How to fix cracks in ceilings and walls 

Had cracks that repeatedly came back after being filled in our eldest daughters room. Watched this video in 2019 & came back today to let you know I followed your method and that crack has not appeared todate. Thank you so much for this video.

You treat the novice like an actually intelligent person who wants to know the trade. Muchhhh appreciated

Great technique. I've had a crack that keeps coming back. Gypsum plaster on block wall. Tried V & filler - cracked. Tried paper tape & filler - cracked. Tried shallow V and acrylic caulk - cracked again on a hot day. Routing away the plaster the wall is cracked behind. Summer/winter the building moves! Engineering wise, ANY plaster/filler hard up against the crack will transfer that movement to the surface and it WILL crack again. Its obvious when you think about it. Thats why foam is SO CLEVER for this specific type of crack. Its spongey. It decouples the movement, so a large movement in the substrate becomes a smaller movement at the surface. It gives room for the tension to spread out, lowering the stress and making the finished surface much more resistant to cracking. From an Engineering perspective I'm pretty sure thats why this magic technique works. Definately using this technique. The only tweak I'm going to make for extra peace of mind is to choose the most flexible filler I can find. Added this video to my favourites, I'll let you know how it goes.

i actually nodded off while watching this. loves a drop off pva this fella. loves his job by the look of it n all. fair play fella.

Mate I have been the game for 30 year and I have just learned something new with foam , well done and it’s nice to see a old school professional

I had a big crack right across ceiling and can’t believe how well it’s come out. Completely gone after painting over it. Thanks 👍

Again a really clear informative tutorial that's given me the confidence to carry out my own cracks in my home. Cant wait to start. Thanks

Thank you. Your videos are good because of the attention to detail which doesn't presume previous knowledge.

Awesome. I had no idea what to do with several 12-15 inch slightly sagging ceiling cracks. You have made my day. Thank you kind man.

Appreciate showing tools needed at the beginning. When you opened the crack, I decided to let someone else handle the job. :)

This is definitly a great tutorial. Repairs requires a lot of effort and care. Miss one step and you might get debonding or failure of your repair. Bravo to OP for this video.

I agree with the previous post. Your demonstration is excellent. Thank you for uploading and sharing. Your knowledge is invaluable. :)

Thank you for the easy to follow tips. It makes a lovely change to see someone helping others rather than trying to raise their online profile. Really appreciated.

You can see you take pride in doing a good job. Thanks for posting the video's

Thank you so much for sharing your work. My house has issue totally the same to fix them.

jesus christ, you are ridiculously thorough on your repairs. Good as new, literally. This was a joy to watch.

Well done fella, I’ve been in the trade 56 years,,And your correct!,,your method is the only way to do the job

Thank you, this is the best video and easy to follow.

In the US we have a product used for shower installs called Red Guard. It's a "paint on" rubber membrane used for waterproofing, but painters use it for cracks. Basically, just patch the crack, sand smooth and put 3 coats of red guard on. Than paint over the red guard. It allows the crack to move under the paint without tearing the paint. It's fast and permanent and works perfect.

More or less taught myself how to do this while renovating my old house. It does feel good to see and watch someone who obviously knows what he is doing apply the same techniques I bumbled my way through.

great video. Came across expanded foam in the 80s when all the aspiring burglars used it to silence alarm boxes. Will definitely have a go with it to repair stubborn cracks that reappear days after you have filled them.

Excellent video. It's just what I was looking for. I took wallpaper off my walks today ready to paint them and the cracks are quite bad, too deep to skim over. I am going to do everything that you have suggested. Thanks very much. Warm and best regards.

I feel like I'm copying the comment before me but I too have exactly what's described in the video , skimmed wall and identical type cracks . I'm very impressed with the procedure and am going to follow it also . Thank you I've been racking my head how to put it right , now I know.

I found this to be very informative as I have a very old building and get cracks because of living on a busy road. Thank you for the posting.

Tried this technique to the horror of my wife but it worked out really well on a crack I have repaired a few times before. Thanks for the tips and tricks of the trade.

Thank you for your skills, I need to do my kitchen on a budget so got to do it with my partner, so saves us money, this is good, as I had no idea

An old video but on a spare afternoon I leisurely go through them. You try to teach an apprentice that now who spends his first 10 years house bashing and sadly that master craftsmanship gets lost. Ps. Give bob my regards I've not seen how that canoe turned out. Dave from Ireland.

I been decorating for 20 years and I am learning from this man !

Mate im a time served plasterer and i would use those techniques and have done in the past. Great video ...keep up the good work.

Great to see somebody doing a proper job and not just filling the crack which will reappear.

