New build drywall visible joint lines

[metronome]

I bought a new build flat this year and there are very visible joint lines in the drywall in all rooms of the walls and ceilings. Is this normal??

I've had the walls checked and they are all within the 5mm tolerance as none are mis-aligned and apparently are not required to be skimmed.

Is there something else that should have been done to prevent these visible lines?

 

[Deleted member 292770]

is there any movement in the protruding bits if you press them?

 

[metronome]

is there any movement in the protruding bits if you press them?

had another quick check and they don't move at all

 

[Wayners]

Critical light from the side will cause this and front door with light coming in from the end will show every little mark or bump. Dose look bad but I can't help thinking ever house looks like this with light across it. Put straight edge across.

I had one where I could not slide a sheet of paper under straight edge as metal straight edge was tight to wall but when light came across it showed a bump

 

[Deleted member 292770]

it should be dead flat and perfectly smooth . no matter what light you put on it. in a nutshell that’s p!ss poor workmanship.

 

[mattylad]

it should be dead flat and perfectly smooth . no matter what light you put on it. in a nutshell that’s p!ss poor workmanship.

This is about the best result you will get on here.
It's crap workmanship, only to be expected on new builds these days.

 

[roughcaster]

Many newbuilds nowadays are rubbish, thrown up,

 

[Worcesterman]

Yes, wow, thats awful. I mean I guess we all have to learn. But it just gets worse. You’d think they’d have got the hang of it after a couple of walls. Its not that hard really. Whoever actually did those walls doesn’t even have youtube.
I’d maybe sand the joints flat but its a hell of lot of mess.

 

[Mr Chibs]

Use a mirka Hand sander, linked to a hoover... you’ll hardly get any dust

 

[lostinthelight]

Use a mirka Hand sander, linked to a hoover... you’ll hardly get any dust

+1 for the Mirka

 

[Worcesterman]

I’ve found that dust is quite hard going on a hoover. It clogs the bags or filters because its so fine and there will be a lot of dust. But I agree it’ll work. Belt and braces plug in a fume extractor and go through the house with a blower after wards whilst fume extractor still switched on and your wife won’t have to dust for a week too.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Taped and jointed work as opposed to skimmed - fairly common on new builds these days on grounds of speed and cost. The raised bits look fairly narrow to me. TBH I'd expect the jointer to lay down a 6 to 8in wide first coat on the joints, sand it out, then lay a second coat 10 to 12in wide and sand that out, feathering it out with a drywall paddle. The screw heads just get a "scrape" of drywall filler for both coats but because they are in a flat area of the board (as opposed to the long edges which should be taper edged) the boarders must ensure that they sink the screw heads properly. The jointer generally uses a giraffe sander hooked up to a vacuum to do the sanding - this type of sander uses a very large diameter sanding disc (circa 225mm) which helps to take out the bumps better than a small size sander does. They can be hired.

Even with a good jointer the joints are often just still visible to my eye in certain lighting (obtuse angle) but a competent taper and jointer should be able to do a lot better than this.

Incidentally, if the walls are finished with a wallpaper or a textured coating these "lumps and bumps" will often be less obvious. Diffuse as opposed to directional lighting also hides the defects.

Out of interest what did the show flat look like? If it is dead flat I'd expect the same quality of finish in yours and I'd be complaining as this should come under the first year's warranty, surely?

 

[stevethespreader]

Looks like a lot of the joints are not sanded properly and tbose that look flat are showing, when the joints have been sanded they must be primed before painting to ensure they are uniform with the rest of the wall