# Corners are cracking as joint compound dries



## hoffmandirt (Mar 14, 2012)

I'm renovating my entrance way and laundry room and I'm at the point where I'm mudding and taping my drywall. I taped all of the seams and corners, with paper tape, a few days ago and last night I put my first coat of joint compound on over the tape. The issue that I'm having is that my inside corners in the entrance way are cracking as the compound dries. Now, in the entrance way I used the corner knife and I didn't like it. In the laundry room I only did one side of each corner with a flat knife so I won't know if these crack until tomorrow. The reason I'm bringing this up is because I drywalled and finished my garage a few months ago and my corners were cracking there as well, as the joint compound would dry. What is causing the joint compound to crack as it dries?

A few things to help:

I add a small amount of water to the joint compound.
I'm using regular(not light weight) ready-mixed all purpose joint compound
I'm using paper tape.
I dip the tape in a bucket of water before I put it up (I read this online, probably not necessary).
This is the second time I have drywalled anything. The first was my garage.


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## AtlanticWBConst. (May 12, 2006)

1. Are you introducing a high level of heat to the drying process?

2. Are the specific locations (and areas) insulated and/or conditioned?


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## hoffmandirt (Mar 14, 2012)

AtlanticWBConst. said:


> 1. Are you introducing a high level of heat to the drying process?
> 
> 2. Are the specific locations (and areas) insulated and/or conditioned?


The room is insulated, but at this point there is no heat source in either room. The door to the kitchen is kept open so the heat from the main part of the house can get out there. When I did the garage, it was during the winter and my heater kept the garage around 45 degrees. I'd guess these two rooms are about 50 - 60 degrees at the moment.


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

If the muds to thick it will also crack as it drys.
Only need thin coats.


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## hoffmandirt (Mar 14, 2012)

joecaption said:


> If the muds to thick it will also crack as it drys.
> Only need thin coats.


That might be it. I'm having a hard time using the corner knife and I noticed that the corners I did with the corner knife still had a wet look this morning whereas the horizontal seams and the corners I did with the flat knife were pretty much dry. If this is the case, can I apply a thin coat to fill in the crack or should I just sand off the excess and apply another thin coat? If I remember correctly, I attempted to fill in the cracks in my garage and they just came back each time the joint compound dried.


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

The corner seams should look just like a reguler seam.
It may have recracked because it was still wet under the second coat.
Biggest mistake by far any DIY makes is trying to put it on to thick.
Trying to make it perfect on first and second coats. All that does is dry out the mud by over working it.
Sanding first and second coat, do not sand, just knock off the high places with a drywall knife. The whole goal is to just fill the low spots not have to sand it all off.


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## hoffmandirt (Mar 14, 2012)

Thanks for the help. I am working on not putting it on too thick, but my guess is that I'm still putting to much into the corners. You also nailed another one. I have been sanding between coats :no:


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