# Isn't This A Bad Drywall Job??



## joed (Mar 13, 2005)

Your not crazy.


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## stick\shift (Mar 23, 2015)

Wow, that's horrible.

Question is, do you even want them to come back and try to fix it?


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## diyer75 (Dec 2, 2014)

No I almost fired him after their third day and he convinced me to let him fix it and this was the result in the 5th day. So yes I’m firing him. Thanks for confirming I’m not nuts. I will pay him something but nowhere near full amount.


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## Porsche986S (Dec 10, 2017)

Out of the 12 hours how much time was spent inhaling the crack pipe ? That is beyond horrible work hopefully they weren't scoping out your house for a robbery .


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## SPS-1 (Oct 21, 2008)

I don't think I could do this if I tried.


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## chandler48 (Jun 5, 2017)

"Bad" is a word, but it doesn't describe this. I'm leaning toward "total and complete failure" as describing it. It may can be salvaged, but I wouldn't let them within 100 yards of my house. You do what your conscience tells you to do with regards to paying them something, but If they are gone, leave them gone. I can send my 11 year old grandson to do the job 500% better.


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## MTN REMODEL LLC (Sep 11, 2010)

WOW...f'n crap as everyone above......^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I wonder if it can even be salvaged, or is worth while to do.

(I'm a GC and will do small finishing jobs myself slowly, but I'm not sure I would have the blade skill to correct that mess. I'd might likely tear down and restart.)

Hopefully, you can find a good finisher able to salvage that....let us know what occurs.

Good luck....(I might not pay them anything unless it can be salvaged/repaired, after closely inspecting it.)


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

Looks like a do over to me.
That whole wall area around the door is totaly wrong and needs to come, there should never be a seam over the outside corner of a door!
It will crack there every time. 
Not there to see it, but it looks like there may be a missing nailer in the inside corner to the left of the door.
I also likely would have been using 12' sheets and started running them from the left side of that wall and just cut out for the door opening, that way there would have been just one small seam to deal with in the middle of that narrow part on the left side of the door and no seams around the top of the door.
It would be interesting to see how they screwed up those seams like that, just guessing there was large gaps that where not prefilled and just taped over making the tape buckel out like that.
Since we can see you know how to post pictures, how about one of the look on the face of anyone you try and get to fix that mess. 
It likely would be cheaper in the long run to rip it out and start over then pay someone by the hour to try and fix this mess.
Drywall is cheap, labor is expensive.


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## loumickie (Jan 29, 2020)

I wouldn't pay him until he agrees to tear it out, and then it would be a significant discount. Hire someone who knows what they're doing, or learn to do it yourself. That makes my work look professional!


Lou


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## Midwest Man (Feb 12, 2014)

It's terrible... They thought they could do it and took a job they have no skills in.
All needs torn out and redone.. what is there now will only cause grief to an actual professional and he will tear it out anyway

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## Old Thomas (Nov 28, 2019)

That sucks badly. Who did it, Stevie Wonder?


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## JayDoesIt (Jan 25, 2020)

With the mud so thick and already hardened with mesh tape in it you can't even sand your way out of that nightmare. Joecaptions pretty spot on with my opinion.

Almost certain the guys hired would just try to throw mud and sanding blocks at it until it looked halfway okay but even then it wouldn't be close to right.

Find a new installer, or diy either way I'd redo the whole thing, with all the pieces and the way they have done things It's probably not fastened properly either and even if you did a miracle mud job on it, given a little time cracks would be appearing.


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## Midwest Man (Feb 12, 2014)

JayDoesIt said:


> With the mud so thick and already hardened with mesh tape in it you can't even sand your way out of that nightmare. Joecaptions pretty spot on with my opinion.
> 
> Almost certain the guys hired would just try to throw mud and sanding blocks at it until it looked halfway okay but even then it wouldn't be close to right.
> 
> Find a new installer, or diy either way I'd redo the whole thing, with all the pieces and the way they have done things It's probably not fastened properly either and even if you did a miracle mud job on it, given a little time cracks would be appearing.


Terrible for sure..some of it is already pulling away already anyway.



