Plasterboard Joints
- Thread starter 1andrea
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That's standard practice on this side of the pond.
Just remember the following points:
1. There are different kinds of joint compounds:
A) Regular or "Taping" has had the most glue added to it, so it sticks best, dries the hardest, but is also hardest to sand smooth.
B) Finish or "Topping" has had the least glue added to it, so it dries soft and very easy to sand smooth.
C) "All Purpose" which is half way in between the above two, and is suitable for contractors who don't want to be hauling two different kinds of mud in the truck everywhere they go.
My limited experience using premixed muds is that they mix them super thick because no one wants to pay for shipping water from the factory to your town. Also, the factory knows you can always mix some water into the stuff to make it thinner and easier to spread smooth, so don't be afraid to do that.
2. You can't always have a contoured edge on both sides of every joint. For repairs, often you don't have a tapered edge on any side of any joint.
For those repairs, they make something called a "curved trowel". A curved trowel look like an ordinary trowel until you set it down on a flat surface or sight along it's edge and notice that it arches upward about 1/8 of an inch in the middle of it's 11 inch length. Since you hold the trowel at a comfortable angle to the wall when using it, this shape allows you to spread a perfectly symmetrical mound of joint compound 11 inches wide by about 1/16 to 3/32 of an inch deep at it's thickest over the joint. This is plenty thick enough to bury some fiberglass mesh joint tape in, but not nearly thick enough to show as a "bump" even under the most critical lighting angle.
3. Speaking of lighting, ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS have a bright light close to the wall you're working on (and some distance away) to shine light at a shallow angle onto the area you're working on. The angle of the lighting will exagerate the roughness of your work, and when it looks "OK" under such critical lighting, it'll look absolutely perfect under normal lighting conditions.
After mudding and sanding smooth all your joints and drywall nail or screw heads, just prime the wall with a general purpose emulsion or alkyd primer and top coat with the paint of your choice.
Just remember the following points:
1. There are different kinds of joint compounds:
A) Regular or "Taping" has had the most glue added to it, so it sticks best, dries the hardest, but is also hardest to sand smooth.
B) Finish or "Topping" has had the least glue added to it, so it dries soft and very easy to sand smooth.
C) "All Purpose" which is half way in between the above two, and is suitable for contractors who don't want to be hauling two different kinds of mud in the truck everywhere they go.
My limited experience using premixed muds is that they mix them super thick because no one wants to pay for shipping water from the factory to your town. Also, the factory knows you can always mix some water into the stuff to make it thinner and easier to spread smooth, so don't be afraid to do that.
2. You can't always have a contoured edge on both sides of every joint. For repairs, often you don't have a tapered edge on any side of any joint.
For those repairs, they make something called a "curved trowel". A curved trowel look like an ordinary trowel until you set it down on a flat surface or sight along it's edge and notice that it arches upward about 1/8 of an inch in the middle of it's 11 inch length. Since you hold the trowel at a comfortable angle to the wall when using it, this shape allows you to spread a perfectly symmetrical mound of joint compound 11 inches wide by about 1/16 to 3/32 of an inch deep at it's thickest over the joint. This is plenty thick enough to bury some fiberglass mesh joint tape in, but not nearly thick enough to show as a "bump" even under the most critical lighting angle.
3. Speaking of lighting, ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS have a bright light close to the wall you're working on (and some distance away) to shine light at a shallow angle onto the area you're working on. The angle of the lighting will exagerate the roughness of your work, and when it looks "OK" under such critical lighting, it'll look absolutely perfect under normal lighting conditions.
After mudding and sanding smooth all your joints and drywall nail or screw heads, just prime the wall with a general purpose emulsion or alkyd primer and top coat with the paint of your choice.
ohmygod - i think i have to do this too. my bathroom has newly plasterboareded walls. I was going to ignore the joins and hope they when away when I papered over them. Can you point me to a webapge that explains how to do this with pictures and stuff? I am a real beginner
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Here's a site which shows how drywall seams are taped
http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuilding/pages/hvt050.asp
http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuilding/pages/hvt050.asp
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landrea:
Basically, finishing plasterboard joints is easy.
1. Simply put up your plasterboard and try to have a contoured edge on both sides of every joint. If it turns out that's not possible, then keep in mind the curved trowel mentioned in a previous post.
2. Stick self adhesive fiberglass mesh tape over the joints. I really don't think this stuff works very well on inside corners at all.
3. Fill the joint with "Taping Mud", which will shrink as it dries. For outside corners, use VINYL corner bead instead of the metal stuff (which I think is garbage) or the combination metal and paper stuff (which also belongs in the garbage). Use Taping mud to stick the vinyl corner bead on, press the vinyl corner bead on tightly so that the Taping mud comes squeezing out from under it, and then scrape the excess Taping mud off with a putty knife. Allow that to set up, and then use topping mud over it to finish the outside corner.
4. Fill in the shrinkage in the taping mud with "Finish" or "Topping" mud which will dry softer and be much easier to sand smooth.
5. Do the drywall screw or nail indentations the same way. Fill with Taping mud, then fill in shrinkage with Topping mud.
6. Sand smooth, prime and paint.
(Personally, I really don't see why it's necessary to skim coat over the entire surface of the plasterboard with plaster. Why NOT just finish the joints and nail/screw indentations, and paint that smooth surfaace? That's all we do, and the walls seem to last.)
Basically, finishing plasterboard joints is easy.
1. Simply put up your plasterboard and try to have a contoured edge on both sides of every joint. If it turns out that's not possible, then keep in mind the curved trowel mentioned in a previous post.
2. Stick self adhesive fiberglass mesh tape over the joints. I really don't think this stuff works very well on inside corners at all.
3. Fill the joint with "Taping Mud", which will shrink as it dries. For outside corners, use VINYL corner bead instead of the metal stuff (which I think is garbage) or the combination metal and paper stuff (which also belongs in the garbage). Use Taping mud to stick the vinyl corner bead on, press the vinyl corner bead on tightly so that the Taping mud comes squeezing out from under it, and then scrape the excess Taping mud off with a putty knife. Allow that to set up, and then use topping mud over it to finish the outside corner.
4. Fill in the shrinkage in the taping mud with "Finish" or "Topping" mud which will dry softer and be much easier to sand smooth.
5. Do the drywall screw or nail indentations the same way. Fill with Taping mud, then fill in shrinkage with Topping mud.
6. Sand smooth, prime and paint.
(Personally, I really don't see why it's necessary to skim coat over the entire surface of the plasterboard with plaster. Why NOT just finish the joints and nail/screw indentations, and paint that smooth surfaace? That's all we do, and the walls seem to last.)
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