# Drywall Screw Pops in House



## bmgilst (Feb 4, 2014)

Hey all, 

I'm a roofing contractor and have some knowledge of drywall, but it's not really my forte. I bought a house in 2011 that was built in 2003. Recently, I saw a small crack in my foundation that I had checked out, and was told that it was nothing serious since one side was no higher than the others. I had my carpets redone and the slab seemed to be in good shape. However, it got me looking for certain things, like stairstepped cracks at windows and doors. None of those are showing up, but I did find screw pops.

Throughout my house there are screw pops on interior and exterior walls. You cannot see the screw itself in any location, but you can see the outline of it behind the paint and mud. One spot in the bathroom I pulled off the mud to check and make sure they were screws. Upon pressing on the drywall it doesn't appear that there is any movement there, save for one spot where two walls intersect at my stairway where I think a warped piece of sheetrock was used.

I can't say exactly how many of these are around, but I would guess around 100 throughout my 2,500 square foot house. I have textured ceiling and none are visible there. I can also see in my entryway, which is about 20' tall, some barely visible tape seams.

Being a roofer, I am familiar with roofing nail pops caused by expansion and contraction of decking. My thought is that these nail pops have been here all along and I just never took the time to notice them. The drywall seems to be pretty secure to the wall. I am thinking that they built the house quickly and the wood drying out in the studs caused these pops some time ago and I'm just noticing it due to really looking at is closely for the first time.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the situation and what it might be from, and how should I go about fixing it?


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## drywallmike08 (May 27, 2010)

Generally all our pops come from heat or lack of. Builders always have heat when we drywall but once the drywall is done it sometimes gets shutoff for long periods of time. Once a house has rock it should never go below normal room temp. Is it possible the heat was turned off while the house was sitting for sale ? Same with the seams sounds like a heat issue.


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## drywallmike08 (May 27, 2010)

And how to fix is to call a pro !


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## PrecisionTaping (Feb 2, 2012)

Screw pops are natural. Happens all the time.
Unless sheets are falling on your head, don't worry about it.
It took you this long to notice, nobody else who walks through your house will.
Unless they're us. We notice everything. :yes:


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## moore (Dec 2, 2010)

http://www.paintsource.net/pages/solutions/new construction/nail_pops.html


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## moore (Dec 2, 2010)

PrecisionTaping said:


> nobody else who walks through your house will.
> :


Bullchit!


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## boco (Oct 29, 2010)

ya I am calling BS. Thats kinda like telling the homeowner to put a picture over a bad buttt joint to hide it. Screw pops happen and are an easy fix. Simply remove popped screw and replace with another. Touch up with joint compound, sand and repaint. As for your seams showing hire a professional.


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## Bazooka-Joe (Dec 31, 2010)

yep part of life down the road 

scrape em with a drywall knife make sure it is flush after slam em with mud and sand


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## moore (Dec 2, 2010)

boco said:


> Screw pops happen and are an easy fix. Simply remove popped screw and replace with another..


Scrape it down and finish it off ...Chances are it will only pop once. 
No need for another screw .


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## PrecisionTaping (Feb 2, 2012)

boco said:


> ya I am calling BS. Thats kinda like telling the homeowner to put a picture over a bad buttt joint to hide it. Screw pops happen and are an easy fix. Simply remove popped screw and replace with another. Touch up with joint compound, sand and repaint. As for your seams showing hire a professional.


lol! You guys need to relax.
This guy's just trying to make sure his house isn't falling apart.
He's had it 3 years and it's taken him this long to notice popped screws and barely visible tape seems in a 20' ceiling? 
If it was a bad job I'd notice it in the first 3 minutes of living in the house.

He's just trying to make sure it wasn't caused by anything serious such as his cracked foundation.
Doesn't want these popped screws to continue to something worse.
If he feels like re-painting his whole house because of " I would guess around 100" popped screws then have at er. Go ahead and fix them.

I'm just trying to ease his mind that it's not a structural problem. Pop screws do happen frequently, and have most likely been there since before he bought the house.
Not to mention this is a fairly big home!
2,500 square/ft home?! How many floors?
2,500 x 4 = 10,000squ/ft per floor.
If it's a two story house that means there's over 20,000squ/ft of drywall.
He did mention 20' ceilings, which means x4 is probably a little on the conservative side. 
Could very well be more footage.
So let's play conservatively. 20,000squ/ft of drywall divided by 48 (squ/ft in a 12' sheet) = 417 twelve ft sheets. 
On average it takes approximately 50 screws to screw off a full 12' sheet. Unless you're glueing them. 417sheets x 50screws per sheet = 20,850 screws.

