Drywall Cracking in Corners

jburchill

Hello, I re-did a bedroom last year (fist time doing sheetrock) I used mess tape for all my taping. I noticed the corners are cracking and even where the ceiling meets the wall.

Besides doing a bad job, which I probably did, Any Ideas? Too much mud? Not enough? Mesh Tape? Any Ideas?

thank you

Willie T

Wrong kind of mud. Mesh (not necessarily 'mess') tape should only be used with the hard setting (hot) mud. Regular (green lid) or lightweight (blue lid) will almost always crack if used with anything but paper tape.

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Willie T

jburchill

Thanks for the heads up. I will switch to paper tape. Speaking of blue lid and green lid mud. Which one is better? I've read that blue was better.

oh'mike

Muds vary and have different uses---

Powdered mud is very hard and is used to pack voids and often used as a second coat,because it sets quickly.

Green top--All purpose--contains glue and is used to set the paper---difficult to sand--sets fairly quick.

Blue top---this is used for the final 'topping' --it is the easiest to sand--dries slowly--do not use this to set your paper.

----Mike----

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jburchill

I'm going to be switching to tape this next time around for doing another room. Now does this sound correct:

1: Mud(green lid)
2: put on paper tape
3: 1st layer over tape(set tape
4: 2nd layers (blue lid mud)

Willie T

CLICK HERE for some ideas on taping.

__________________
"True eloquence consists in saying all that is necessary, and only that which is."
François Duc de La Rochefoucauld
Willie T

dberladyn

Forget the colors of the lids. They vary from area to area, here the colors are different than the previous posters are stating.

You're cracking could be many different things, without a picture it's hard to guess. The house could be moving, the drywall could be loose and not attached properly, you could have left too large of voids, you could have used the wrong drywall compound material or used it incorrectly.

Keep your drywall joints tight.
Use Paper Tape applied with JOINT COMPOUND (here the pail is YELLOW)
Coat with either All Purpose or Finishing mud, it doesn't matter which.