My neighbor just replaced three walls of drywall and somehow managed
to float the mud so the job at first does'nt look so bad. I noticed
what looked like pencil marks on the walls at the joints and have
found he didn't tape the joints.
Now what?? I think he is going to have to sand it down but he
disagrees. Won't these cracks just get worse over time?

"frank smith" nospamforme wrote in message
...
My neighbor just replaced three walls of drywall and somehow managed
to float the mud so the job at first does'nt look so bad. I noticed
what looked like pencil marks on the walls at the joints and have
found he didn't tape the joints.
Now what?? I think he is going to have to sand it down but he
disagrees. Won't these cracks just get worse over time?


Yep. You're right!

TO LATE, and yes this will just become more obvious. Good thing its your
neighbour and not "your Friend", "YOU"


"frank smith" nospamforme wrote in message
...
My neighbor just replaced three walls of drywall and somehow managed
to float the mud so the job at first does'nt look so bad. I noticed
what looked like pencil marks on the walls at the joints and have
found he didn't tape the joints.
Now what?? I think he is going to have to sand it down but he
disagrees. Won't these cracks just get worse over time?

frank smith wrote:

My neighbor just replaced three walls of drywall and somehow managed
to float the mud so the job at first does'nt look so bad. I noticed
what looked like pencil marks on the walls at the joints and have
found he didn't tape the joints.
Now what?? I think he is going to have to sand it down but he
disagrees. Won't these cracks just get worse over time?

That was stupid! Guess he could tape the cracks and feather in some
mud then texture the walls. Or just tear it down and start over.

RV
--
"You can lead them to LINUX
but you can't make them THINK"

Yep. As long as the walls are not yet painted, you still have another
shot at it. Wet sand, or dry, the mud around the cracks until they are
more exposed. Then start over and apply the tape and remud, feathering
out on each side.

frank smith wrote:
My neighbor just replaced three walls of drywall and somehow managed
to float the mud so the job at first does'nt look so bad. I noticed
what looked like pencil marks on the walls at the joints and have
found he didn't tape the joints.
Now what?? I think he is going to have to sand it down but he
disagrees. Won't these cracks just get worse over time?

Any timber in the house will expand and contract with the seasons - so
after one year, the cracks will probably be a lot worse.

Maybe your neighbour is prepared to live with this and learn from his
mistake.

frank smith wrote:
My neighbor just replaced three walls of drywall and somehow managed
to float the mud so the job at first does'nt look so bad. I noticed
what looked like pencil marks on the walls at the joints and have
found he didn't tape the joints.
Now what?? I think he is going to have to sand it down but he
disagrees. Won't these cracks just get worse over time?

It's best to tape things up, but cracks can be filled with paintable
caulking, too. You have prime first, so the caulk has something to
stick to, then caulk, smooth the best you can before it dries, and
paint.

If it's not done cracking, it might have to be done again in other
places. Either way, he's probably learned his lesson.

"frank smith" nospamforme wrote in message
...
My neighbor just replaced three walls of drywall and somehow managed
to float the mud so the job at first does'nt look so bad. I noticed
what looked like pencil marks on the walls at the joints and have
found he didn't tape the joints.
Now what?? I think he is going to have to sand it down but he
disagrees. Won't these cracks just get worse over time?

Uh, yeah, that is ridiculous. Then again, so is sanding. It needs to be
totally gouged out and redone.

frank smith wrote:
My neighbor just replaced three walls of drywall and somehow managed
to float the mud so the job at first does'nt look so bad. I noticed
what looked like pencil marks on the walls at the joints and have
found he didn't tape the joints.
Now what?? I think he is going to have to sand it down but he
disagrees. Won't these cracks just get worse over time?

Yep. Pretty weird that someone would just omit the tape entirely. If
he's "done" with his spackling, and he thought he was ready to paint,
then he's got another think coming. Tape is mandatory - the question
is how to best approach it.

Four options:
1). Do nothing. You get to say I told you so and feel superior.

2). Apply tape directly on the "completed" work and do the whole thing
over with three coats of compound. No need to sand. If the joint tape
is bedded in compound, it will adhere just fine to the existing
spackle. I've never seen spackle delaminate between coats yet, so
it'll definitely stick as well as any other coat will. The tape and
spackle on top of the existing spackling will have some buildup and
would throw off corner squareness and affect moldings. Might be a big
deal, might not.

3). Use a vinyl spackling and mesh crack control product such as Crack
Kote. The fiberglass mesh is wider and flatter so two very thin coats
of the vinyl spackling is all that will be needed to make an invisible
repair. It eliminates the spackle buildup that would occur with option
#2. I've never put Crack Kote on anything but a primed or painted
surface so I can't say how it would stick to an unfinished joint
compound surface. You may have to prime first. The vinyl compound
doesn't sand, so if the guy relies heavily on sanding to get a smooth
surface, this might not be the way to go.

R

That's called a kludge, by some.

You can make a proper taped joint, or expect it to open up at some
time.

They're never "done cracking" with annual house "biorythm" of internal
relative humidity. If you go to Washington's mansion at Mt. Vernon,
you'll see ~.75" gaps between floor boards in winter, which go to zero
in summer. Same applies to framing, of course.

I've seen a few attempts to caulk such shoddy joints- wanna guess what
happened to them in every case?

J

wrote:
That's called a kludge, by some.

You can make a proper taped joint, or expect it to open up at some
time.

They're never "done cracking" with annual house "biorythm" of internal
relative humidity. If you go to Washington's mansion at Mt. Vernon,
you'll see ~.75" gaps between floor boards in winter, which go to zero
in summer. Same applies to framing, of course.

I've seen a few attempts to caulk such shoddy joints- wanna guess what
happened to them in every case?

J

I'm sorry you've seen it done wrong, but done correctly, I've seen it
fill a crack both indoors and outdoors without problems for years. Of
course outdoors, it wasn't drywall. In both cases, priming before
caulking is imperative to allow proper adhesion.

wrote:

... you'll see ~.75" gaps between floor boards in winter, which go to zero
in summer. Same applies to framing, of course.

BTW, if you think the hairline cracks in the drywall seams will
fluctuate between zero and .75", you're smoking something.

On Wed, 08 Feb 2006 11:47:25 -0800, frank smith nospamforme
wrote:

My neighbor just replaced three walls of drywall and somehow managed
to float the mud so the job at first does'nt look so bad. I noticed
what looked like pencil marks on the walls at the joints and have
found he didn't tape the joints.
Now what?? I think he is going to have to sand it down but he
disagrees. Won't these cracks just get worse over time?

RIGHT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Your neighbor didn't do that...... YOU DID IT !!!!
Come on, fess up ......

You have 2 solutions to remedy this problem.

1. Tear down the house and start over.
2. Tear down the house and buy one already finished.

Mitty

Your neighbor didn't do that...... YOU DID IT !!!!
Come on, fess up ......

You have 2 solutions to remedy this problem.

1. Tear down the house and start over.
2. Tear down the house and buy one already finished.

Mitty

It's almost comforting to see some things never change. I haven't
looked at this group for awhile, but there is the same ratio of idiots
to the truly knowledgeable .
What a shame when masturbation loses it's charm for morons like this
Mitty .Let's all hope this guy get's a girlfreind and stays off this
group for awile.
It's really not that big a deal. In the amount of time it takes to
listen to CarTalk and have a few beers the taping wil be fixed.
Thanks to all the good guys that offered real advice.