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## Mike Milam (Mar 3, 2017)

Pull down before someone sees it


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## Gymschu (Dec 12, 2010)

+1 on a total re-do. I haven't seen work that bad in 20 years!!! Even someone with rudimentary drywall skills, with the help of some YouTube videos, could do a passable job. That is not remotely passable.


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## zeroarctic (Feb 2, 2020)

I owned a drywall company in the 1980's. We would get calls from owner builders sometimes that "Already have the drywall hung and the first coat of tape done so that should knock the price down:" I don't think we ever did one like that ,our business was oriented more towards new construction and contractor remodeled residential and light commercial.We did some owner builds, but they would have been pretty well framed before we would contract with them. That being said, I remember some awful ones I looked at and turned down. I might have seen one that bad.


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## diyer75 (Dec 2, 2014)

Gymschu said:


> +1 on a total re-do. I haven't seen work that bad in 20 years!!! Even someone with rudimentary drywall skills, with the help of some YouTube videos, could do a passable job. That is not remotely passable.


I agree. I could have done a better job myself- I just think they are idiots


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## JLawrence08648 (Mar 1, 2019)

The reason why it needs to be redone, since it is just such a terrible job indicating they did not know what they were doing, you don't know the quality of work under the sheetrock, under the tape, the seams, how close the sheetrock is to each other, how wide the seams are, how did they fill them? how did they lay the tape? how many screws did they use, did they hit the studs? the floor ceiling framing? Too many unknowns. Do you want to rip it out now or later, painted, furniture, floor, when it's failing?


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## kwikfishron (Mar 11, 2010)

When I see work like this the first thing that comes to my mind is "lowest bid" "Craigslist" etc. Ya get what you pay for.....

I could be wrong but.....


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## diyer75 (Dec 2, 2014)

kwikfishron said:


> When I see work like this the first thing that comes to my mind is "lowest bid" "Craigslist" etc. Ya get what you pay for.....
> 
> I could be wrong but.....


You're wrong in this case - I found him on Yelp after my usual Drywaller's bid was WAYYY too high (I'm an architect and typically use the same contractors for my client's projects) so I got three other bids and this guy's was NOT the cheapest by far. So, not the case with me - I have spend $60K on my master bathroom remodel and will have spent $35K on my master remodel by the time I'm done so cheap I am not.


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## diyer75 (Dec 2, 2014)

JLawrence08648 said:


> The reason why it needs to be redone, since it is just such a terrible job indicating they did not know what they were doing, you don't know the quality of work under the sheetrock, under the tape, the seams, how close the sheetrock is to each other, how wide the seams are, how did they fill them? how did they lay the tape? how many screws did they use, did they hit the studs? the floor ceiling framing? Too many unknowns. Do you want to rip it out now or later, painted, furniture, floor, when it's failing?


I already fired him and he said I didn't have to pay him anything, and I didn't. He knew he didn't know what he was doing and so did I. He just wasted a week it could have been done by now. UGH. I have a new guy coming tomorrow to give me a quote on it - I already told him it was a complete redo.


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## 3onthetree (Dec 7, 2018)

diyer75 said:


> I'm an architect


You're an *architect*, and wasn't sure whether this was a good job? You also didn't know to cut the protruding foam first to close the gap between the G.B. and the window frame? You also didn't know the full window membrane wrap is only noticeable on one side? You also didn't know you should have a cripple below the sill plate end? You also didn't notice the header may not be fastened to the king very well, and the king is two pieces? You also don't know how to properly stuff batts into crevices? You had an exposed wall but didn't move the receptacle farther away from the window to not interfere with possible curtains?


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## diyer75 (Dec 2, 2014)

Instead of being such an insecure ass why don’t you try being a decent person? The question was somewhat rhetorical in nature, I was simply weary about telling them to take a,hike and needed some reassurance, not some jerk who is so insecure he has to try and tear me down because of his own lack of education and success. This is my house and it’s not the same as doing it for a client. Your other,observations are asinine just like you and don’t deserve a response. And yes I am an architect for 15 years. What are you? Oh, a troll. This is why I hate com9ng to,this site it’s inevitable some contractor will be an ass and expose his own superiority complex which just masks his own personal and deeply seated insecurity. Congrats for being on type. 