Your video the best some people they do video they don’t show up what we need thanks 🙏

Really good crack repair video. What looks to be a simple fix, when done properly the preparation looks horrendous but the end result is well worth the effort.

Excellent video. Well done. I learned a lot from this video. Thank you very much.

Thank you so much for the information you have given . So nice to find a genuine person that can help. Thank you.

They now make a low expansion expansion foam which gives you bit more control. Great little video.

Thank you for your complete instructions. So very helpful, you are truly a perfectionist

Blimey, they're some cracks! Top job mate👍🏻

Outstanding....a true professional 👍

Great insight into a true tradesman . Brilliant video.

I love your technique! I was wondering how I could fix cracks similar to these and now I know how. Thanks so much!!!

After watching this superb video, I have subscribed to your channel and looked through all of your videos. Firstly a big thank you, good strong, calm and sensible advice, top tips even the one about stress when decorating was an inspiration for someone who only does it occasionally and tends to try and rush things, then gets annoyed at the results, I think I may come back and watch that one alone - every time I embark on a decorating task:) THANK YOU your a star

Finally a non cowboy! Joy to watch your work.

As a novice this is top drawer info. Cheers for posting.👍

Thanks for this tutorial. Very interesting and I learned a lot.

That is without a doubt a good example of a house settling crack, people don't realize that it is what you don't see under the sheet rock that can come back to haunt you. It does truly need to be gouged out and totally filled. Personally something that big I would've split the wall and sheetrock half the wall but it's a good video for repairs.

I see you used PVA. We always used GARDZ by Zinsser, which also is as thin as water to aid saturation of gypsum and paper (and anything porous). Also it's a great primer under wallpaper. It makes porous surfaces impervious to water or paste. Great adhesion and easy to strip and wash when removing the wallpaper. Nice video!

Sir. Watched the entire video (rare for me). Then read ALL the comments. NEVER before have I seen a person so positively responsive to questions. Excellent. Very well done. I get the feeling that you are a true passionate professional (like me, only I'm in a different trade).

Most useful video I’ve found on this subject, thanks.

Thanks for the detailed explanation. Very meticulous work.

Nice, thorough job! Thanks for posting. My home is sheetrock(wallboard), but good to see plaster repairing, too.

Hi....A really good video showing how to deal with wall cracks and the preparation for repainting.....very helpful .....well done and thanks.

Thanks for your techniques , job well done.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Class master class... Respect :)

Thats so smart. And requires minimal work. I love the drill method.

So helpful. Using this method today. Thanks for sharing.

that pva over your scraped back emulsion helps to stabilise it too, for filling.

Thanks to your videos a pot of exterior grade (waterproof) PVA is now a permenant addition to my kit when I go on a job. Previously I only sprayed water into raked out cracks but now I'm convinced that PVA would create a much greater bond as well as firm up a friable substrate. You have helped me once again!

Great tutorial. Thanks for sharing

I use toupret lite filler dries quick and is flexible for a quick job and customers happy it doesn't cost them a lot of money 💰 job done

Will using these methods on our 60 year old house ...thanks !!

That was a very good video very informative and a very good way also the only permanent wayof dealing with cracks ... you and your brother are true pro's which is very good to see

That wall was exactly the same as I had, some of the parts had separated from the bricks New to the problem I was thinking that what would work to glue stone ballast down on your trackwork on a model railway would probably work with loose mortar as well. On parts that were loose I did what you did, open up the cracks and used diluted PVA wood glue, with a drop of dishwashing liquid to break the surface tension and make it soak in better. But in addition I made holes with an old screwdriver, slowly turning the blade round in an angle downwards, which will ease the application of PVA Then I used a squirt bottle (like they use in a laboratory) to inject copious amounts of diluted PVA between the wall and the mortar, and this three times with an hour in between to let it soak in but not dry entirely. After drying a couple of days the wall sounded not hollow anymore, and the mortar was bonded to the wall and the mortar itself also would have soaked up a fair bit and be not that sandy anymore. The wall has been repaired this way 7 years ago now and there is still no separation between the wall and the mortar/plaster. Currently I'm renovating another room and using the same method over, for the 2 walls which are still mostly OK, but the other 2 walls had to be stripped down to bare brick which you told is the best option when large parts have become loose. And now I got curious if this PVA method was used by professionals as well and I searched in YT, and yes! professionals do use it and PVA is even sold for that. I imagine what is sold in the Netherlands as "voorstrijk" (pre-prep) is the same, although it doesn't say PVA on the can, maybe in the contents listing it does.

amateur diy and this worked for me for a large ceiling crack, good video. thumbs up

Videos of crack fixes on plaster walls are very scary for non painters to watch. A lot of destruction required to fix these properly. Just happy to see he is not using player tape))) that would have put most diy-ers' off for good! Nice work on many levels cobber. Painter Melbourne Australia.

