Why Are the Walls in My Las Vegas House Cracking?
How to tell a cosmetic crack from one that needs an engineer.
Almost every house in this valley develops cracks, and the large majority of them mean nothing structural. That is worth saying first, because searching this question at eleven at night turns up a great deal of material written by companies that would like to sell you a foundation.
The reason cracks are so common here is under your feet. Southern Nevada sits on a loose sandy layer over caliche, a naturally cemented soil that can be as hard as concrete and sits at uneven depth. Mixed through it is clay that swells when it gets wet and shrinks when it dries. On top of that, a great deal of the valley was graded and built at enormous speed during the boom years, and ground that was not compacted with precision leaves voids that settle later.
A house sitting on that will move a little. Drywall is rigid and joins at seams. Something has to give, and it is usually the tape.
Six patterns, and what each one is telling you
Hairline above a door or window
The most common crack in Las Vegas and almost always cosmetic. Openings are weak points in a wall and the drywall seam above them is where minor movement shows first.
Fine cracks along a ceiling seam
Usually seasonal. Framing expands and contracts with temperature and humidity swings, and here those swings are extreme. Cosmetic in nearly every case.
Diagonal from a window or door corner
Worth watching. A single short one is normal settling. Several running the same direction across a house, especially if they widen toward the top, suggests differential movement underneath.
Stair-step cracking in block or stucco
This one gets a professional opinion. Stair-stepping follows mortar joints and indicates one part of the structure moving relative to another.
Horizontal cracks
The pattern to take most seriously, particularly in a block wall or anything below grade. Horizontal cracking suggests lateral pressure rather than settling.
Any crack that keeps growing
Mark each end with a pencil line and date it. A crack that has not moved in six months is a repair job. One that has moved is a diagnosis job, and the pencil marks are the cheapest evidence you will ever gather.
When it is us, and when it is not
If the cracks are cosmetic, this is finish work. We cut out the failed tape, re-tape with mesh, float it, texture it to match the surrounding knockdown, prime and paint. Done properly the repair disappears, which is a higher bar than it sounds because a smooth patch on a textured wall is visible from across the room in raking light. Texture matching is part of our interior painting scope rather than an extra, precisely because a repair that shows is not a repair.
If the pattern points at structural movement, you do not want a remodeling contractor and you certainly do not want anyone who offers to fix it on the spot. You want a licensed structural engineer to look at it and tell you what is happening, independent of anybody who would profit from the answer. That report is what any honest contractor works from afterwards.
We will tell you which of those two you have, at no cost, and we have no reason to inflate it. Patching drywall is a day of work. Pretending a structural problem is cosmetic would be a much more expensive thing for everyone.
Why the patch came back
The most common complaint we hear is that someone already repaired these cracks and they returned within a year. Two reasons account for nearly all of it.
The first is that the repair was cosmetic filler pressed into a moving joint. Caulk and spackle have no tensile strength across a seam. If the joint moves at all, the filler splits, usually in exactly the same line.
The second is that the movement never stopped. If a crack is being driven by something ongoing, whether that is drainage against the foundation, irrigation soaking one side of the house, or genuine settlement, then repairing the drywall treats the symptom. Fix the water first. Then repair the wall.
Cracked walls in Las Vegas homes
Are cracks normal in a new Las Vegas house?
Yes, and they are most common in the first two years while a new house settles onto its pad and the framing dries out. Builders usually expect to come back once for drywall touch-ups within the warranty period, so raise it before that window closes.
Should I be worried about cracks over my doors?
Rarely. That is the single most common cosmetic crack in the valley. It becomes worth a second look if the door itself has also started sticking, because two symptoms in the same place tell a different story than one.
How much does it cost to fix cracked drywall?
For cosmetic cracking, it is a small job priced by room and by how much texture matching is involved. What drives the price is not the crack, it is repainting enough of the wall for the repair not to show.
Can I just paint over it?
No. Paint has no structural strength across a seam and the crack will telegraph through, usually within a season. The tape has to be cut out and replaced.
Do I need a structural engineer?
If you have horizontal cracks, stair-step cracking, several diagonals running the same way, or any crack that is measurably widening, yes. It is a few hundred dollars for an independent opinion from somebody who is not selling you the repair.
Could my irrigation be causing this?
It genuinely could. Expansive clay swells when it gets wet, and a drip line or a sprinkler soaking the soil against one side of the foundation is one of the most common causes of uneven movement in this valley. It is also one of the cheapest to fix.
Want someone to look at it?
Describe what you are seeing, or send a photograph. We will tell you whether it is cosmetic or structural, and we will say so plainly when the answer is that you need a different trade.
Get My Free Written Estimate