Cracked / sagging valence above front door

dougmcarthur0

I noticed a thin crack in the drywall valence in my living room about a month ago, and now it's gotten much worse, to the point where the valence sags and the top of the front door rubs against it. I looked up under the valence and it appears it's been patched before, which would indicate to me there's a bigger problem.

Does anyone think it could be the weight of snow on the roof putting pressure on the inside contents of the house? Or the effect of freezing cold weather? I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and it can get down to -40 Celsius (-40 Fahrenheit) here.

Anyway, I'd appreciate some advice on how to fix it and what the root cause might be. See photos attached.

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boman47k

Does it, by any chance, have a heating duct running through it?

I did not know -40c = -40f. I do know that is cold!

dougmcarthur0

I don't know how I could tell whether there's a heating duct running. There's an exchange on the floor to the left of the door. How would I know if heating duct is present?

dougmcarthur0

here's a picture of the house from the outside.

boman47k

No pic showing on this end.

MikeKy55

That's a lot of snow...burrrr

boman47k

I think you may have some weak framing there.

Red Squirrel

definitely a weakness somewhere, the cold probably triggered it to shift/crack. We had -40 here not too long ago as well, not too fun. :P

boman47k

I guess the less invasive way might be to take a prope of some sort like a screwdriver or awl with an insulated handle, for the slight chance of hitting wire, and poke it through the bottom to see if you hit an obstruction.

If it appears to have been repaired before, I think I might take a piece out to see if I could tell more about the situation. Previous moisture damage, 2x2 framing, with heavy duct work supports on framing spaced to far apart, framing not attached to ceiling joists, etc..

Since it that close to the door, and if that is the only place doing this, you might get by with re enforcing that area considering the opening and shutting of the door.

rditz

does the valance run the entire length of that wall?? I would peel the drywall off and get a real good look (it has to be fixed anyways).

I would look to see (make sure) that the header goes all the way across and that this is not a widened door without the proper header. it looks as though you have double door and a window on the right. that is a wide area to be carrying a load.

rod

boman47k

I think that may be a door with side lights. I agree on checking the header situation.