3onthetree said:


> You're an *architect*, and wasn't sure whether this was a good job? You also didn't know to cut the protruding foam first to close the gap between the G.B. and the window frame? You also didn't know the full window membrane wrap is only noticeable on one side? You also didn't know you should have a cripple below the sill plate end? You also didn't notice the header may not be fastened to the king very well, and the king is two pieces? You also don't know how to properly stuff batts into crevices? You had an exposed wall but didn't move the receptacle farther away from the window to not interfere with possible curtains?


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## diyer75 (Dec 2, 2014)

Instead of being such an insecure ass why don’t you try being a decent person? The question was somewhat rhetorical in nature, I was simply weary about telling them to take a,hike and needed some reassurance, not some jerk who is so insecure he has to try and tear me down because of his own lack of education and success. This is my house and it’s not the same as doing it for a client. Your other,observations are asinine just like you and don’t deserve a response. And yes I am an architect for 15 years. What are you? Oh, a troll. This is why I hate com9ng to,this site it’s inevitable some contractor will be an ass and expose his own superiority complex which just masks his own personal and deeply seated insecurity. Congrats for being on type. 




3onthetree said:


> You're an *architect*, and wasn't sure whether this was a good job? You also didn't know to cut the protruding foam first to close the gap between the G.B. and the window frame? You also didn't know the full window membrane wrap is only noticeable on one side? You also didn't know you should have a cripple below the sill plate end? You also didn't notice the header may not be fastened to the king very well, and the king is two pieces? You also don't know how to properly stuff batts into crevices? You had an exposed wall but didn't move the receptacle farther away from the window to not interfere with possible curtains?





3onthetree said:


> You're an *architect*, and wasn't sure whether this was a good job? You also didn't know to cut the protruding foam first to close the gap between the G.B. and the window frame? You also didn't know the full window membrane wrap is only noticeable on one side? You also didn't know you should have a cripple below the sill plate end? You also didn't notice the header may not be fastened to the king very well, and the king is two pieces? You also don't know how to properly stuff batts into crevices? You had an exposed wall but didn't move the receptacle farther away from the window to not interfere with possible curtains?


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## 3onthetree (Dec 7, 2018)

diyer75 said:


> Congrats for being on type.


The only assumption correct is ironically I _am_ being on type. I subscribe to "jack of all trades, master of none," but once you *state* you are an _architect_ that changes things. I would not be as harsh with Joe Homeowner, but there is a certain level of competency that an _architect_ should display in directing others to do work or to a lesser extent in DIY. I predicted it would embarrass you, but the hammering is deserved and I would do the same to any _architect_ in the office, on a jobsite, or at a CE seminar.

Live and continue learning, because "the devil is in the details"


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## 95025 (Nov 14, 2010)

On a positive note, these pictures make me feel MUCH better about my drywalling skills -elementary though they may be! :biggrin2:


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## Chel_in_Rfd (Dec 21, 2007)

Um wow.. 

I just redid a 12x22 bedroom into a walk-in closet, bedroom and am working on the adjoining bathroom expansion. I'm an IT person by trade and "girl with a sawzall" at night. This drywall job SUCKS! I'm sorry, but I hauled drywall up on a ladder supported by my head and did a much better job than this. They didn't even stagger the panels. 

I wouldn't even allow these people to do the job over. You'll regret it later when stuff starts cracking, etc.


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## ZTMAN (Feb 19, 2015)

diyer75 said:


> You're wrong in this case - I found him on Yelp after my usual Drywaller's bid was WAYYY too high (I'm an architect and typically use the same contractors for my client's projects) so I got three other bids and this guy's was NOT the cheapest by far. So, not the case with me - I have spend $60K on my master bathroom remodel and will have spent $35K on my master remodel by the time I'm done so cheap I am not.


I would use your "usual" drywaller. What made his bid too high? He may have know something about the job that the other bidders did not.

And I don't think a member that has 1,500 posts would be considered a troll. His observations seem to be validated by the pics. Hopefully the new drywaller will address those items.


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## jrmac53 (Jan 2, 2020)

I have only seen one worse than that. And they also didn't have a clue as to what they were doing! Always check references. And I don't mean your buddy's buddy has a buddy that knows some buddy type of BS. SoHK's!


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## Fisher1871 (Oct 12, 2016)

I really don't see the problem.

