Dealing with reappearing cracks

Boardwatcher

Hi,

I have been doing some decorating in my parents bungalow which was built in the late 70s. There are quite a few cracks in the ceilings and walls. Some of these cracks 'bulge' so they are quite deep.

I dealt with them by opening them up with a scraper and filling them twice with tetrion filler. Then sanding and painting over with two coats of emulsion.

My experience with these cracks before is that within a few months they will come back. The work has been done over the past two months and they seem to be holding okay but there are already one or two that are showing again.

Is there a better way to deal with these cracks? I have heard some people recommend self adhesive mesh/joint tape over the crack first before filling, would this method be any better? Or are reappearing cracks just a fact of life?

Handsandtools

Did You use mesh or scrim tape over the cracks? You ave to fill the gap, than apply scrim tape and than again filler. Just make sure the filler is right, for deep cracks You need thing like joint filler, the smooth one not always works for that type of job!

Boardwatcher

Thanks for the reply. No, I didn't use mesh/joint tape at all, this is a technique i have only heard about recently. In the youtube videos i saw, the tape is applied once the crack has been opened and before any filling is done. You are suggesting to fill once first, then apply the tape and fill again?

So are you also saying that regular filler such as Polyfilla or Tetrion is not good enough for deeper cracks? What should i use instead then?

Handsandtools

Boardwatcher wrote: »

Thanks for the reply. No, I didn't use mesh/joint tape at all, this is a technique i have only heard about recently. In the youtube videos i saw, the tape is applied once the crack has been opened and before any filling is done. You are suggesting to fill once first, then apply the tape and fill again?

So are you also saying that regular filler such as Polyfilla or Tetrion is not good enough for deeper cracks? What should i use instead then?

You got it right about the tape.
Each filler have a limit of how deep cracks it can fix and how long it will dry then. Polyfilla are usually used for small cracks, not more than 5 mm deep, because it's not strong and it will dry long, as well it will shrinks when dry.
I suggest using joint filler, I use my self La Farge fast set joint filler, they are in 12.5 kg bags about 13e each.

Boardwatcher

I will check that filler out, thanks. I remember some years ago when i worked for a decorating company, we used 'gyproc' filler on all jobs. Maybe this would be better than the tetrion filler i used previously.

Handsandtools

Boardwatcher wrote: »

I will check that filler out, thanks. I remember some years ago when i worked for a decorating company, we used 'gyproc' filler on all jobs. Maybe this would be better than the tetrion filler i used previously.

There's GYPROC filler as well, but I like Lafarge better, easy to use!