Top Tips On How To Tape Drywall  If you are working on a home improvement project and need to know how to tape drywall you have come to the right place.

This article will feature instructions on taping drywall so the do-it-yourselfer can complete home improvement projects involving this process. Knowing how to tape drywall properly is not a difficult process to learn. All you need are the proper tools and techniques to get the job done. Although the process of  taping drywall  is not difficult, it is, however, a time consuming and detailed process. Taping the drywall seams can take three times as long as it takes to hang the drywall in some cases.

Understanding how to  tape drywall  is so important because without completing this process correctly the room may have an unattractive and unprofessional look. This article will include instructions for how to complete this project but if after reading the article, you are not feeling confident about this project it might be wise to consider hiring a professional drywall finishing crew.

Their highly specialized skills will enable them to complete the process with a great deal of precision resulting in a room that really looks complete. The Right Tools for the Job Knowing how to tape drywall includes understanding that you will need to have the proper tools to complete the job. It is often said that knowing how to do a job and having the tools to do the job is half the battle. It may be possible to complete the project without the right tools but it will likely take significantly longer.

To tape drywall you will  need drywall tape , joint compound and an appropriately sized drywall knife. Also, a coarse and fine grit sandpaper will be needed to finish the job. Without these tools and supplies the process will not only be more difficult but may also not end up looking as professional as it would if you used the proper supplies and tools. Finishing the Drywall Knowing how to tape drywall involves understanding the entire process involved with finishing the drywall. This is important because failure to understand the entire process may result in a finished product that does not have the appearance of work done by a professional.

The first step in the process involves applying drywall compound on each joint. Three layers of this compound are typically applied. After each layer is applied, the compound is allowed to dry completely and is then sanded before the process is completed. After the third layer of  drywall compound  has been sanded it is time to tape the joints. The joints between each sheet of drywall are then taped and filled with drywall compound. Once the tape is applied the drywall compound is smoothed with a caulking knife and the excess compound is removed. Finally after the drywall compound dries completely it is sanded first with a course grit sandpaper and then with a finer grit sandpaper to create a smooth and polished look. Allow the compound to dry for 24 hours before you begin to sand. The coarse grit sandpaper should be used to remove large amounts of compound. The finer grit should be used to blend the edges of the compound to the wall to provide a seamless transition. You may have to repeat the process of applying compound and sanding to attain the desired result. Knowing how to tape drywall will provide that professional look to your drywall project. By: Carlo Morelli Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Visit www.onlinetips.org, and read about automatic drywall taping tools and using a drywall lift.

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Do a walk through eyeballing the job carefully. You will find obvious mistakes this way and can either correct them immediately or mark them with a pencil to come back later and do a touch up application. Change lighting and search again for flaws. After all, your room will be used with natural and artificial lighting.

Some errors will not appear unless there is bright artificial lighting. Use "touch" to find uneven drywall application. Run the palm of your hand over areas to make sure the whole wall feels even. Perform another inspection after applying the primer coat of paint. Do this again using both natural and artificial lighting. There are several things to look for when inspecting your  drywall finishing work . Obvious scratches. These need to be coated with joint compound again and re-sanded. If you find a swollen area in the finished mud, it can be one of two things. Hopefully, it’s only that the area needs to be sanded down. Sometimes though, it will mean that the tape coat does not have enough mud (joint compound) under it and there is an air bubble. This requires carefully cutting a small slit into the dried tape using a utility knife. Lifting the tape slightly and pressing more mud under it. Finally apply another coat of mud after the area is dry and sand it again. A swollen area in raw sheetrock (area of sheetrock that has not been coated with mud) will mean that there is an actual flaw in the wallboard. This can also be repaired by cutting the top paper of the sheetrock around the flaw, peeling it off and filling it with mud using a smooth even coat. A small area will usually only need one coat of compound…larger areas two or more. Again sand until the wall feels and looks completely smooth. Check around light boxes to ascertain that there will be no small gaps showing after installing the cover plates.

If the gap is too large, a small length of tape should be applied and finished to cover the gap. Don’t forget to inspect ceiling fixtures, washer fixtures,etc. Make sure all screw or nail heads are covered and smooth unless you’re sure they will be covered by trim. If there is spray texture used, make sure it has been scraped and sanded smooth in areas where there may be over-spray such as the top area of the walls when the ceiling has been sprayed. After spray texture has been applied, look for spots where it may be too lightly sprayed. NOTE: If you’re spraying yourself, be careful not to apply too heavy a coat. It’s much easier to lightly re-spray an area than to repair a coat that is too heavy. Check around all beaded areas to make sure they are smooth and without scratches, dents etc. These are the most common problem areas when finishing drywall and you will be much more satisfied with your product if you perform your own quality control testing before the final painting or papering of your walls. These tips are just among hundreds more featured on our website. If you have a remodeling project involving drywall, check out Drywall Finishing Tips now! http://www.drywallfinishingtips.com By: Lynn Solana Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Lynn Solana has been involved in the drywall profession for many years and has survived numerous home remodeling and building projects.

