Bad Tape Job?

1232 Views 7 Replies 5 Participants Last post by mark sr, Apr 22, 2020

Abuc

Discussion Starter · Apr 15, 2020

I live in a 17 yo Pulte 55+ community. Every house I have seen, including mine, has major problems with the taped joints. They are pretty bad in the house and much worse in the garage. Nail pops galore too. Took me a full year to put things right inside the house and now I am fixing garage. Had to remove a lot of old tape and redo several corners (used 90 Perfect Corner). Added screws at every seam. Finished product looks great but I wonder if I wasted my time. We get wide swings in temperature and humidity since no windows. Oven hot in summer and damn near freezing in winter. Is it possible for taped joints to withstand these conditions without failing? Thanks.

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MTN REMODEL LLC

· #2 · Apr 15, 2020

Wow...Interesting.....

I really don't know whether climatic conditions would cause tape failure...I'm reluctant to think so....as my below freezing garage had no problem in Co nor our Nv home in a hot summer when we have it closed off.

I guess expansion/contraction might be contributory...just never seen it.

Thought occurs to me that early 2000, around when your home was built, was when Pulte was buying Del Web. Although both had a good name among production builders, wonder if something got completed quickly and not up to ongoing standards because of purchase considerations/completions....?

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mark sr

· #3 · Apr 16, 2020

I suspect the finisher thinned the mud too much for the bed coat. Thin mud goes on quicker/easier but if it's thinned too much it looses adhesive properties.

I have a 'spray booth' out in my barn that has drywall. Every few yrs it gets down to zero but there have been no issues with any of the tape in that room.

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Abuc

Discussion Starter · #4 · Apr 18, 2020

mark sr said:
I suspect the finisher thinned the mud too much for the bed coat. Thin mud goes on quicker/easier but if it's thinned too much it looses adhesive properties.

I have a 'spray booth' out in my barn that has drywall. Every few yrs it gets down to zero but there have been no issues with any of the tape in that room.

I use the pre-mixed all purpose with the green lid. I thin it a little. Noticeably looser than right out of the bucket but it is stiff enough to stick to my knife when turned upside down. Do you think that is ok? I hope I did not add too much water. Thanks.

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mark sr

· #5 · Apr 18, 2020

It's common practice to thin the mud a little as that makes it flow better. I doubt you'll have a problem, it's only when it's over thinned that there can be issues. The green lid [all purpose] is the correct mud for taping.

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olifer

· #6 · Apr 21, 2020

I have a somewhat similar situation and would welcome input on how to correctly fix it. I live in the northern plains where it gets very cold in the winter and hot/humid in the summer. The interior of my condo is fine, the problem is in my two stall garage that has no window. The tape on both the ceiling and walls has pretty much all come loose and I want to repair it since I've got a lot of extra time on my hands right now. I realize that I need to take off the old tape, but should I replace it with paper tape or something else? Also what type of compound would be best suited for that environment? Thanks in advance.

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Old Thomas

· #7 · Apr 21, 2020

They might have used topping compound instead of joint compound. Topping compound is soupier and has less adhesion than joint compound, but it is easy and fast with easy sanding. It is intended to be used as a thin final coat for easy sanding and feather edging. Or maybe it froze during installation.

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mark sr

· #8 · Apr 22, 2020

Was the drywall painted? Unpainted joint compound is prone to deteriorate when exposed to years of humid air. Once primed/painted it's usually ok.

If you use paper tape - use all purpose mud [green lid] if you use sticky tape [mesh] use a setting compound. Regular j/c is normally easier for a novice to use.

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