Fixing Ceiling Cracks After an Earthquake in Hawaii

Alex from Sunset Painting shows off his work after fixing ceiling cracks

Now I know why some islanders are reluctant to call a painter to fix their ceiling cracks after an earthquake in Hawaii. According to one of my neighbors, all contractors are a bunch of good-for-nothings, but he’s more of a hardliner. He might even be called a troublemaker, which is a good neighbor to have when you’re dealing with an HOA.

When we bought our vacation home in Hawaii, it was hard to miss the cracks. The owner we bought the house from bought it from their seller that way. Ten years, and nobody fixed it. Our ceilings are 12-feet high vaults. The cracks were fairly uniform all along the seams at the highest point, including perpendicular lesser cracks along the sheetrock joint seams. Some cracks at the highest seam were 1/2 inch.

Because I sell real estate in Sacramento, I know how important online reviews can be, and the criteria people use to select a Realtor. So I used that knowledge to track down an experienced painter in Kailua-Kona who was good at fixing ceiling cracks. I also learned a long time ago that contractors do good jobs for people they like.

Even if they aren’t very competent, they will knock themselves for a person they care about. It doesn’t hurt to be nice to people. My painter in Kona invested 10 days fixing ceiling cracks in our ceiling. It involved moving all the furniture, me sleeping in the living room in a pile of drywall dust, and every morning texting the painter to make sure he was on his way over.

Condition of living arrangements while fixing ceiling cracks in Hawaii.

Granted, he sometimes got a late start, but he did show up. He would spend a couple of hours setting up all of his tools, formulating a plan, and then it was time for lunch. Be back in an hour, he’d promise. Then he’d return 3 to 4 hours later and go back to work until it got dark. He never promised he would be on the job from 8 to 5 PM. He promised he would finish by the time the flooring contractors showed up, and he fulfilled that promise.

Ten days of living in construction hell.  The problem wasn’t just fixing cracks in the ceiling. He had to match the orange peel finish. That’s why islanders decide that fixing cracks in the ceiling is not a huge priority. They also probably have better things to spend $1,500 on. Which is the amount the sellers credited us for the ceilings when we bought the house a year ago, and the precise amount the painter charged. Coincidinky?