Some weeks back I woke one morning to find a large flake of spackle(?) had cracked and almost come completely off the wall in my apartment entrance:
According to the board of our housing cooperative there have been multiple reports of similar damage in other apartments, and it seems the building suffers from some foundation shifting.
Behind the flake the wall seems to be solid concrete. Here's a close up of the flake material from a small piece I broke off:
Looks like it's just paint on spackle on old newspaper?
I have never done much DIY work before, so any advice on how to repair this would be greatly appreciated.
My initial thoughts would be to:
- Carefully remove the flake and any loose bits around it (hopefully avoiding having to remove the clothes rack).
- Fill in the hole with some flexible(?) spackle (there may be more movement in the building foundation in the future)
- Paint over
Location: Norway
Building construction year: 1933
My DIY skill level: Complete novice
Best Answer
I'm going to suggest that this is not structural. I have done many foundation inspections and repair designs and I have not seen this before, it is not what I expect to see from a settling foundation.
Two things stand out, it's an area of the wall that failed and it's warped in the middle. This all screams moisture. Moisture will compromise the plaster, dry wall mud, or glue and cause it to detach and buckle as seen. Look for a source and borrow, buy or rent a moister meter to test the wall vs other areas of your apartment, they should be the same. A FLIR camera will also work great, the moist area will be clear as day since it will be a cooler temperature.