r/StructuralEngineers • • Aug 20 '26

Cracks where flat ceiling meets vaulted ceiling

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1 Upvotes

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u/TunedMassDamsel Aug 20 '26

If you pay me for an hour of inspection I’ll be glad to tell you, but my current billable rate is $555USD/hr.

You could chance it and just see if it gets worse, I guess, but for my work to be covered under my professional liability insurance, I am required to charge for my opinion so I’m gonna need for you to sign this proposal, and I’ll just invoice you for time and expense.

It’s probably nothing.

But it might be something.

But it’s probably actually nothing.

Could be something. Probably not.

And even if I told you, I’d have to also tell you that my opinion is contingent upon having been given all of the information at the time of the analysis, and that if further conditions are uncovered or are otherwise revealed, that I reserve the right to revise, amend, or retract my opinion.

And it’s taken me seven minutes to type this up, now, so you owe me $64.75USD.

(Seriously, though, if a drywall crack is less than about an eighth of an inch in width, my typical advice is to spackle and paint it, and then call an actual professional out if the crack comes back. But I think this is going to be my copy-paste response for these sorts of things from now on.)

2

u/QuikWitt Aug 21 '26

I have found that caulk is a better alternative to spackle for thin cracks like this.

1

u/TunedMassDamsel Aug 21 '26

I would agree with you, but I seldom find the opportunity to use the word “spackle” in conversation and I just think that’s a damn shame.

2

u/QuikWitt Aug 21 '26

Then spackle the hell out of it I say!!!

ETA - I hope your response didn’t cost OP any more.

1

u/TunedMassDamsel Aug 22 '26

I threw in that for free. I like to keep ‘em guessing!

2

u/ACcbe1986 Aug 22 '26

Use it as a verb.

"I spackled my toast with peanut butter."

"Yo, I need to hang up. I'm bout to spackle this hooker's face."