All you wanted was a warmer home and now you’re looking at drywall that has seen better days.

Your insulation contractor was injecting foam insulation into your existing exterior walls when you noticed the walls beginning to bow and crack. 

While rare here at RetroFoam of Michigan, it does happen, and the bowing and cracking aren’t always due to the injection foam— if there was any previous damage, the drywall was installed incorrectly, or the studs aren't uniformly on center, then it can bow or crack.

Since the worst can happen, we thought we would explain our process for repairing drywall if it becomes bowed or cracked during the installation of foam insulation.

Drywall Wall Repair If Bowing or Cracks Occur

The worst-case scenario has happened during your injection foam installation, and the drywall has bowed and cracked, but fear not, because it can be repaired.

Before we discuss how to fix it, let’s take just a moment to talk about how we got here.

To err is human, so it is possible that operator error led to the drywall damage because the cavity is overfilled. Other reasons the drywall might bow or crack is because the drywall was improperly installed or there was previous damage to the wall.

Now you know why it happened, so let’s cover how to repair it.

Here at RetroFoam of Michigan, we have Eric Vibert, who is our go-to when this happens, and he explained the repair process to me and sent me the photos you see in this article for reference.

Eric said typically, if the drywall bows out and bulges, an experienced contractor can anchor a board across the drywall into the studs. By doing this, the drywall is pushed back into place and can be re-anchored to the studs.

A rough patch of mud is then put over those new screw holes and is sanded.

That wall is now flattened back out and just needs a little sanding and paint to look like it did before.

A crack in the drywall is treated the same, but obviously, there is a little more involved as more mud is needed.

Pine boards are screwed into the studs where the crack is located, as the crack was likely caused by bowing. Once the drywall is re-secured, it’s time to mud the crack.

The crack has to be mudded and sealed back up. Once this is done, just like those screw holes, you are free to do a little sanding and painting to get your wall back to normal.

Insulating Existing Walls with Foam Insulation

As I said before, while it doesn’t happen very often, there is the possibility that injection foam can bow or crack your drywall.

Don’t let this keep you from hiring a contractor to inject foam insulation into the walls in your home. It’s best to keep the what-ifs in mind when buying home insulation, but your contractor can give you peace of mind from their experience and loyalty to homeowners.

Ask them questions about what they would do if this were to happen, and how they would handle it, and that can give you a good indication if they are the right fit for the job.

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