Maybe 100 screw pops? Don't worry. Your house is safe.
Every new house moves and twists a little in it's first few years of being built.


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## moore (Dec 2, 2010)

PrecisionTaping said:


> lol! You guys need to relax.
> This guy's just trying to make sure his house isn't falling apart.
> He's had it 3 years and it's taken him this long to notice popped screws and barely visible tape seems in a 20' ceiling?
> If it was a bad job I'd notice it in the first 3 minutes of living in the house.
> ...


So It's cool to have 100 screw pops in a home after the H/O moves in?


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## PrecisionTaping (Feb 2, 2012)

moore said:


> So It's cool to have 100 screw pops in a home after the H/O moves in?


I think you're entirely missing what I'm saying. lol
His question was if it was structural or not! His house is 11 years old, and he had a crack in his foundation. He's trying to make sure that it's not that that's causing the issue. Thats all.

He doesn't want it getting any worse.
Why dont you re-read his entire message. He's not just moving into a new house that's brand new which he just bought.
He's been living there 3 years, and even at that the house was still built in 2003.
Why you putting words in my mouth? Of course it's not cool to have 100 screw pops in a home when the home owner moves in. There shouldn't be any immediate pops when a new house is handed over to a customer. But wood shrinks, twists, warps, uplifts, it does happen. Through no fault of the drywaller or taper.
I'm simply letting this dude know that they were probably already there the entire time and he just never noticed it and it's most likely not caused by anything serious. He even hinted at that himself in his post.


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## thefinisher (Sep 2, 2011)

Yep, as long as we use screws they will pop... even when used with glue. In my area the heat/ac isn't turned on until the house is almost ready to move in :blink:. Screw pops are directly related to movement which all of us know. Every house moves so there will be screw pops in every house to some extent whether it be one or one hundred. If we could all afford to glue like Moore does then we would be better off :thumbsup:. Also another theory I have is the dang oil the screws are coated with from the factory. I don't think mud likes to stick to oil . I actually had a crazy thought the other day... what if you first coated the screws with an epoxy like JB weld? I know that isn't cost effective but it is a thought.


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## bmgilst (Feb 4, 2014)

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Yes, my main concern was just that this is something fairly typical and that my house wasnt going to start falling apart. When I press on the drywall, the screws don't seem to "bulge out" anymore, so is it safe to say it's being held secure? The only one that bulges and has chipped the paint is one that is obviously in a bit crooked. The others don't seem to move much if any. 

I actually just painted the house which has made the tape seams more obvious. My house before was the original paint which was the standard off white color you see in most mass produced homes. The new paint is a light yellow through most of the house and the 20' foyer that has a sort of glossy finish on it. If it catches light the right way you can see the tape seams, though only one, at the intersection of the tall wall and the stairway wall, seems bulged out. There is no cracking in this area, or anywhere in the house, so I figure it was probably a warped piece of drywall used and not the house bowing. This is also the only place where there is any movement by the screw when it's being pressed on.

I don't think it's foundation related, because it's happening just as much on the interior walls as the exterior walls. In addition, my garage, which doesn't have any heating or air, doesn't seem to have any nail or screw pops in it. 

Basically, all I was looking for is some expert opinions on whether or not this sounded fairly typical or not. If it's just a cosmetic thing I can fix most of them and live with the rest. I was concerned also that the pops seem to be a few feet apart vertically, although I guess ( and hope ) that there are a lot of screws between the pops that just have not popped at all.


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## MUDBONE (Dec 26, 2011)

A 100 screw pops is never "popular"!


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## gazman (Apr 29, 2011)

bmgilst said:


> Thanks for the replies everyone.
> 
> although I guess ( and hope ) that there are a lot of screws between the pops that just have not popped at all.


They should be there, if you are concerned just check with a strong magnet.


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## icerock drywall (Nov 13, 2010)

sounds like the hanger is setting the screws to deep.


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## moore (Dec 2, 2010)

icerock drywall said:


> sounds like the hanger is setting the screws to deep.


The deeper the screw is set into green timber The worse the screw pop will be.


