Drywall and ceiling repair in Redwood City

Wall cracks in Redwood Shores and older Redwood City

The City's Housing Element says Redwood Shores was built on reclaimed marsh, and that its bay mud poses serious liquefaction concerns in a moderate to large earthquake. After any shaking, the first signs indoors tend to be cracks at ceiling seams and off the corners of doors. Older neighborhoods have a different wall: 8.1% of the city's homes were built in 1939 or earlier, the era of plaster over wood lath.

A photo of the crack, with something in the frame for scale, tells us most of what we need. We cut back loose tape or plaster, fill and feather it wide, and match the texture before primer, since a flat patch on a textured wall shows more than the crack did. If a crack keeps coming back, you will hear that from us instead of a second patch.

Worth knowing about Redwood City

• Of Redwood City's 32,135 housing units, 64.2% were built before 1980 and 8.1% in 1939 or earlier; the 1950s alone account for 21.2%.
• Several Queen Anne cottages from before 1906 stand in Mezesville, a historic district in the Centennial neighborhood whose streets are named for Mayflower pilgrims.
• Redwood Shores is about 1,500 acres of former Bay marshland that Leslie Salt diked for salt evaporation after buying it in 1928; the city annexed it in 1959.