# Can you feather drywall seams over existing paintjob?



## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

Can you sand it out yes, is that the best way depends on just how high these
humps are.
How wide would you guess did he make the seams?
Got any pictures?

Any new drywall should have been primed and painted to coats, not the so called primer in one.


----------



## wildhic (Nov 27, 2011)

thankyou for the quick reply.

I will try to get some pictures uploaded when i get home.

The seams are ~12" wide, 6" on each side. A 12" knife has ~1/8" gap at the crown.

If it turns out I do need to sand it all down, what would be my non-pro sander option? I own a RO palm sander but that's it.


----------



## princelake (Feb 19, 2012)

i would just give them a light scuff and feather out all the nasties. the only issues i for see is that you may get some bubbling and you can prime the area where you plan on applying the mud. second if there is no primer under that paint theres a good chance that the paint will peel off in almost sheets. in the future if you bump or scrap the wall or even drag your drywall knife on it that paint will peel like a banana. there is no magic fix for this other then when it occurs peel it till it stops. skim prime paint. you will be reminded of this hack for years to come.


----------



## ToolSeeker (Sep 19, 2012)

monkeesee said:


> Hola,
> 
> The [expletive] person who mudded and painted my basement did not feather the perpendicular butt joints and so there are these attractive looking 4' long bumps every 6-8 feet. I have looked around and understand I will have to redo the seams, but here are my questions:
> 
> ...


1-Yes sand down to the tape or almost- see #4
2-Yes you will need to prime and re-coat.Although this is bad paint I don't believe it is going to peel easily. Try, but probably just prime and recoat. On red wall try a gray primer.
3-Yes Be careful to remember thin coats, and feather out farther with each one.
4-Not sure what you mean by ripples but if they come out as you sand, good. If they do not, bad, as this probably means the paper tape is wrinkled or has air bubbles in it. If this proves too be the case remove the tape and start over.


----------



## wildhic (Nov 27, 2011)

ToolSeeker said:


> 1-Yes sand down to the tape or almost- see #4
> 2-Yes you will need to prime and re-coat.Although this is bad paint I don't believe it is going to peel easily. Try, but probably just prime and recoat. On red wall try a gray primer.
> 3-Yes Be careful to remember thin coats, and feather out farther with each one.
> 4-Not sure what you mean by ripples but if they come out as you sand, good. If they do not, bad, as this probably means the paper tape is wrinkled or has air bubbles in it. If this proves too be the case remove the tape and start over.


1 - is an RO palm sander an okay option?
2 - i have a tinted primer (pink) - would grey be better?
3 - can you give me an estimate as to how wide the final tapering should be? ~12" on each side of the seam, or wider?
4 - sorry i badly explained it. It is not tape bubbles but dents in the mud where he did not sand correctly. Can/ should I skim coat this or sand it out?

Thank you muchly for the response.


----------



## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

joecaption said:


> Any new drywall should have been primed and painted to coats, not the so called primer in one.


Not necessarily, often a waste of money.


----------



## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

monkeesee said:


> 1 - is an RO palm sander an okay option?
> 2 - i have a tinted primer (pink) - would grey be better?
> 3 - can you give me an estimate as to how wide the final tapering should be? ~12" on each side of the seam, or wider?
> 4 - sorry i badly explained it. It is not tape bubbles but dents in the mud where he did not sand correctly. Can/ should I skim coat this or sand it out?
> ...


If there is no primer under the original paint, you can't make up for it by priming over the top of the paint now (assuming it even needs a primer coat). The answer to some of your questions depends on the paint type, sheen and color you plan to use.

The seems should be a minimum of about 8" on both sides, up to about 12". This is for butt joints. Tapered joints can and should be less.


----------



## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

princelake said:


> second if there is no primer under that paint theres a good chance that the paint will peel off in almost sheets.


Pretty unlikely, rather than likely.


----------



## ToolSeeker (Sep 19, 2012)

monkeesee said:


> 1 - is an RO palm sander an okay option?
> 2 - i have a tinted primer (pink) - would grey be better?
> 3 - can you give me an estimate as to how wide the final tapering should be? ~12" on each side of the seam, or wider?
> 4 - sorry i badly explained it. It is not tape bubbles but dents in the mud where he did not sand correctly. Can/ should I skim coat this or sand it out?
> ...


1- no use a pole sander with sanding screen (about 150 or 180 grit) not sand paper, or you can use a sanding sponge
2 Gray would probably cover the red a little easier, but since you already have it use the tinted primer.
3- since they are butt joints once you sand down start with a 6" knife to apply then take that down with your 12" 2nd coat use your 6"knife and apply mud 6" on both sides of the joint then remove each side of the joint with your 12". the reason for this is so you don't get a build-up on top of the joint. Then with your 6" knife put mud about 8" on each side and take off with 12", this should taper you out about 12" on each side. And remember thin coats.
4- As long as they are dents, not ridges, they should fill in with a light skim.


----------



## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

By the way, one common mistake with the larger (10" and 12") knives is to press down too hard when doing that 2nd or 3rd wide coat. If you do this, the knife will go concave, and the joint will still be a bump. Use a stiffer knife, or don't press down so hard.


----------



## princelake (Feb 19, 2012)

i did a job back in the summer where the homeowners drywalled their basement and then painted the basement with ben moore aura. a few months later they had a sewer back up and 2' of drywall was cut everywhere. the tear out guys took the wall plates off and the people must have put the plates on right after painting because the plates peeled the paint. i could grab on to the paint and easily peel 12"x12" sections of paint exposing the bare drywall. 
also i dont think you need to sand the paint and the bumps down. i would just skim it out


----------

