape 850 square feet of popcorn for $500!...the drywall guy didn't want any part of it.). We talked about repairing the crack right at the ceiling and he said probably best bet to fill it with silicone... I'll be curious to hear what others think of Goodbye Cracks. Maybe I'll put that on ahead of time if it is a better solution.

[Phil Thien]

JosephP said:

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We have one of those in drywall. We are having a drywall guy put knockdown ceiling on (side bar: we found somebody else to scrape 850 square feet of popcorn for $500!...the drywall guy didn't want any part of it.). We talked about repairing the crack right at the ceiling and he said probably best bet to fill it with silicone... I'll be curious to hear what others think of Goodbye Cracks. Maybe I'll put that on ahead of time if it is a better solution.

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I'm going to use a product called Big Stretch for a corner issue. It is reported to stretch better than any other caulk, and it is paintable. I've used other latex caulks in corners, they can last several years (not bad). This stuff is supposed to outlast them.

I've tried caulk in the field, it is a challenge to tool and when there is movement, you can actually get a little ridge that runs the length of the crack.

I don't really stress over hairline cracks that come and go, but if the Goodbye cracks makes them stay gone, I'll give it a shot. Provided it doesn't create any problems.

BTW, my walls are all plaster over rock lath. So things may be different for those with drywall or other types of lath systems.

[Robert Adams]

JosephP said:

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We have one of those in drywall. We are having a drywall guy put knockdown ceiling on (side bar: we found somebody else to scrape 850 square feet of popcorn for $500!...the drywall guy didn't want any part of it.). We talked about repairing the crack right at the ceiling and he said probably best bet to fill it with silicone... I'll be curious to hear what others think of Goodbye Cracks. Maybe I'll put that on ahead of time if it is a better solution.

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That's a good little profit for the drywall guy. Doesn't take long to get popcorn off. The key is to spray water on and it comes right off.

If you have any cracks that are seasonal etc it's much better to have a smooth finish. It's easy to repair a smooth wall but near impossible to repair texture without redoing the whole wall or ceiling.

[JosephP]

Crack is in the wall...

The lady estimating the ceiling estimated it would take her 1-1.5 days. I have scraped 2 other rooms, and it does come off easy...but this is a big vaulted ceiling. I keep going back and forth on whether I should do it, but I am quite busy enough with two jobs, so I'll let her do it...hopefully. She has the time now, but the guy doing the knockdown can't do it until June (and we don't want to move everything out of the rooms twice) so hopefully she can still do it then...otherwise I'll be stuck with it.

Another sidebar: when I talked with the guy doing the ceiling, he asked when the house was built/who built it. Said he probably did the drywall and ceiling when new. I advised him he should not brag about having applied popcorn

[Robert Adams]

Vaulted ceilings are no fun. Funny the guy that is going to redo it was the one that did It originally. Nice to see those guys still around as most don't last.

The other easy way to remove popcorn is to paint it.. A friend bought a foreclosure and the bank had someone paint the inside. Well they used a cheap paint on the ceiling that was very rubbery. It was thick enough that we actually were able to peel the paint off the ceiling in sheets and it pulled the popcorn off. Most rooms came off in one big sheet.
Luckily they didn't put that paint on the walls.


Houses from the 70s up to the mid 90s have popcorn here. Our house was 1960 and has a brush stamp texture walls and ceiling. As I redo a room it is getting skim coated. A few won't get it but most won't notice...

A heavy texture (with popcorn on the ceiling) was popular in the 80s and it's best to just gut the drywall and start over with that stuff.

Anyone remember the asbestos popcorn that was used in commercial. That stuff was thick and almost like foam.

[Admiral]

My first house back in '77 was built in 1910, all plaster interior, lath, base with horsehair binder, very old school. Hip roof too. Had same issue in several rooms, pretty significant cracking. Tried what patching was available at the time, can't remember what it was, no joy, lasted only 2 years.

Concluded that the only way to fix plaster was with plaster so I bit the bullet knowing it would be a PITA. Took out the cracked plaster two inches on each side of the crack until firm plaster was found, down to the lath; dovetailed edges, laid in base in two layers with each drying overnight, then finished with multiple coats of finish plaster. I happened to be in the house back in '95 and the repairs had held up nicely, couldn't tell those cracks were ever there.

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

I have used that stuff and did it in a living room 5 years ago and still no cracks. Will suggest that you use a stain killer primer before top coating. Will bleed through regular paint.

[John Mihich]

I have used a spray version of that. Seems to have worked for me.

As for plaster - the only sure way is to widen the crack and redo the plaster and build up like original. I did that in my old house and the cracks stayed away for 15 years - don't know about any more than that since we moved. Lots of work but when done I had brand new looking walls. I did skim coat on the rest of the room.

[Phil Thien]

JTTHECLOCKMAN said:

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I have used that stuff and did it in a living room 5 years ago and still no cracks. Will suggest that you use a stain killer primer before top coating. Will bleed through regular paint.

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Sounds promising, I'm going to try the Goodbye Cracks but will prime over the entire ceiling before painting. Thanks for the feedback.