From hiring contractors to working hands on, she has experienced the entire spectrum of home improvement. These tips are just among hundreds more that she shares on her website. If you have a remodeling project involving drywall, check out Drywall Finishing Tips now! www.drywallfinishingtips.com Old Home Blog: Home improvement tips, house repair, restoration … Once you have the cracks cleaned you need to determine if you should use any type of drywall joint tape, wall repair fabric, or corner bead to strengthen the repaired crack. Old Home Blog: Home improvement tips, house repair, restoration … Below is an overview of the tools I use to apply joint compound to either drywall joints or plaster walls. While the type of joint compound you use will differ depending on your situation. Drywall Crack Repairs – How To Fix Cracks In Drywalls Drywall crack repairs should be done immediately to prevent further damage to the walls. Go through the article to know how to fix cracks in drywalls.

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Do-it-yourself Invisible Crack Repairs On Smooth & Textured Surfaces and specialist plaster bead.

For centuries, builders have been surfacing their home and building constructs with textured masonry and other stucco finish materials as a cost-saving short-cut to producing consistent looking profiles. For example, why do most new homes have blown stucco ceilings (aka – "popcorn")? Producing a visually flat ceiling (or wall) surface takes a great deal of time and materials. And it takes  master plastering skills  to hide the flaws of uneven drywall and finish each tape join with the required 3 coats of plaster drywall compound. But with a textured coating, the builder can throw up the drywall roughly as it may sit, tape it with only a single coat of plaster and the resulting flaws all disappear under the illusion of a "level" textured surface. The results look new and even, the builder saves time and money and hopefully passes those savings on to you. It’s a perfect solution!… Until it cracks.

Fixing a smooth surface crack  When a crack develop s on a flat wall or ceiling, the repair is rather simple. You cover it with a strip of paper tape (if indoors) or mesh tape (indoors or out), skim over it with your putty knife and the appropriate interior or exterior patching compound in three thin coats (each one wider than the last to float it out with the surrounding surface as smoothly as possible) and sand it just enough to remove any edges.

Smooth plastering like this is easy to achieve with some practice once you’ve grasped these fundamentals. And while you’re practicing, there are no errors that can’t be easily fixed with either a little more plaster or a little more sanding. The most common mistake is in applying the compound too thick. This creates excessive sanding and bulgy looking patches. But what about the crack on a textured surface? Obviously you can’t just tape, skim coat and sand it. The result would be a long flat patch in the middle of a textured profile (which I’ve seen far too many homeowners stuck with in my career). It stands out like a bad rash and adds insult to injury. You can’t undo or fix a repair like this. The only way to get rid of a bad stucco repair is to remove all the textured material on the entire surface and replace it with new. That’s a costly venture and can be avoided if the repair was done properly the first time. Working with textured materials There’s often the misconception that one can simply remove the textured coating of masonry or popcorn stucco (or what have you) from around the damaged area  to fix the substrate and then replace the textured material on just this spot. It sounds reasonable in theory so long as you’re using the exact same material as replacement.

But in practice, it’s almost always impossible. With a great deal of skill and expertise, a finisher can bevel the outer edges of the damaged area so that when the new material is applied over the exposed substrate (drywall, brick, concrete, etc.) it can be gradually eased toward the outer edges without overlapping the surrounding material to keep it level with the existing grade. But even this shows a slight ridge around the repair and is noticeable to those who know it’s there… namely, YOU. And this is the best that can be done without complete replacement. The more common approach I’ve seen people try is to simply try covering the crack with more of the same material used on the overall surface. The problem with this is that anything you add to the surface of a textured profile only magnifies where the damage is with a hump in a sea of bumps. So what do you do if you’re not a master mason and don’t want to spend the money on complete removal and replacement of your stucco just to fix some cracks? Easy crack repair for textured surfaces To understand how to repair a crack one should have an understanding of the anatomy of the crack. Sometimes created by sudden impact, sometimes by the long (or short) natural process of shifting and settling and often by water leaks, the crack is a break in the solid substrate. And through the laws of weight and gravity, the crack can only shift, grind and grow. It never gets smaller and it rarely stays the same. No matter how you repair the crack, you’ll only mask it from eye while it continues to thrive below the surface waiting for its chance to reappear. That is, unless you want to go through the costly and messy process of replacing the entire substrate. But who wants to do that if there’s an easier way? Ultimately, you want a repair to be invisible or at least, depending on the severity of the damage, unobtrusive to the eye. To accomplish this in the middle of a textured surface, the repair has to fill the crack, preserve the surrounding texture and not reopen as the surface shifts over time. Solid drying fillers such as plaster and drywall compound can easily fill in the crack but do little to preserve the texture and usually result in bad approximations of the surrounding surface at best. They also dry hard and brittle allowing the underlying crack to easily break through the surface in short time. So the ideal material must remain flexible to keep up with the movement of the crack and it has to make the crack disappear within its native profile. What can do all this and be easily applied? Latex caulking. Simply run a small bead of latex caulking along the surface of the crack, wet your fingers with a little warm water as a lubricant and massage the caulking into the crack while "washing" it into the surrounding texture. Make sure the crack is thoroughly filled and the excess caulking around the edges is thinly blended into the texture. Let it dry thoroughly and then paint over with latex paint to preserve the elasticity. It’s as easy as that! But never use silicone caulking for this type of repair as you can’t paint over it. In cases where you can’t paint the surface for one reason or another (e.g.- a very large exterior wall in an unpainted tinted masonry), use a colored caulking that best resemble the surface colour and be sure to wash away as much of the material from the outer edges of the crack as possible before it dries. A flexible repair is a lasting repair. As your home shifts, expands and contracts, so does your latex caulking crack filler. Happy painting! By: DEE L. POTTER Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com DEE POTTER with his company, ColourWorks Painting has helped hundreds of homeowners get the most from their properties with creative & cost saving solutions to their repair and decorative challenges. Please visit www.PaintByColourWorks. drywall – Fix-it Forum: Home Improvement & Do It Yourself Repair Forum Ceiling my ceiling received some water damage from my vent tube from my bathroom. The tube sagged down and rested on the ceiling and froze now my ceiling. Cool Tools: Blade Runner Drywall Cutter A review of Blade Runner Drywall Cutter (Simultaneously cuts front and back), a Cool Tool. Kottkamp home afflicted by Chinese drywall A number of homes in Southwest Florida have been built with the suspect drywall, which is emitting rotten egg smells, corroding wiring and, some fear, could cause respiratory problems. Builders turned to the Chinese drywall during. : Kottkamp home afflicted by Chinese drywall A number of homes in Southwest Florida have been built with the suspect drywall, which is emitting rotten egg smells, corroding wiring and, some fear, could cause respiratory problems. Builders turned to the Chinese drywall during the … Read more…

