Diagonal crack in dry-wall - Question

[Sale Jovic]

I have read many articles so far about cracks, foundations, etc - educating myself as much as I can since we are in the process of getting our first house.

http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/1719/insidephotofinal.jpg

Initially I have seen this diagonal crack in drywall - nothing crazy but something I was curious about to check on... I have seen these before in houses and heard many people feedback that any and every house will have these sooner or later...

Is this something to be worried about or no?

Today we stopped by to check out a house again a little bit and noticed that spot where the red line is separation of the drywall is moving UP - initially I only saw a diagonal crack (about week or two ago when the inspection took place)... my dad-in-law who has been contractor already told me that house had a poor paint job done, plastering was done kind of bad, and wall junction tape was probably just slapped and painted over causing this to happen. He said it is nothing to be overly worried about - looks bad but it can be fixed every once in a while to avoid ugly look.

Home Inspector also said the same - not to worry overly about it, yes it is ugly, but it will come back whatever I try to do. From time to time he said you can patch, paint over, etc - something for me to do down the road he says.
To mention this that Unfinished Basement has no cracks in the concrete walls nor it has traces of recent work done to fix any if/as needed.
I trust people who are contractors and certified inspectors - all fine and dandy, but wanted more opinions on this...

What do you think? Is this something to be worried about?

Sorry for asking these noob questions - but I find this forum very beneficial for any home buyer, especially first home buyers!

Thanks ALL for your help!!!

[John Kogel]

Sale, your picture is not there anymore. Reduce the size to 640 X 480 pixels. Then post here, scroll down to 'Upload Photos" and attach the file.

My house is 40 years old and there are no cracks in my drywall. None, But a small amount of movement, expansion or shrinkage doesn't stop people from living in and enjoying their homes. Less than 1/8" is usually insignificant.

[Sale Jovic]

Sorry about that guys... picture has been re-posted.
I wanted to avoid re-sizing so you can see the crack. I want to say it is very thin line but not sure how thin it would be... wild guess is maybe 1/32 of an inch?!

[CHRIS KRUSE]

In my experience you will find more cracks in homes that are less than 7 years old..By the time the house is 20 years old all of the settling has stopped and the cracks have been repaired for the last time.
This home appears to be relatively new or recently remodeled..How old is the home? or how long ago was the drywall installed?.

[Benjamin Thompson]

In my experience you will find more cracks in homes that are less than 7 years old..By the time the house is 20 years old all of the settling has stopped and the cracks have been repaired for the last time.
This home appears to be relatively new or recently remodeled..How old is the home? or how long ago was the drywall installed?.

I have usually assumed those diagonal cracks to be from original shrinkage and periodic shrinkage / swelling of the framing lumber and headers from humidity, as well as drywall shrinkage and swelling due to temperature changes, not "settling". I write them up as "patch them but know they are likely to reoccur".

[Sale Jovic]

House is built 1994 and so far what I was able to find about it that quality of build is 8 (above average) according to public accessible information... anyhow, it was the same builder for the whole subdivision so quality I would say is more average than above average...

Anyhow, house has been painted recently and I do not think there was any dry-wall installation, but just painting... very poor paint job was done as well as taping the corners and junctions - not really straight, no attention was paid when the work was done - so, yeah ...

[Sale Jovic]

anyone?
tnx!

[Dom D'Agostino]

Drywall cracks are exceedingly common, especially in the areas identified in your photo. Where the seams are joined, cracks can form.

Above windows and doors is a very common crack location. Poor workmanship is also to blame; initial construction may have been rushed, insufficient tape/mud on the joints, no blocking where poorly placed edges float, etc. etc.

It's hard to more specific without seeing the site first hand. If you trust your inspector, then have a drywall tech fix the cracks for you.

Dom.

[Lon Henderson]

Stresses build, something gives, and the stress is relieved for awhile.........maybe a long while. My parents forty year old house suddenly opened up a step crack along the drywall joints in the kitchen ceiling. My dad fixed it and twenty years later (when we sold the house) the crack had never returned.

In a house I owned about twelve years ago, I awoke to a floor to ceiling diagonal crack in our master bedroom wall in December. I waited until March and patched it. Nine years later and a divorce, by dumbest of circumstances I was back in the same house and there was no evidence that that crack had reopened. (If it had, whoever repaired it was as skilled as I was). BTW, I used a spray rubber stuff called Goodbye Cracks to fix it. I've had good luck with the stuff over the years.

It's true that some cracks have the habit of reappearing but some are one time occurrences. A home can be structurally sound and still have these annoying cracks.