# drywall tape repair



## crankbait09 (Mar 26, 2011)

I am in the process of fixing my home up in order to sell. I don;t have a lot to do, but things that have been neglected. One being drywall work.

My home was built in 1994, and all throughout the house, where the walls meet the ceilings, the drywall tape is separating and or coming off the ceiling. Why is this happening? Is it normal?

What is the best/cheapest way to fix this? Do I need to peel all of it off and reapply new, or is there a better product to use?

Are there instructions on how to do this? I am not a drywaller of any type. Which is why it was put off. But I certainly don't wanna hire someone to do it. So it will be a learning experience.

I'm assuming I will have to paint the ceilings when done? Is there a way to avoid it? I really don't want to paint the textured ceilings, but how bad will it look if I don't? Guess, I have to be the judge of that.

this is not my house, but this is exactly what is happening along the edges


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## hkstroud (Mar 17, 2011)

I'm not a drywall finisher. I have done lots of patching and I have finished off a couple basements. I hate finishing, I don't have the touch. I put the mud on let it dry then sand. I usually have to do lots of sanding.

Here is what I would do.
Use you utility knife to cut the existing tape in the corner. Pull down the tape on the ceiling.

Put a coat of mud on the wall and the ceiling. Not exactly a thin coat but not a lot. Fold your paper tape to crease it and push it up in to the corner with your taping knife.
Use your taping knife to smooth out the tape. Start in the center and push it toward the ends. You should be pushing out most of the mud but not all. This also embeds the paper in the mud. 
Let everything dry (24 hours)
Put another coat of mud on the wall and smooth it as much as possible. Let that dry. After wall is dry, sand if necessary. May be necessary to repeat with another coat. All depends on how much sanding you have to do to get it smooth.

After you have finished the wall, put a coat of mud on the wall about 4" wide. Take a paint roller with a medium nap roller and roll the ceiling. The amount of texture you get will depend on how much mud you put on the ceiling and how hard you press the paint roller. You may be able to blend your 4" out to 6 or 8" and have your texture blend into the texture of the ceiling. You will have to play around with it. Whatever you do will look better than a flat, smooth strip on the ceiling around the room.


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## stick\shift (Mar 23, 2015)

FWIW, the edge of the ceiling looks to me like someone attempted to fix this once already and did not match the ceiling texture in the process. Do you ever see gaps like the ceiling is moving up or down compared to the wall (truss lift is the actual term for the phenomenon I'm describing)?


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## crankbait09 (Mar 26, 2011)

no, I never see any gaps at all. It's just drywall tape falling off or separating as in the example shown (again, that is not my home, just a similar image I found online.)


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## Yodaman (Mar 9, 2015)

I know you are hoping for a easy fix but there isn't one really. Hard to say why the tape didn't stick originally, maybe lack of mud to seat the tape. I am guessing that secondary repair was a skim job that did absolutely nothing to seat the tape.

IMO. The tape should be pulled off, including the wall. Scrap and sand as required to get down to smooth workable surfaces. 

Then re-tape. Watch some utubes on taping corners. Use a corner trowel. And sanding sponges work great for finishing up corners.

Good luck


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## crankbait09 (Mar 26, 2011)

It was brought to my attention that any moisture in the attic could also cause this tape to come off. Would that be a true statement?

During the spring/summer, I had water coming down the wall in my kitchen. It wasn't a lot, but over time it weakened the paint and the paint started peeling off. So I went on the roof above this location and realized that the rubber boot that was on the drip edge flashing(http://www.homedepot.com/p/No-Calk-Plastic-Drip-Edge-Flashing-11937/100148990) was dry rotted and it was leaking. So when it rained, it went down the pipe and down in to the attic. Adding moisture. I never went in to the attic to check the damage or amount of water that came in. I will be doing that this weekend. I haven't seen any water coming down the wall in the kitchen since the fix, so I think I'm ok. sorry I digress.

So this added moisture to the attic. Not sure if it would effect the dry wall tape throughout the hole house. But Now I need to fix it.


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## crankbait09 (Mar 26, 2011)

If I decide to re-tape......I have seen the drywall tape, and I have also seen the drywall mesh stuff. Is there a reason why you would choose one over the other? I just want a temporary fix (for me), that would pass any inspections and look good over an amount of time. I certainly don't want to put a huge chunk of money on smaller things where I don't need to.


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## hkstroud (Mar 17, 2011)

Use the paper tape. You will need to crease it to fit in the corner. And paper tape is cheaper.


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## stick\shift (Mar 23, 2015)

Sorry, missed the part in your original post about the picture not being of your house


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## radioman99 (Nov 21, 2016)

the tape pulling away is not normal. it just means the guy who installed the corners in ceiling didnt want to do the work by adding mud first. there is no cheap way to do this. you need to cut out the bad tape and redo. 
mesh is stronger but its so much harder to get a decent corner look. paper works just fine for corners as long you applied it right. 
for your purpose use paper , mud, corner knife and time. dont try to hurry and take your time. 4 thin coats with minimal sanding is so much easier to do then 1-2 heavy coats that needs alot of sanding.


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## stick\shift (Mar 23, 2015)

> mesh is stronger


Everything I've ever heard or read says paper is stronger.


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## crankbait09 (Mar 26, 2011)

I've went ahead and started replacing the tape. that is certainly a slow process. a lot of "wait for it to dry" type time. definitely takes a lot of patience/practice

i'll get there


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## Yodaman (Mar 9, 2015)

If you really want to speed things up, try a setting type compound like Durabond. Not as forgiving, doesn't sand as easy, but it does dry quicker. 

https://www.usg.com/content/usgcom/...ds/usg-sheetrock-durabond-joint-compound.html


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## Gymschu (Dec 12, 2010)

A lot of the time, those type of cracks are caused by the seasonal changes in humidity in a home. For example, in the winter when the air is exceptionally dry, wood framing members tend to shrink oh so slightly, especially if you have rafters in your attic, and that creates gaps/cracks where wall-meets-ceiling. In the spring time, those cracks disappear as the wood expands with more humidity in the air. So, fixing them now will work, but, don't be surprised if it happens again next winter. (Check your attic to see if you have pre-made rafters up there).


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## crankbait09 (Mar 26, 2011)

good to know, hopefully the home sells by then and I won't have to worry about it


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