Crack Between Ceiling and Wall

[Terry34673]

There is a fairly deep crack between the ceiling an wall in our kitchen, I was wondering what would be the best way to fix this so the surfaces are ready for painting?

Close Up ;

 

[motorbiking]

scrape it out, remove any lose bits and then fill with patching plaster and rub back when dry.

The neater you are at patching the less rubbing back you'll need.

 

[KenGMac]

Terry34673, good evening.

How about you consider fitting a plaster cornice?

Ken.

 

[Doggit]

It's a natural movement point, so you can scrap out and pack it with caulking, but it'll go again in a few years; coving will solve the problem permanently.

 

[Terry34673]

Hi,

Thanks for all your suggestions ! The coving sounds like a great idea, not sure how I didn't think of this myself !

Some questions though ;

1.) Surely if the area is moving, the coving will also move with it / eventually crack/break ?

2.) Going off on a bit of a tangent here but on the wall next to the crack there are some pipes for the CH system ;

- There are large holes / gaps where the pipes go through the wall, I think draughts and cooking smells are flowing through these gaps into other rooms. What would be the best thing to
use to seal up these gaps / make them airtight? Plaster? Expanding foam? If the area is moving as suggested above, will it soon fall apart ?

- Once those gaps are sealed, what would be a neat way to cover the pipes? If it's safe, I was thinking maybe I could leave them exposed or cover with metal box
as there is no radiator in the room and one/two of those pipes gets hot when the CH is on so would act like a radiator !

- How would the coving integrate with any pipe covering?

 

[Doggit]

Coving will flex better as it's fixed at both surfaces, so won't be an issue, and a small squirt of expanding foam will fill the gaps, and be fine.

Whoever did that pipework, should be hung drawn and quartered. I have no idea if it breaks any regs, but you've got a water source above an electrical system - and has anyone tried to unscrew the Magna clean yet - and what's the control unit above the flue pipe.

I'm at a loss as to how to suggest you cover that over, as you need access to it, so you can't use the coving. You can't box it in above the boiler, only above the window, and the mismatch is going to look odd.

You could get the pipework lowered, and then put a false box above, and then put the coving on the front of the box to make it look the sams as the rest of the room.

 

[Chri5]

Just box the pipe work back in, the electrics near the magna clean at the top of the boiler look like plumbers controls for stat, timer etc.

Access there is needed so a velcro stuck panel of mirror screws and cups needed.

Regarding the hole around the pipes- rockwool / glass fibre and stuff it in- job done.

The cracking between ceiling and wall? What venting do you have, does the room get steamy when cooking. Constant moisture and drying cause those type of cracks, or movement (which seems unlikely).

Get a decent water based filler such as Toupret, fill from both sides until the crack is all but gone. Sand back to give a nice flat line to either edges and use an external grade caulk all along the seam / whats left of the crack.
The caulk will allow minor flexing, filler won't. By doing a bit of both you giving yourself a chance that minor flexing won't just bust the crack line again.

 

[Terry34673]

The white box above the boiler is the wireless receiver for the thermostat. Before we moved in there was no proper ventilation for the cooker to the outside, the extractor fan just blew the air back into the kitchen, so it wouldn't surprise me if the cracking was caused by this. Since then I have had some ducting installed which takes the air from the extractor fan to the outside of the house.

If I didn't use coving, I would like a nice neat 90 degree edge between ceiling and wall where the cracking is, but I am worried that would be really difficult to achieve.

 

[Chri5]

Use the filler and caulk method suggested and you be fine.

Run an old chisel to both faces (ceiling and wall) taking out bumps and previous errors.

Back fill one face, let it dry, rub it flat. Then do the other face, let it dry, rub.

Then run external caulk in the new formed corner, just a 2mm bead. Should be good as a forever fix, since you now have correct venting (provided it gets turned on )