I’ve been doing exactly this today. Although I backfilled with bonding plaster and skimmed, except where the voids were more than 25/30mm deep.

Bit sceptical at first..with the foam trick...but fair play & credit where it's due...nice video..I'll give it a try. Cheers

Nice work. Makes me want to go fix cracks in the wall.

Great professional Job. Thank you.

I don’t have the patience to do such a thorough job.

Thank you i just watched it all ive just learnt from you.

Thank you for this ! My daughters room has a a crack like that , now I'll be able to fix it properly

Absolutely superb stuff. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Game changer 👌👏👏👏👏👏

I use backing/bonding plaster to fill deep gouges or damaged plaster like that. This has worked great for me. I suppose the foam dries quick though but I'm not convinced how much it would stabilise.

Nice trick with the spray foam. Thank you

Made it look so easy. Good job well done

Spot on, we have subsidence which is going through the insurance & building work starts in July, I'll certainly be referencing your video again when the work is done as both the kids bedrooms are movement cracks, I'm very particular with the fner details & I to do a job right, video saved, all the best

Great vid. Great advice. Professional work.

Great video, thanks. It would have been nice to see the final painted result at the end - I suspect it was flawless

a very long video, but great content covering all the main points. Thank you for sharing.

I think this is one of the best video especially for someone who doens't understand about trades like me.Thank you

Love the box of used sandpaper, that's old school!

You know that you can’t mask off about twice the distance of the crack and spray your texture and knock it down when ready or leave as texture is. Once dry you can sand it down lightly then take a tile setters orange sponge and a bucket of water and fill sponge up with water the wring it out some then wipe down on the outside of texture area where you didn’t want more texture. What it does is blends the texture in so it makes a much more natural original look as if the crack was never there. Also on major cracks I use fiberglass tape and hot mud. Fill in crack or hole with abit of mud then put fiber tape on it and coat it! Makes a super strong anti cracking technique! I use it a lot of peaked vaulted ceilings and off angle ceilings where you know regular tape and mud will crack out! Just a friendly suggestion! I’ve done drywall for many yrs as a living and it’s techniques like this I’ve used for many yrs!

This was the best video I've seen so far! I wish you could come and do my place that I'm redoing for my landlord! Thank you again for this video

Excellent video. Thank you..

Hiya, thanks for all your great tips. Can you do a video of chasing the walls for wall lights and switches, would be so grateful as you are the decorating meister!

Instead of polyfilla, I find that joint compound is also very good and cheaper Great vid

It's all well and good saying skimming over old lime plaster isn't the way to do it but for the vast majority it's a perfect solution. Especially given the cost, times and mess to hack back to the original brick and start again most people are not going to go down that route. In my opinion expanding foam is OTT I've fixed literally hundreds of hairline cracks on walls and ceilings opening them up with a blade and a couple of coats of flexible filler without any comebacks.

Fantastic skill and knowledge.

The bottom line is when you see cracks forming like this you need to investigate why. Is there something structural going on. Just repairing this crack might not last. It could open again.

I used a hot melt glue gun on ceiling cracks , same as what u done drilled out and filled worked a treat as well

Very interesting.... thank you

IAM watching this several times, great video,

always wanted to try back filling with foam, great vid will try now.

Dude LOVED this video! Thank you so much! I was really worried that I had subsistence as I've got a bunch of hairline cracks in my downstairs bedroom but I had someone out they said it's just old plaster and could be repaired so I'll be doing this! I've never lived in a house where there hasn't been cracks in some of the walls!

Very helpful , thank you very much for sharing 👍

Very good I informative tutorial cracks are a pet peeve of mine I get alot of hairline cracks in my old property especially in my bathroom. I recently had to large movement cracks in my hallway but my Landlord just did a basic skim job and the cracks came back after 10 months. This is what they were going to do but did the lazy option twice. I just did my own repair and will see how long it lasts :)

Great awesome video. I learned how to repair a crack on the wall the right way. Thanks to your patient teaching style. :)

Cracks usually mean slight movement. Best fix is using redering mesh on a skim coat then add another skim coat. The V shape works a bit but I'd cut the crack out wider, put some plastering skrim tape in the area and fill over it.

My house has all these cracks! I've filled them over and over, but they just show up again. Old house, all skimmed walls.Will definitely be trying the expanding foam next time. Thank you!

Fine work play sir