Since I began the lease on the apartment I’m currently occupying, there has been a rather conspicuous crack in the wall going from the corner of the doorframe of the closet door, on an uneven diagonal up to the ceiling. The apartment-people were aware of it when we moved in, so I figured no big deal so long as we don’t get blamed for it. Recently, I’ve been looking at it and wondering to myself, “does it look bigger? shrug”
Today I went to close my closet door. It’s a walk-in with a normal door like any other room in the apartment. I’d had it wedged open so that I could go in and out easily when getting dressed in the morning. It probably hadn’t been closed for a month or two.
Eek. It doesn’t want to close. I can kind of jam it in there, but it really doesn’t seem to like it. I’m wondering if leaving it open has contributed to the instability of the wall, made the crack a little larger, and caused the frame to distort. I may have “before” pics around here somewhere, but I don’t have a camera anymore.
My basic question is, how long till this thing is dangerous? Will it stay up until I move out in August?
Depending on where you live, this may be an unpleasant yet normal function of the ground. When I moved into my house every door shut and latched - each one. Now, after 5 years of drought and other factors, the foundation on this 40+ year house has suddenly moved such that almost NO doors in the house shut properly any more.
Whatever the case, it’s not your fault - a door is not itself meant to hold up a wall, so leaving it open did not contribute to it. It’s either a foundation problem or, if you’re on a high floor, a problem with the overall structure of the building.
It’s not likely too much to worry about. It’s amazing how much a structure can move before it becomes dangerous. And it may possibly get better after Spring too, when the groundwater conditions change.
Groovy, thanks. I am on the third floor, and it’s cheap apartments meant for students. I wouldn’t doubt serious flaws in the building design. As long as it doesn’t fall on my head, I don’t mind it. 
Generally, cracks develop because whoever built the structure didn’t properly compact the earth under the foundation, or because of seismic shift. These are ‘settlement’ cracks and are usually just a nuisance because they are unsightly and cause doors and windows to stick. If there were any serious structural problems, you would see cracks elsewhere and the increase in size would be noticeable. Cracks from structural failure tend to be much wider at one end than at the other.