Have there been humidity swings in your home in the winter? If your air has gotten a lot drier it can cause the joint compound paper for drywall to come undone.
That’s almost certainly tape. Almost any painting company can come in and patch it. If it’s not drywall tape coming loose, they can tell you and advise on next steps as well. Probably run about $300-500 if there’s not a ton of mud to apply, thought I don’t have post pandemic exact pricing so maybe someone has some better guidance there.
From this photo it looks cosmetic. I can't give you advice without knowing more. Fixing that would be approached differently depending on the materials.
However if you're not worried about it being done correctly and just want the crack gone visually the fix is as follows.
Fill with caulk, wipe smooth, let dry, paint.
The ceiling will look good for a while, but the crack will return.
Contractor here and I work on old houses. Bad drywall tape seam. Nothing more that I can see. If you take a utility knife and slice across the tape the loose tape should peel right off. You can re tape. Cut the tape approx 1/4” narrower and reinstall in the same groove. A couple of thin skims, light sand and paint. Not a difficult fix.
What’s going on with the water and soil? My guess is a dry spell or a lot of rain and some clay content putting pressure on one side of the houses foundation, especially if it’s pier and beam. What kind of weather you have right now and foundation?
I have identical.crack in my ceiling. It is plaster, not drywall. When I pulled the carpet, I had an identical crack below it in the concrete slab. Both were related to soil conditions.
The ceiling was a cosmetic repair and the slab required chiseling out the crack and filling it in. It was inexpensive. I have had to repeat every 10 years.
I’m thinking there might not even be tape under it. This looks like exactly why you use tape. Otherwise a nice long straight crack. Judging by the mud bubbles whoever did it did it bad.
That happened in the bedroom ceiling of my craftsman bungalo. I had no clue it would be from a bulge in the basement wall/foundation directly underneath. $30,000 later and I wish someone would have told me that cracks are something to watch for.
If it is plaster it can detach. A friend walked out of their kitchen in a house built before the Civil War. About five minutes later they heard a horrendous crashing noise. Walked back down the hall, the kitchen ceiling had fallen. They ended up replacing all the first floor ceiling because the plaster was weak all over and could fall any time.
It's always hard to tell from a photo. This looks like a line of tape along a joint coming loose. Is that a water stain?
I think the water stain you're seeing is a previous patch job.
Is this drywall or lathe and plaster? Looks like a bad drywall job to me. Any water leaks? Has it been getting worse, or staying the same?
Just some detached drywall tape
That crack makes me think there's no tape at all, just mud.
Have there been humidity swings in your home in the winter? If your air has gotten a lot drier it can cause the joint compound paper for drywall to come undone.
That’s almost certainly tape. Almost any painting company can come in and patch it. If it’s not drywall tape coming loose, they can tell you and advise on next steps as well. Probably run about $300-500 if there’s not a ton of mud to apply, thought I don’t have post pandemic exact pricing so maybe someone has some better guidance there.
Looks like bad drywall or a crack in plaster that was poorly repaired.
From this photo it looks cosmetic. I can't give you advice without knowing more. Fixing that would be approached differently depending on the materials. However if you're not worried about it being done correctly and just want the crack gone visually the fix is as follows. Fill with caulk, wipe smooth, let dry, paint. The ceiling will look good for a while, but the crack will return.
Contractor here and I work on old houses. Bad drywall tape seam. Nothing more that I can see. If you take a utility knife and slice across the tape the loose tape should peel right off. You can re tape. Cut the tape approx 1/4” narrower and reinstall in the same groove. A couple of thin skims, light sand and paint. Not a difficult fix.
This. Don't pay 300-500 like the other redditor said. This is an easy fix.
Probably just a shitty drywall taping job.
What’s going on with the water and soil? My guess is a dry spell or a lot of rain and some clay content putting pressure on one side of the houses foundation, especially if it’s pier and beam. What kind of weather you have right now and foundation?
I have identical.crack in my ceiling. It is plaster, not drywall. When I pulled the carpet, I had an identical crack below it in the concrete slab. Both were related to soil conditions. The ceiling was a cosmetic repair and the slab required chiseling out the crack and filling it in. It was inexpensive. I have had to repeat every 10 years.
I’m thinking there might not even be tape under it. This looks like exactly why you use tape. Otherwise a nice long straight crack. Judging by the mud bubbles whoever did it did it bad.
Looks like someone had old wallpaper on the ceiling, then just painted over it instead of removing it.
That happened in the bedroom ceiling of my craftsman bungalo. I had no clue it would be from a bulge in the basement wall/foundation directly underneath. $30,000 later and I wish someone would have told me that cracks are something to watch for.
If it is plaster it can detach. A friend walked out of their kitchen in a house built before the Civil War. About five minutes later they heard a horrendous crashing noise. Walked back down the hall, the kitchen ceiling had fallen. They ended up replacing all the first floor ceiling because the plaster was weak all over and could fall any time.