DIY drywall patch cracked after only 2 weeks - did I mess up the mud mix?

I patched a 6-inch hole in my living room ceiling last month in Austin and used a quick-setting compound instead of all-purpose mud, thinking it would be stronger. Now there's a hairline crack running right through the middle of the patch, and I'm wondering if I should have used joint tape over the whole thing or if my mud-to-water ratio was off. Has anyone else had quick-set crack on them like this, or do you swear by the regular stuff for ceiling fixes?

2 comments

2 Comments

emmajackson4d ago

Oh man, that exact same thing happened to me with a ceiling patch in my old house. I used quick-set too and thought I was being smart, but it cracked right down the middle after a week. I think the issue is that quick-set shrinks more than the regular stuff, so you gotta really load it on and feather it out wider than you think. Plus yeah, tape is a must for ceiling patches - I learned that the hard way.

kaiharris4d ago

Quick-set definitely has that issue with shrinking, I've seen it happen too many times. You really gotta overfill the patch and let it puff up a bit, then sand it back down flat. That way when it shrinks, you're not left with a dip. And yeah, tape is non-negotiable on ceilings. The gravity is working against you the whole time, so without tape that joint is gonna fail every single time. I've started using paper tape for ceilings specifically, seems to hold up better than mesh in the long run. Also make sure you're not mixing the quick-set too thin, that makes the shrinkage way worse.