Just get some flat paint, paint the ceiling, and you will be good to go. The flat texture will hide the surface defects.


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## amospoint1978 (Jul 17, 2014)

I'm not so sure that this isn't a 'wind up'. They wouldn't have got that far with me, its a piss take and I would have probably battered them!. You have been properly taken the piss out off!..disgusting!. :vs_mad:


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## amospoint1978 (Jul 17, 2014)

Furthermore, I would have had them clowns take it down and clean up before they left!. 

Really Fisher1971...


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## Sichuan (Aug 25, 2015)

That is one of the most horrible and disgusting drywall installations I have ever witnessed. This is what happens when you hire someone who apparently knows absolutely nothing about installing drywall. 

I assign 50% of the blame to the inept installers and 50% of the blame to the homeowner who failed to hire a qualified installer. This is what happens when you "cheap out". You get what you pay for. An architect should know better.

I won't point out the many deficiencies in this drywall installation. Any qualified drywall installer will know what I am referring to.


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## DallasCowboys (Jan 30, 2017)

What kind of recourse do you have in a situation like this?
Do you call the building inspector, have them inspect and potentially investigate the contractor?

Or do you call a lawyer?


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## Midwest Man (Feb 12, 2014)

DallasCowboys said:


> What kind of recourse do you have in a situation like this?
> Do you call the building inspector, have them inspect and potentially investigate the contractor?
> 
> Or do you call a lawyer?


Judge Judy would give everyone a good scolding lol



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## Iamuprise (Aug 28, 2019)

It looks like they used joint compound to lay the mesh in. The seams look like they were filled in with joint compound also. You'll have to remove it all and start over using setting compound. That's if they used joint compound which will give you issues in the future.Sorry man rip it out and start over.


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## chandler48 (Jun 5, 2017)

I observing the latest posts, I don't see the need in bashing the OP (homeowner). It is basically uncalled for. The contractor was in error, and, surely not top notch. The homeowner saw the results after it was done. In my reading, he was not there the entire time to monitor them. Let's give him a break and move forward. 

This was a lesson learned for him, and hopefully for all of us. We need to vet our workmen to make sure we are getting quality work.

Never go for the low bid. Remember, Morton Thiokol was the low bidder on the o rings on the Challenger Shuttle.


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## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

Gymschu said:


> +1 on a total re-do. I haven't seen work that bad in 20 years!!!



Yes you have - don't you remember the one posted here from last month? That was probably the worst I've ever seen. This is probably the second worst.


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## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

3onthetree said:


> I would not be as harsh with Joe Homeowner, but there is a certain level of competency that an _architect_ should display in directing others to do work or to a lesser extent in DIY.



Not necessarily. This is work in progress, and there's no reason an architect needs to know what the middle of a drywall job should look like any more than a drywaller needs to know how metal is mined and screws are made. For another, there are many types of architects - the field is vast - he could easily be an architect and never specified drywall in his field.


In other words, lighten up Francis.


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## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

Fisher1871 said:


> I really don't see the problem.
> 
> Just get some flat paint, paint the ceiling, and you will be good to go. The flat texture will hide the surface defects.



That's why they invented popcorn man.


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## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

Sichuan said:


> This is what happens when you "cheap out". You get what you pay for.



Another bandwagon jumper who didn't bother to read the whole thread first.


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## JayDoesIt (Jan 25, 2020)

jeffnc said:


> Not necessarily. This is work in progress, and there's no reason an architect needs to know what the middle of a drywall job should look like any more than a drywaller needs to know how metal is mined and screws are made. For another, there are many types of architects - the field is vast - he could easily be an architect and never specified drywall in his field.
> 
> 
> In other words, lighten up Francis.


I disagree and this right here is exactly why home owners need to see what the middle of a job looks like. To many times its what you can't see that causes problems.


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## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

JayDoesIt said:


> I disagree and this right here is exactly why home owners need to see what the middle of a job looks like. To many times its what you can't see that causes problems.



Well I totally agree with that, but that's precisely why this forum exists, and precisely why he came here. And that's why your post was so bad. It's weird you don't see the irony here.


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## markwhitworth (Sep 9, 2018)

SPS-1 said:


> I don't think I could do this if I tried.


