Can excessive heat in a room cause crumbling and cracking in drywall?
A house we have made an offer to buy has turned up something odd on the inspection. The house is a beautiful passive solar building, architect designed and built about 20 years ago. The ceilings in the living room are quite high (probably 15 feet), and there is an area close to where the pine panelled ceiling meets the walls, directly above the woodstove that looked to us (and our house inspector) like water had leaked in either through the chimney or roof. The chimney is inside the wall and drywalled over, not masonry.
When questioned, the sellers have told us that it is in fact not water damage at all, but crumbling caused by excessive heat coming in the south-facing windows (there is a working ceiling fan, but it does seem quite warm in the room). They said that about 2 years sgo, it had been repaired by a contractor, but was never sanded down or painted (because it is so high up, it is really hard to reach).
This sounds a bit odd to us – does anyone know if it is possible for drywall to crack and crumble in heat? We live in a fairly cold climate, and don’t know that much about heat issues like that, or about problems specific to passive solar design.
We love the house, but are a bit worried about something that might indicate long-term water leaking.
Any advice or opinions would be appreciated. Thanks!
sounds like a leak, drywall is fire and heat resistant to very high temps…if the wall can be plastered it can also be sanded..no contractor worth his salt would leave it unfinished…
Nope…had to have been water involved. Have an engineer inspect, or move on. Better not to get emotionally involved with a house, could cost you lots of money in the end.