I bought a house last summer (40 year old suburban ranch) that had trim up in many of the room corners that abut the rear wall of the house. Behind the trim, in most cases, was a crack or gap between the two pieces of drywall that form the corner.

In the fall, we painted the master bedroom, in the process of which, I removed the trim from one of the corners and patched the gap behind it with carefully applied paper joint tape. It was really a beautiful job.

Now the winter rains have come and the house, built on clay soil, is knocking and pinging like a Cadillac engine on low-octane gas. I woke up this morning to find that the two pieces of drywall that I had patched together with joint tape at the corner had moved somehow. Now the tape is warped and torn.

Here's my question? Is there any point to trying to repair this again? Or will the same dang thing happen every year during the rains?

Peter Nixon
Concord, CA