Hello, The quality of the job is bad. Cleaning up someone miss is not fun. If they were the lowest on the estimates. Always jobs with problems. Good luck Whitworth Construction.


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## 3onthetree (Dec 7, 2018)

jeffnc said:


> This is work in progress, and there's no reason an architect needs to know what the middle of a drywall job should look like any more than a drywaller needs to know how metal is mined and screws are made. For another, there are many types of architects - the field is vast - he could easily be an architect and never specified drywall in his field.
> 
> In other words, lighten up Francis.





jeffnc said:


> Another bandwagon jumper who didn't bother to read the whole thread first.





jeffnc said:


> It's weird you don't see the irony here.


Well the irony is that you didn't read my post. It says nothing about the drywall, it's obviously done by someone who doesn't know how to do it, and the best of the best can be duped by a contractor once in a while. 

There are numerous threads where things can be pointed out besides the root question, and sometimes they are by commenters. But never in those do the OP's claim to be an "architect." So given that, the wall detailing is eye-opening, not a thing or two, but a bunch of stuff (and nothing to do with workmanship). And that's just one picture, no guesses about what's behind the other $60K and $35K walls. Any competent architect would notice this, even ones who don't get away from a desk. That is the essence, and training, that an architect has to figure out how something goes together and detail it out.

So yes, my original post conveyed that shock.


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## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

3onthetree said:


> Well the irony is that you didn't read my post.



Obviously I did, since I literally quoted it. Any competent forum user would know that.


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## Mtape (Feb 16, 2021)

diyer75 said:


> This guy I hired to do drywall, he and his helpers are idiots.
> 
> I think this is a really bad drywall job so far, PLUS it took 12 hours for them to put up 2 pieces of drywall on the ceiling and several small pieces around the window (see photos).
> 
> It's ridiculous. I guess I just want to know I"m not crazy feeling this is a bad job. Right?


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## Mtape (Feb 16, 2021)

I've got 40 years experience in drywall. First of all they used mesh tape. Now sometimes mesh works but for those odd times when mesh tape fails, it is not worth it. I tried using mesh tape for about a year and I'm an experienced drywaller. About 10 % of the jobs I used mesh tape on had problems that made me look BAD. NEVER AGAIN NO MESH tape!!!!!

It looks like they installed the gyproc as well, so you already know from the quality of the taping job , that they botched the gyproc install too. To fix this you gotta tear it ALL down and start again.


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## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

Mesh tape is acceptable if you use setting compound with it. If you use mesh tape with setting compound and it doesn't work right, it's user error or something else foundational that would have caused problems with any drywall job.


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## Mtape (Feb 16, 2021)

jeffnc said:


> Mesh tape is acceptable if you use setting compound with it. If you use mesh tape with setting compound and it doesn't work right, it's user error or something else foundational that would have caused problems with any drywall job.


Maybe so but paper tape is a better product. Why take the risk on a multimillion dollar home?


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## Mtape (Feb 16, 2021)

Mtape said:


> Maybe so but paper tape is a better product. Why take the risk on a multimillion dollar home?


Sure mesh tape is fast and easy . Take an extra hour and do it right with paper tape.


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## Mtape (Feb 16, 2021)

Mtape said:


> Sure mesh tape is fast and easy . Take an extra hour and do it right with paper tape.


People who use mesh tape don't want to drag out the taping machine. Believe me it's caused more problems that it ever solved.


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## Mtape (Feb 16, 2021)

jeffnc said:


> Mesh tape is acceptable if you use setting compound with it. If you use mesh tape with setting compound and it doesn't work right, it's user error or something else foundational that would have caused problems with any drywall job.


The problem with that is IF something goes wrong and the builder digs out the joint and finds mesh tape then who do you think will be blamed?


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## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

Mtape said:


> The problem with that is IF something goes wrong and the builder digs out the joint and finds mesh tape then who do you think will be blamed?


Mesh tape is perfectly acceptable if setting compound is used, so if that was the case no one is to blame.

Paper tape is stronger, but often results in bubbles and other issues for DIYers. The best solution is FibaFuse.


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## turbo4 (Jan 30, 2021)

Whats with all those small pieces. Lots of butt joints. Not enough screws. Yea, doing it over would be less work than fixing that.


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