Walls and Ceilings - Butting together non-tapered edges of sheetrock

My father in law has asked me to find out how you are supposed to butt together the non-tapered edges of sheetrock without having the seams show. He knows how to handle the tapered edges, but thinks that there must be some special trick (in the taping, plastering, etc.) to hide the seam when the non-tapered edges have to be butted together.

Can anyone tell us how to do it?

Thanks!

Nope. Just tape and mud like the tapered ends.

Because there's no recess for it to sit in, the joint compound on finished end-butt joints will inevitably form a slight mound. The idea is to make this mound as inconspicuous as possible.

You'll need to feather out the edges of the joint to a greater width, leaving a wider seam than is required for factory tapered joints. A bump that is 1/8 inch high but 16 to 18 inches wide will seam flat to all but the closest inspections, but a narrower one can still be felt when you pass your hand over it.

Not only do end-butt joints require more work, they also provide slightly less stability than factory tapered joints. To compensate, use fiberglass mesh tape rather than paper tape.

You can back-cut the end of the two sheets at a 45 degree angle. This will make the sheets suck down slightly, not as much as a factory recess joint, but it does make things easier to mud & tape out. Always do this if you have a cut edge going up to a recess edge also. When I tape out butt joints I run 3 coats, tape coat with a 8" blade, next run a 10" blade, final skim coat use a 12" blade. Make sure each coat is thoroughly dry and sand lightly before appling the next coat. Hope that helps ya out. ;)