# Cabinet meets ceiling crack



## stevedam850 (Dec 18, 2018)

Here is this old house we have. I have this issue. 

2 questions- 
1- What is cause of the separation?
 2- How do I fix that? 

Thanks all


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## nealtw (Dec 19, 2018)

How old is the house? do you have engineered trusses for a roof structure? Is this near the center of the house?


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## stevedam850 (Dec 19, 2018)

nealtw said:


> How old is the house? do you have engineered trusses for a roof structure? Is this near the center of the house?



House was built in 70’s

Not sure what that is. Maybe

Not really center


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## nealtw (Dec 19, 2018)

There are few things that can cause this, If the wall is center span of the floor joists, the joists could be sagging, you would see that in the floor.
If you have a truss roof assembly you could be seeing truss lift.  centers lift in certain winter conditions.
Can you poke your head in the attic and take a photo?


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## Sparky617 (Dec 19, 2018)

Is that a cabinet (wood) or a wall (drywall) meeting the ceiling?  If a cabinet different rates of expansion and contraction between the wood and drywall would help explain it.  I'd put a piece of molding there to hide the crack as it will be impossible to keep it closed.

With roof trusses, you can have "truss lift."  http://www.thisisdrywall.com/?p=484   Here again, crown molding can come to your rescue.   Trusses are factory build and made of 2x4 material arranged in small triangles to transfer the load from the roof to the walls.   Rafter and joists are built on site and made of 2x6 or better rafters and joists depending on span and roof load.


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## Snoonyb (Dec 19, 2018)

If or when you look in the attic and there are no triangular shaped wood configurations bur generally open space, the roof of that age is more than likely stick built.

It looks to me as though caulking is pulling the ceiling texture away. Which could mean that the soffit was not correctly attached, and is also separating.


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## Steve123 (Dec 19, 2018)

Wood moves with the seasons and moves with age.   I would not be to excited about that.
Fix by scraping out the effected area.  Carefully, to minimize damage to cabinets and ceiling.  Maybe run utility knife along ceiling to ensure you don't pull anything off beyond that.   Caulk with paintable white acrylic caulk.   Looks like a situation where applying tape to ceiling and cabinets before caulking will be helpful.   Pull tape immediately after caulking.   Really, you need to repaint ceiling and cabinets to make it invisible,  but if you put tape down before caulking, it will look pretty good and probably nobody will notice, until you are ready to paint.


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## nealtw (Dec 19, 2018)

Steve123 said:


> Wood moves with the seasons and moves with age.   I would not be to excited about that.
> Fix by scraping out the effected area.  Carefully, to minimize damage to cabinets and ceiling.  Maybe run utility knife along ceiling to ensure you don't pull anything off beyond that.   Caulk with paintable white acrylic caulk.   Looks like a situation where applying tape to ceiling and cabinets before caulking will be helpful.   Pull tape immediately after caulking.   Really, you need to repaint ceiling and cabinets to make it invisible,  but if you put tape down before caulking, it will look pretty good and probably nobody will notice, until you are ready to paint.


That is more than cosmetics
*Snoonyb might be on to something if the cupboards are hanging from the soffit, it might be dropping and needs attention.*


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## joecaption (Dec 19, 2018)

Got a mess there, no clue why that that oddball trim is even there, or why there's two different types where used.
Just guessing, was that trim added to hide some form of wiring?


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## nealtw (Dec 19, 2018)

joecaption said:


> Got a mess there, no clue why that that oddball trim is even there, or why there's two different types where used.
> Just guessing, was that trim added to hide some form of wiring?


that is the corner tape on drywall pulling apart.


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