Patching and Plastering - Paper tape bubbling, What am I doing wrong

It seems that almost evert time I put tape on it bubbles up in places Not getting enough mud under or what? Putting a new wall in and hope to stop problem Tks

most likely not getting enough mud under the tape. Use all purpose mud to bed the tape. Use a lot then mash the tape down. You want to leave some mud under the tape so dont wipe down too hard.

I hate paper tape :-) I always use the mesh. The only luck I ever had was soaking the paper tape for a couple minutes in a bucket of water, and I don't know if that's kosher or not :D

This even happens to pros sometimes for various reasons. At least to people doing this work for a living. Whether or not they are really bonifide sheetrock tapers or not, with years of experience under their belt, is what comes into question.

I have actually been called to jobs where so called pros did the work, and the owners have asked me if I can fix their non-stuck tape/bubbled work, and then retexture to blend in! (Nope - not I. Too smart to get involved with that.)

Working with paper tape - either you have to be lucky?, or good and know what you are doing. The idea is to get as thin amount of mud on the wallboard as possible, so the tape does not hardly stick up. Yet you have to have enough on it to do an entire run, and apply it quickly and uniformly so it does not start setting up on you before you actually set the tape in the mud you put down.

The weather conditions; heat and humidity - really can play into it also. And you don't want to have a fan blowing at you and the wall to keep you cool while you do this either.

I have said this to others here: If you are a beginner, especially, you can get by just fine by mudding and taping lets say 6 foot long runs at a time, especially if you are doing corners off some ladder. Just do an area within your reach. If you do more, you risk that the time you get off ladder and move it, and trowel off excess mud, that the time you get back to imbed the paper tape, it may be setting up some on you.

If you see spots when you are applying the mud, that look like you have scraped away the mud down to the paper, better quickly get on more.

On recessed joints, it is easy to make the mistake of taking a wide blade broad knife and quickly filling the entire recess and then imbedding the tape, and then thinking that if you bear down with the broadknife enough, the excess mud will squirt out and the tape will be recessed. More than likely, you will wrinkle the tape in places, and, it will puff back out later, and when dry, actually be raised above the recess! For speed, and to keep the mud 'plastic', what I have done is to fill the entire recessed joint quickly with the wide broad knife, but then after I have my paper cut to length and I am all ready to go, I use a 2 inch knife (I like plastic ones, actually, for this) and go back and blade that recess so I am now recessed, and then apply the tape. The reason I do this is often when working with JUST the smaller putty knife, it takes longer to apply it. And as stated earlier, you sure don't want the mud to start drying on you the time you get to the end, before you set the tape in it. But by applying the mud the whole length, in a deeper fashion first, but then making one quick final pass with the 2 inch knife that fits down in the recess, thereby forcing out the excess, you are assured that due to the speed of this operation, that mud will be fresh and take to the tape well, and not be drying out, nor bulge out on you when it dries.

Another trick is that if you ever have a habit with paper tape wrinkling - blade out the tape from the middle of your run, and go in each dierction to cut down on the accumulative effect.

I did a bathroom job that was very hard to do with lots of corners, and misaligned walls due to the original framing, and I did the job as described, and it came out perfect, and no bubbles. I could never have done this unless I had all the many years of trials and tribulations of past jobs and experiences, where I have learned all the problems that can go wrong.

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Some pros or semi-pros like to use mesh tape in recessed joints, and paper tape at the corners. If you do anything like this, or even go mesh the whole way, I strongly recommend plastic knives on the first coat, especially in the corners, to keep from tearing the mesh. You must use all purpose mud or setting type mud if you do. Absolutely no lightweight mud in the setting process.

The job I did, I went all paper and used nail-on corner bead (no short cuts) with Durobond setting type. This was on some expensive home, 3 floors, 4 bathrooms. There was new framing involved in the bath, where then there is too much risk of new wood trying to acclamate and warp/shrink/etc., and that is where much of the problem lies in why cracks occur later. The paper is a stronger guard against this. If you do overlay work in old houses, you have less risk of cracking as the framework has been acclamated for years.

Another tip is that in corners where you know cabinets and/or countertops will be, you do not want to overmud those taped corners, especially, or else you will get the corner out of square.

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Glad to try to halp you out since you are so good to help out so many now in another one of the forums here. ;)

Sorry ecman51, have to dissagree with you on one point. Put a lot of mud under the tape and wipe it down with an 8 inch knife. You dont want to squeeze out all the mud. And if the tape wrinkles then leave it alone. One problem people might be having is you are coating over it too soon. That will pull the tape and make a blister.

Never ever use mesh tape!

Pugsi : Im wondering if your useing perforated paper tape or regular all the time. I dont think that was mentioned. There are different kinds of paper tape...Ultraflex is also a great product for different degreed angles.

Perforated papertape has small holes in it where air escapes and loose air pockets on the next coat can sometimes be refilled and sealed because mud goes through the small holes.

I always used mesh tape on tapered joints & coat with a setting compound. Paper for buttends & corners and always use a setting compund on butts and straightedge them with a 4' thin aluminum plastering straightedge.
I also use mesh tape on all edges of steel corner beads to help strengthen them also. Never nailing through a bead, only on the edge.

Mesh tape is good if used properly. No offence I hope to those who disagree.

Sorry ecman51, have to dissagree with you on one point. Put a lot of mud under the tape and wipe it down with an 8 inch knife. You dont want to squeeze out all the mud. And if the tape wrinkles then leave it alone. One problem people might be having is you are coating over it too soon. That will pull the tape and make a blister.

Never ever use mesh tape!

The wrinkling though occurs on the very first tape-setting coat, before even topcoating over it. The pile of mud bunches up under the tape, and when you draw the knife to set the tape, the mud may not uniformally squeeze out. Which reminds me of a tip: Tilt the knife blade, when setting the tape, so that the excess mud can squeeze out the edge, rather than jsut keep shoving it farther along under the tape, creating wrinkling.

And as I just told pugsl in a return PM, I have to go - tape and mud now.

Never ever use mesh tape!

This is not always true. I never use mesh tape on regular drywall but I will when I repair plaster. If you v out a crack in a plaster wall and wet it, then put a layer of mesh tape on it and go over it with Durabond it works very well. The key is to use a setting type compound with mesh tape. I would never use drying compound with it.

Jeremy

Listen, if you guys have used mesh tape and have a good system and it works for you then go for it. I've been finishing drywall for 18 years and it hasnt worked for me. Sure it looks good for a little while but it always cracks...for me. I've spray glued it down, i've put 20 min mud under it and over it. For me it just doesn't save time or money and its not worth compromising my work.

So for the inexperianced diy'er I say stay away from mesh tape.

Thanks for reply's still in demo but hope to start putting boards up next weekend. One more question if I use paper tape should I put it on dry or wet it. Have heard of boyh ways and confused. Thanks again

You put on about 1/8" of all purpose drywall mud over the joints. Then put the 'dry' tape over the mud and then wipe down. Be sure to pre fill any large gaps. Let that set up then you can go over with more mud.

Here's a trick my brother taught me way back when...

1. Keep a bucket of water with you at all times.
2. Cut your paper tape to the length you need.
3. Take one end in your right hand and stick it in the bucket of water. (do this and the next step very quickly).
4. Pull that end up out of the water, but use your left hand as a weight so that the rest of the tape has to go under your hand (and through the water) before getting pulled up and out by your right hand.
5. Now, with your left hand, wipe quickly from the top to the bottom of the tape to remove excess water.
6. Apply tape as instructed below.

This will make your tape and mud dry at a more similar rate, and cause less bubbling.

Good Luck,
Nicholas J. Faustino