A number of homes in Southwest Florida have been built with the suspect drywall, which is emitting rotten egg smells, corroding wiring and, some fear, could cause respiratory problems. Builders turned to the Chinese drywall during the … Read more…

: Cool Tools: Blade Runner Drywall Cutter A review of Blade Runner Drywall Cutter (Simultaneously cuts front and back), a Cool Tool. Read more…

A review of Blade Runner Drywall Cutter (Simultaneously cuts front and back), a Cool Tool. Read more…

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Proper  Drywall Finishing with  thina coat angle beads  So, you have installed and fastened your drywall and you are ready for the next step of taping and compounding.

This is a very critical step in the whole process because it will determine how smooth your walls will look when you are done. As with most jobs, being fully prepared is the most important part of the job. Make sure you know exactly what you need to do in getting ready to "mud" the walls. You will need to get joint compound. This is available in a powder that you add water to, or premixed. There are different textures of compound (also called "mud"): taping compound to be used for the initial taping is course, and topping compound which is used for finishing, is thinner. You can also get all purpose compound, which has a texture somewhat in the middle which can be used for either purpose. Wear a mask and protect surfaces when sanding. Make sure all of your nails and screws are properly sunk by running a taping knife over the seams and sink any that stick out. Use taping knives to install apply the mud. Start with a narrow one and use a slightly larger one to feather out the edges. No way around it, mudding a wall will take time, since you have to allow 24 hours of drying time between each compound application. First, there is the taping layer. Apply the compound and place jointing tape over the seams and smooth more compound over. Make sure all nail and screw holes are covered. After this layer, all spaces should be filled in and level. Next, you have to apply two layers of compound to smooth out the surface. Using the taping knives of increasing size, ending up with a taping knife of up to a foot wide. Apply the compound, stroke each side, then a stroke down the middle.

Applying compound is not an easy task. You may have to use different pressure in different spots, for example, more pressure to the outside of the knife when you do the side stroke, even pressure when you do the middle stroke. The last coat is the finishing coat. This is where real care will produce a superior appearance. Scrape a wide taping knife over the joints to get rid of all bumps and ridges. Thin out the compound or use topping compound and spread evenly. For the best results in mudding drywall, you need two magic ingredients: patience and consistency. You may be anxious to finish up the job and get the wall painted, but allowing sufficient time between coats of compound for proper drying and sanding and smoothing after the last coat will give you professional looking results. By: Greg K. Hansward - Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Greg Hansward usually publishes long articles on ideas associated to finishing basements and drywall techniques. His articles on drywall finishing are found on www.insidewoodworking.com/drywall/hand_drywall_tools.html Drywall Imported From China Causing Construction Problems …

As if the construction market has not experienced enough hardship in these trying economic times, reports have recently surfaced of defective drywall products that were imported from

Consumer Watchdog Expands Investigation Into Possibly Toxic …

Consumer Watchdog Expands Investigation Into Possibly Toxic Chinese Made Drywall… Consumer Watchdog Expands Investigation Into Possibly Toxic Chinese Made Drywall.

Cryptogon.com Archives Toxic Chinese Drywall Making People and …

The residents, many with small children, are experiencing an outbreak of the same chronic symptoms respiratory problems, painful sore throats, headaches and nosebleeds

Corrosion, health problems linked …

Some Chinese drywall, used to make interior walls, has now been linked to the near-complete corrosion of metal components in Florida homes, including wiring, piping.

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