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## cracker (Nov 3, 2013)

*pops*

I’ve noticed things changing over the past few years…our wood has turned to crap. Wood now is genetically engineered to be fast growth. The faster wood grows the sponger it gets and soaks up its environment faster. Wood that sets in 75% humidity could easily be over 25 percent when you hang.  I have mentioned this to builders in the past, but it falls on deaf ears. Technically we should be hanging on wood 15 percent or lower. If you have the extra bucks get a moisture meter and check the next house. When wood dies it loses girth not length. There are a few things that can happen when you have extreme wood shrinkage ….. If you don’t glue, and I know DWC that don’t…a small gap will form between the drywall and stud…push on it and the screw pops. The obvious solution would be to glue the rock right?? Well, that does not solve the problem with wet wood! It almost makes it worse. When a stud that is glued dries it pulls the drywall with it, however the screw stays in the same place…it does not follow the wood. For example Im sure you have seen in nature a tree grow around metal? When wood dies or shrinks it does the same thing in reverse. The metal always stays in the same place. This is what happens when you see a whole house “pop” its glued drywall on wet wood and the screw stayed in the same place! Wet wood/Glue pops don’t give you a chance to fix them in the drywall stage…thy show up after the HVAC system is turned on and starts drying the wood. Im not bashing glue… I love it….but will not glue on wood with a high moisture content. I will take my chances with the little gap and screw every stud. I live the south where there is no conditioning of wood before or during the drywall process. I can see this not being a problem where HVAC systems have been running for a week before and during the drywall process. That would be my dream to have the manufactures and builders take responsibility for the wood. It’s just the inconvenient truth.:furious:


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## gazman (Apr 29, 2011)

So am I to undertand that your houses are built from Green lumber? If so it is no wonder that screw pops are a problem. Our timber is dried prior to it's use. Better still use steel.


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## cracker (Nov 3, 2013)

gazman said:


> So am I to undertand that your houses are built from Green lumber? If so it is no wonder that screw pops are a problem. Our timber is dried prior to it's use. Better still use steel.



Oh yea its green all right....the wood manufactures are seeing green all the way to the bank....Grow it fast...air dry it on the way to job site. pocket more profit! Same thing is happening to our drywall...crap product.


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## Arey85 (Jan 2, 2010)

PrecisionTaping said:


> lol! You guys need to relax. This guy's just trying to make sure his house isn't falling apart. He's had it 3 years and it's taken him this long to notice popped screws and barely visible tape seems in a 20' ceiling? If it was a bad job I'd notice it in the first 3 minutes of living in the house. He's just trying to make sure it wasn't caused by anything serious such as his cracked foundation. Doesn't want these popped screws to continue to something worse. If he feels like re-painting his whole house because of " I would guess around 100" popped screws then have at er. Go ahead and fix them. I'm just trying to ease his mind that it's not a structural problem. Pop screws do happen frequently, and have most likely been there since before he bought the house. Not to mention this is a fairly big home! 2,500 square/ft home?! How many floors? 2,500 x 4 = 10,000squ/ft per floor. If it's a two story house that means there's over 20,000squ/ft of drywall. He did mention 20' ceilings, which means x4 is probably a little on the conservative side. Could very well be more footage. So let's play conservatively. 20,000squ/ft of drywall divided by 48 (squ/ft in a 12' sheet) = 417 twelve ft sheets. On average it takes approximately 50 screws to screw off a full 12' sheet. Unless you're glueing them. 417sheets x 50screws per sheet = 20,850 screws. Maybe 100 screw pops? Don't worry. Your house is safe. Every new house moves and twists a little in it's first few years of being built.


In what world is there 417 sheets in a 2500 sqft house??? Just sayin'......


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## super rocker (Jul 8, 2009)

Must have 50' ceilings throughout.


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## PrecisionTaping (Feb 2, 2012)

Arey85 said:


> In what world is there 417 sheets in a 2500 sqft house??? Just sayin'......





super rocker said:


> Must have 50' ceilings throughout.


If there's 2 floors each at 2500 squ/ft I said.
Roughly 10,000ft per floor.


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## fr8train (Jan 20, 2008)

generally speaking, when giving the sq ft of a home, you give it for the entire house, so 2500 sq ft would be 2500 sq ft. If it were a 4 story house, with 2500 sq ft/floor, then it would be 10,000 sq ft. The OP didn't say that, so I assume by 2500 sq ft, he meant 2500 sq ft., comes out to a square house 50ft x 50 ft, I.E. just over 52 4x12 sheets on the lid(s) 34 sheets for the exterior walls @ 8ft tall, comes to 86 sheets, throw in some extra for interior walls, basically a 100 sheet house. 

Or am I mistaken?


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## mld (Jul 2, 2012)

The way I calculate jobs a 2500 sq ft single story house would be around 185 sheets, 
give or take a few sheets. Yes, that's 4 x 12s.


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## fr8train (Jan 20, 2008)

mld said:


> The way I calculate jobs a 2500 sq ft single story house would be around 185 sheets,
> give or take a few sheets. Yes, that's 4 x 12s.


