Open Seam on Marriage Line

[Patricia Kelley-Staab]

I have a 95 Baron NP1510 double wide.. Shortly after it was set up the marriage line developed a crack on one end only. The dealer fixed it and said it was because it is so dry out here in AZ that the drywall tape cracks and separates. It was ok for a while and then started cracking opening again. By then it was out of warranty and I believe Baron has gone out of business. At one time it was so bad the crack had spread from one end of the home to the other and started down the walls at each end. When the ceiling fans are used little pieces of drywall compound flake and fall off and the tape can be seen clearly. It was suggested to me that the home should be releveled as maybe it was shifting and causing the problem. We are ground set, on jacks without concrete runners so that kind of made sense. After it was re-leveled I had someone tape and mud the whole length and it looked allright for awhile but has opened up yet again. I imagine the time for filing complaints is long past but what I need to know is what is the right way to fix the problem. One person here has told me this will be an ongoing thing becasue of the lack of humidity but others have told me they do not have this problem so there must be a way to fix it.

[Bill Fry]

If the home moves at all on its foundation it will crack seams in the drywall.While you may have had it releveled it may not have enought support on the marriage line.Typically a multisection home should have a support pier every eight to ten feet down the center marriage line.You may want to check to see if this was done.

[trmimo]

The home also has to be adequately bolted together at the marriage line.
Sometimes there is not enough emphasis on this in areas of little snow or wind.
I doubt that the problem is lack of humidity. If the house were drying out that severely, the whole house would have problems not just the marriage line.
Also, the pads under your metal jacks may be too small to prevent settling.
You can correct that with more metal jacks with pads under them.