Clark,
Thank you SO very much. Its the ceiling not the wall, and this house was
built in the 60s, so I'm hoping it's just age.
Thank you so very very much
lucille

"Clark W. Griswold, Jr." 73115 dot 1041 at compuserve dot com wrote in
message ...
"lucy" wrote:

Thank you very much! I will get the fiberglass tape and some "mud" but
I'm
not sure what you mean by that. Would they know at Lowe's what I mean by
that or does it have another name?

The people at Lowes will definitely know what products you need, assuming
you
find the paint department. You will want drywall tape, drywall compound
("mud")
and a couple of spatulas of varying widths. They also occasionally run
clinics
on how to make repairs.

You seem very knowledgeable about this, so if you wouldn't mind, will you
give me some pointers on how to do this? Like how do I remove old seam
tape?
Just start scraping that area?

I've done it more than once, but don't claim to be an expert by any means.
Can
tell you what worked for me: Remove the old seam tape with a utility
knife. Cut
a line across the tape at either end a couple of inches into the part that
hasn't lifted. Make sure you also remove any chips or other loose bits of
paint,
compound or tape.

By the way - if the tape is lifting, you may have a water leak problem.
Properly
applied tape is embedded in a thin layer of drywall compound, making it
extremely unlikely that it would lift unless exposed to water. You must
get the
leak fixed before you repair the drywall.

Okay, then I put up the fiberglass mesh tape on the seam, then put the
mud
stuff on there?

Paper tape requires that you spread a think layer of drywall compound,
slightly
wider than the tape for the length of the tape, then place the tape in the
compound and use the spatula blade to press the tape into the compound.
The
fiberglass stuff is sticky on one side, so you can just place it on the
seam and
spread the compound on top.

Do I sand it when it dries?

The general technique is to wait until the compound drys, knock down any
large
ridges with sandpaper, then feather a layer on top that is slightly wider.
Final
sanding may be required if you have smooth walls. Modern builders tend to
use
textured walls to avoid the sanding requirement.

Thank you so much, I really appreciate your help,

Good luck.