Wow, 85 sheets is a big deal, where did I go wrong? LOL


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## thefinisher (Sep 2, 2011)

Figured about 225..... no garage in that count


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## mld (Jul 2, 2012)

Wow forty sheets, where did I go wrong?
Seriously though, without a plan I usually figure floor footage times 3.7 to 4.0.
No second floor or stairway saves on sheets typically single story is 3.7.

Hence 2500 x 3.7 ÷ 48 = 192 sheets. Oops did the math in my head last time.

OR just divide sq ft by 13.... but that's unlucky:thumbup:


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## Mr.Brightstar (Dec 2, 2011)

mld said:


> Wow forty sheets, where did I go wrong? Seriously though, without a plan I usually figure floor footage times 3.7 to 4.0. No second floor or stairway saves on sheets typically single story is 3.7. Hence 2500 x 3.7 ÷ 48 = 192 sheets. Oops did the math in my head last time. OR just divide sq ft by 13.... but that's unlucky:thumbup:


Don't forget the 20 foot high entranceway.


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## thefinisher (Sep 2, 2011)

mld said:


> Wow forty sheets, where did I go wrong?
> Seriously though, without a plan I usually figure floor footage times 3.7 to 4.0.
> No second floor or stairway saves on sheets typically single story is 3.7.
> 
> ...


 I just take the square footage and times it by 4.5 then divide by 48, but most all our houses have 10' ceilings and generally have a lot of rock in them. But even then I calculate on the high side. Especially if I do plans I want to be a good 30 sheets high


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## cracker (Nov 3, 2013)

LxW ceiling
lf of outside wall x ht
(lf of inside wall x ht) x2

divide ceiling by 48
divide wall by 48 or 54

why all the 3.5 and 4 x sqft...seems like a bunch of guess work


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## thefinisher (Sep 2, 2011)

cracker said:


> LxW ceiling
> lf of outside wall x ht
> (lf of inside wall x ht) x2
> 
> ...


Its all a bunch of guess work basing a number off of plans. Most times I give a number 6 months to a year in advance. A LOT can change in that time like framing changes, rock pricing, labor pricing, etc. I like to be high on the count when giving a long term budget price. linear footage is fine and all if your doing cracker jack boxes but when you have big vaulted ceilings and such it can be hard to get an accurate count. Plus I can give a builder a number in less than a minute based off the square footage. I'm not going to take all day on a preliminary figure for a job that I may not get. And if the plans are set in stone and will definitely get the job then I will wait until the mechanicals start going in before I get a physical count on it which will be most accurate.


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## mld (Jul 2, 2012)

cracker said:


> LxW ceiling
> lf of outside wall x ht
> (lf of inside wall x ht) x2
> 
> ...


Not guess work, science. After you look at plans for so long, you get to the point where you can tell, this house is 3.7 or4.0 or whatever. I might add that my counts are usually closer than the lumberyard.


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## bryonbuzz (Jan 31, 2014)

I recently saw a new product that I told the inventor that he should talk to the screw manufacture his plastic insert when on a screw makes it hard to set the screw to deep and holds it firm and maybe wont let it pop


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## cracker (Nov 3, 2013)

thefinisher said:


> Its all a bunch of guess work basing a number off of plans. Most times I give a number 6 months to a year in advance. A LOT can change in that time like framing changes, rock pricing, labor pricing, etc. I like to be high on the count when giving a long term budget price. linear footage is fine and all if your doing cracker jack boxes but when you have big vaulted ceilings and such it can be hard to get an accurate count. Plus I can give a builder a number in less than a minute based off the square footage. I'm not going to take all day on a preliminary figure for a job that I may not get. And if the plans are set in stone and will definitely get the job then I will wait until the mechanicals start going in before I get a physical count on it which will be most accurate.


No it does not take that long, but i use a program. I can pump out a number on a 5k sqft house in less than 20 min. You should check it out...will help you bid faster and more accurate. I hear ya on the 3.5 to 4, but that is just over the phone talk.


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## moore (Dec 2, 2010)

I do the formula just to give myself a good idea ...But when it comes to price I want a walk through after it's dried in. And I'm lucky enough to be able to that on most all the homes I work on.


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## thefinisher (Sep 2, 2011)

moore said:


> I do the formula just to give myself a good idea ...But when it comes to price I want a walk through after it's dried in. And I'm lucky enough to be able to that on most all the homes I work on.


This.... My dad counts most all of our houses by just looking at them and knowing how our hangers are going to hang the board. I can count it by feel also but I like wheeling off everything just to make sure. The only thing he will actually measures is the ceilings. And if we forgot our wheel we just count the sheets of flooring to get the ceiling square footage :yes:. The formula is just a reference.


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