Drywall: mudding inside corners ..
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/95342ddb9bf61bf04e082a1a78132cdd?s=52&d=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.finehomebuilding.com%2Fapp%2Favatars%2F200x200%2Fa.png&r=g)
I’m working on a huge project on my property that I’ve asked alot about here and refered to many times. It’s a four story sturcture that I’ve done every aspect of on my own. Though I have no real background in building I am learning as I go.
Now I am to the drywall portion of the job and it is the first thing that I am farming out to someone else. I’ve got a guy that I hired who is working alone on the mudding and taping — I already hung all of the wall — and there is a question about inside corners. I have heard and read that inside corners should be done one side, then left to dry, then the other side. I wonder why this is AND he had never heard that and does the full corner, both sides, at once. He has done a fair amount of drywalling but I wouldn’t call him an ‘expert’.
Also, is there any reason to use paper over mesh tape on inside corners? He had never used mesh tape before and I gave him the go ahead and, after the first coat, there are little cracks running along some of the insied corners which he says he has never seen with paper tape. I thought that the second or third coat would cover them over but he doesn’t like it. Any thoughts on this?
Thanks!
NB in Seattle
Replies
you called him
Did you tell him how to do it or is he doing it how he knows to do it?
I wouldn't use mesh on inside corners-tho it is done. Usually with real Durabond as the first coat.
Small cracks now, small cracks later. You might want to imbed paper in there now.
And use setting mud.
I do corners one side at a time. For me to do both sides, I fuck up the other side. If rushed I might try it. Usually two coats in the corners. Set tape and just about apply finish coat to one side. Next day, other side and feather out outer edge of first coated side.
Long time ago used a corner trowel, no longer.
And to think I was in seattle last summer and didn't think to look this place up.
Calvin,
In answer to your question, he is doing it how he knows how to do it .. and he seems to be pretty good. I've tried to tell him how to do this or that just from what I've heard or read and he has told me that he really does know what he's doing. In fact, he didn't much like the idea of using mesh on the inside corners but I had been told by a local guy who is considered to be REALLY good (whom I can't really afford!) that that is how to do it.
I'm curious .. why do you say that you used to use a corner trowel and you no linger will. Why not? The guy here IS using a corner trowel and the corners look really good... at this point (first coat) at least.
Yeah .. you shoulda stopped by. I'da given you the 'tower tour'. From the top you can see all the way to Canada .. Puget Sound .. Olympic Mt. Range .. Cascade Mt. range ... pretty sweet.
Thanks for your feedback -
nb
I don't know why.............
but I no longer use it. I had a corner trowel when I started finishing drywall in the 70's. Saw a real guy do it with a 6 in. blade and figured if he did it, I should try it. Worked well, never used that corner trowel again-It's in a bucket tho. There if I need it. Stainless too, so lifetime is lifetime...................sort of, I'm on my second SS 12" blade, the first was worn down.
There was a Fest last summer in Roy, why the heck didn't you go? You could have repaid the beer you owe the guys for all the heartache and indegestion you caused them.
Back to tools. Some guys swear by trowells, others knives. Curved or flat trowells, whatever. I put a slight bend (cup) in my 12'' knife-others prefer FLAT.
Whatever works well with the least amount of effort-Like most anything else. Being tired at the end of the day sometimes means just one thing.
You're tired.
I've been building for 35 years and have never seen a pro do one side at a time. One of my guys does it that way but he's pretty slow compared to a real mud man. About a third of the pros use a corner trowel, the rest freehand. As long as it looks good I wouldn't worry about his technique.
Never been to Florida.
.
I would guess that there are people who can do corners both sides at the same time, at least for the initial coats. But it takes more skill than I have. But basically you don't care -- one at a time or both together -- so long as the end result is OK (ie, a smooth joint). I can't see how doing one or the other would affect durability.
I gather most pros favor paper tape. I've tried both paper and mesh and found neither one to be anywhere close to ideal. Best I've found is the self-adhesive paper tape, but lots of folks turn up their noses at that.
Different technique, and supposedly different mud, is needed for mesh vs paper -- it's not a simple replacement of one for the other.
thanks to all..
I do appreciate the feedback from everyone.
Again, I've looked and read around about this and it's pretty clear that everyone has their own approach and that, almost, for me at least, more than for anything else in building, there is no one absolutely right way. The guy I'm using -- from Craigslist believe it or not -- enjoys the work, does a very decent job, and is CHEAP compared to others I spoke with. I had an estimate of 3 to 4 thousand on this, what I thought was not so big a job .. but this guy, it looks like, will end up coming in around 11 or 12 hundred. That's HUGE to me right now as long as it looks basically good.
What I had originally wondered was "is it 'wrong' to use the plastic mesh on inside ceiling corners". It basically sounds like a 'some say it is and some say it's not'. But it IS clear that NO one even asks that question about paper tape. So, I think that from here on forward to the end of the job I'll have him use paper ... that's what he was used to anyway. And, as I said, there seems to be no question at all about that.
Thanks again -
nb
thanks to all..
I do appreciate the feedback from everyone.
Again, I've looked and read around about this and it's pretty clear that everyone has their own approach and that, almost, for me at least, more than for anything else in building, there is no one absolutely right way. The guy I'm using -- from Craigslist believe it or not -- enjoys the work, does a very decent job, and is CHEAP compared to others I spoke with. I had an estimate of 3 to 4 thousand on this, what I thought was not so big a job .. but this guy, it looks like, will end up coming in around 11 or 12 hundred. That's HUGE to me right now as long as it looks basically good.
What I had originally wondered was "is it 'wrong' to use the plastic mesh on inside ceiling corners". It basically sounds like a 'some say it is and some say it's not'. But it IS clear that NO one even asks that question about paper tape. So, I think that from here on forward to the end of the job I'll have him use paper ... that's what he was used to anyway. And, as I said, there seems to be no question at all about that.
Thanks again -
nb
I think, from keeping my eyes and ears open, that paper tape is the normal "go to" solution... the exception might be wet areas like showers and bathrooms.