ceiling beam crack

17 years ago

We had a new ceiling put in our kitchen a year ago and then a crack and a depression appeared in the drywall. We just removed the drywall in the area and see that a screw hit a knot in the beam and now there is a crack in the beam that goes about half way through, which must have made the beam sag a little in that area.

Should we try and put a steel brace on the beam or do we need to do something more elaborate? Thanks in advance!

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Comments (8)

mom2lilenj
17 years ago
Uh, you're going to have to get a structural person in to take a look. It sounds like the beam was not sound and/or undersized. A screw should not cause a beam to fail. I would put a post under it for temporarily support and then get someone in who knows what their talking about to tell you what you need to do.
mackswim
Original Author
17 years ago
Well, the beam has been there for 40 years, it was just a new drywall ceiling. Do you still think so?
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mom2lilenj
17 years ago
With it being a beam, I'm assuming it is load bearing and not just supporting the ceiling. And since it has cracked, the ability to bear that load is now considerably compromised. Do you have any pictures, dimensions of the beam, what is it supporting above, how long is the span, was it remodeled or enlarged (increasing the span)? In any case, I still think you need to get someone who knows support to take a look at it.
mightyanvil
17 years ago
Everything depends on the size and location of the crack which we don't know. Restoring the full strength of the beam might require so much reinforcing that you might be better off replacing the beam with LVLs.
mackswim
Original Author
17 years ago
[URL=http://s262.photobucket.com/albums/ii114/mackswim/cracked%20kitchen/?action=view&current=crackkitchen001.jpg][IMG]http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii114/mackswim/cracked%20kitchen/th_crackkitchen001.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[URL=http://s262.photobucket.com/albums/ii114/mackswim/cracked%20kitchen/?action=view&current=crackkitchen003.jpg][IMG]http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii114/mackswim/cracked%20kitchen/th_crackkitchen003.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
mackswim
Original Author
17 years ago
sorry, the last posting didn't work. Try these, there are two pictures. Really appreciate the feedback and sorry I can't figure out how to post.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii114/mackswim/cracked%20kitchen/crackkitchen001.jpg,
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii114/mackswim/cracked%20kitchen/crackkitchen003.jpg
sombreuil_mongrel
17 years ago
It looks like a joist to me. I assume that the whole ceiling was down, and whoever hung the drywall was in a position to see the defect in the joist, which is a large knot along the lower edge, just where you don't want it. It really should have been caught before the drywall went up. Is there a second floor above, or attic? If attic, you can sister the joist from above. If not, the drywall has to come down.
Casey
mom2lilenj
17 years ago
Oh a joist, yeah, do what Casey said.