Ceiling Cracks

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pennypincher

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I've noticed that some of the ceilings in my house have cracks running around the shape of the plaster board.Is this due to Shrinkage... the house is only 1.5 years old.If so when could I DIY repair them or do I need to wait a further year until they've dried out/shrunk completely.Can I just use Builders caulk?
 
You could try filling them, but to be quite honest it's a waste of time. With side lighting any repair/ patching will be quite obvious and worse than the original cracks. I imagine these cracks are only hairline cracks? Best off forgetting about them I think. When you next redecorate try painting the ceiling using a long/ medium pile roller and don't thin the emulsion too much. If done well this will leave an "orange peel" texture which will help conceal any surface defects.
 
Just had my new house skimmed and had 2 coats of paint to ceiling but can see the tape under the skim. What can I do?
 
10to1
Your paint musn't have good "hiding power" or else may have been thinned too much. On new work I think 3 coats are minumum for a good level of finish. White and off white have poor hiding power anyway because of the lack of pigment. Don't water the paint down too much and when rolling try and roll in two different directions, ie roll in the opposite direction for the subsequent coat. If you are on a budget you can buy large drums of white and mix in a small bit of coloured emulsion yourself, mixing up with a paddle attached to a power drill to ensure a good mix to give you an off white tint.
 
Hi 10to1 if you can see the scrim tape then you may want to try a bit of polyfilla applied with a 4 inch filling knife. Do this and then use a sanding head on a roller extension arm to smooth it off and hopefully you cover the bumps/grid of the tape without much of an impact on the level of the ceiling. Then paint as described above and hopefully you don't notice it anymore.
 
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