Crack in drywall?
 

We looked at some houses in TV. In one, in the main room, the walls on two sides rose to a peak, mirroring the roof. There was a vertical crack in the drywall going toward the peak.
Our VLS agent was dismissive about that; he said it was insignificant and common.
Is this true?

No idea if this is true (crack going to peak), but I would carefully look at the outside wall for a crack, and if I saw one I would walk away from the house.

Your VLS "agent" is going to be dismissive about anything negative. Independent inspectors are your friends.

Why would you ask someone who likely has little experience in construction that question. These are sales people. Nothing more. No different than a car salesman.

Find a new agent immediately

It may or not be a problem, but it is not common. In order for a cathedral ceiling to have a crack in it, something had to move or perhaps warp, like one of the rafters.

Is it a new house?

If there's a "crack", there's a reason it occurred and 100% of the time, it's because something moved, shrunk, expanded or some such thing as that.

It's reasonably common. It's likely not a significant structural fault.

99.9% of the time, you can't easily fix it. If you try, the fix will likely only be temporary ... it will come back.

"Our VLS agent". If you didn't sign a contract with that agent where you agreed to pay them a fee, as a buyer, you do not have an agent. An agent represents you only if you agree to pay them for the representation. Otherwise, they represent the seller, not you.

It is called expansion and contraction. Hairline cracks happen in the tape joints between two or more pieces of drywall board. More common in a vaulted ceiling with sissor trusses. It is not a structural issue in any case. If it's a visual bother, have it retaped with fiberglass tape and refinished through texture for the strongest bond.

That should last a year or two and then he'll be back where he started.

It's not more common with scissor trusses, it's just as likely to occur with dimensional lumber framing. Using Fiberglass tape is a recipe for more trouble. Paper Taper is much better at absorbing tension movement and it's stronger. I'd bet the farm, Fiberglass tape was originally used and that's part of the problem.

The proper way to do it, likely involves creating floating joints.

If it's an Amarillo, or similar model, here's the answer. I own two Amarillos. My property manager says they most all crack there. I am a contractor, so I decided to investigate. I cut down the crack line. There is no stud at that joint. It seems to me that the drywall contractor tried to save a sheet, and/or a step, and just taped the joint without securing it.

I scraped the area, installed reinforced tape, then refinished and painted. That repair lasted a couple of years. The only way to permanently repair it is to cut the drywall away to the two nearest studs and install a new piece.

Unfortunately all too common. Soil under the house not very compacted allowing too much settling

There you go. There's your answer.

I had a hairline crack in my vaulted ceiling in our front bedroom on new construction. I was naturally concerned and it was fixed right away. They cut out the suspect area and replaced the drywall and remudded the area. After they textured and repainted the area I cannot see the repair. It is going on 4 years and it no problems.

I have heard that, if you increase the size of the crack to about one-quarter inch, and fill it with a caulk that stays flexible, the repair will be permanent. I don't know if it works, because I have never tried it.

It will likely work, but it's a PIA to do and the color will almost always be off a little.

To say nothing of the fact, regardless of what the tube of caulk says, it will shrink.

Cracks NOT common
 

We had a similar crack repaired last month. After removing the old drywall plaster and tape, we found that both the joining sheets had NOT been screwed to the stud behind. Big hurry, perhaps, to slap these homes together to sell.

No structural damage and we love our home. Just a careless builder I'm thinking.

NOT COMMON

Typically a FAULT in Structural Integrity … appears to be shifting in the Ceiling Joists, as they are two separate and independent Framing Members

BUT may not be affecting the Roof Structure,

I have seen a lot of homes here and that kind of crack is not common.