I’m in the process of doing this training. In looking at my own home, which is CBR/stucco on slab, less than 4 years old, I saw this small crack from the bottom right corner of the kitchen window. What I found interesting is that the location is directly exterior to where a kitchen cabinet appears to have pulled away from the wall slightly. I’m hoping someone here can advise me if, a) the correlation between the crack and the cabinet is indicative of an underlying problem, and b) if not a), what would be the apprpropriate way to seal the crack (as invisibly as possible)?
CMU with hard coat stucco, you’ll see these cracks at the lintels, sills and other stress points (windows, doors, plane changes, etc.)
You’ll also see “stair-step” cracks that follow the block mortar joints. These are common in the corners of walls or at perpendicular intersections.
Seal the hairline cracks with a flexible sealant (your house, use whatever you like) and paint the area or the whole wall if you really want it blend in. Any filler tends to stand out, caulk left unpainted looks worse than the crack after a few months.
They’ll likely return, FWIW, or appear in other similar locales.
The cabinet was probably installed with the wrong screws, and too few of them.
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Dominic got it. These are very common, and usually not a settlement issue unless you see it growing wider at the top or bottom, or if it wraps around a corner.
Cabinet was just a coincidence
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Thanks for the replies!
