Drywall News and New Products

Self-adhesive paper drywall tape is paper tape with an adhesive side and holes for drywall joint compound to seep through. I have read about this product on handyman forums, and some folks  have stated that this type of tape is problematic. I wanted to find out for myself, so I gave it a try on a trial wall I built.  I attached two half sheets onto wall framing and made sure there was no large gap at the joint between the sheets of drywall. The gap was no more than 1/32″. You can see this from the video below.

I followed the instructions, using a taping knife to press the tape on in order to make sure the tape was firmly attached.  I let the tape sit a few hours before overcoating with the recommended USG All Purpose compound.  Then I overcoated. That was easy, I thought, and it saved a step! All seemed fine until it all started to dry.

Self Adhesive Drywall Tape on Wall Showing Bubbling - Click To Enlarge

As the compound dried, the tape bubbled up at the joint for about half the joint. What I think happened was that under the tape at the joint, compound was not able to get under the tape, thus leaving a small air pocket.  You can see what happened in the picture shown here. I know from experience that the only way to remedy a portion of tape that is bubbled up is to slice it out or completely remove the tape and retape. Not something I want to be doing to “save time”! And in doing a little searching around, I found a person with a similar experience with self adhesive paper drywall tape.

Several things come to mind as to what may have prevented this. Perhaps I needed to press the mud in over the tape rather than just overcoat it? The directions did not call for this. Or perhaps the bubbling at the joint could have been avoided if I had vigorously pressed the tape in, perhaps by pressing the crease in the middle right in between the two sheets at the joint.  Again, the directions did not call for this measure. And for sure, if you have any type of gap between sheets at the joint, you will need to fill the gap. I am wondering “Will the tape stick to joint compound as well as paper?” It is almost unreasonable to expect that two sheets meet perfectly every time - it is fairly common to have to fill in gaps between sheets.

At any rate, I think I will pass on using this product on an extensive basis until I can try it again using some modifications. I have a whole roll of this stuff, so I will try it again sometime. Perhaps. And if I do try it again, I will post the results.

My father-in-law had his drywall professionally finished on his high arched ceilings. And I would recommend the same for anybody else - leave the high ceilings to the pros! The hired crew used ordinary paper tape to finish this ceiling and the corner at the peak was not 100% straight. The result was a joint that noticeably swerved back and forth. Fortunately, most (normal) people don’t focus their attention at the peak of the ceiling so in reality the crooked joint is not that noticeable.

I asked my contractor friend how he finished peaks of cathedral ceilings or any other inside corners of angle greater than 90 degrees. He told me about a product called Straitflex. Strait Flex comes in a roll and is a stiff fiber product with a creasing area in its center. So it makes a perfect crease, and because it comes in a roll, it will tape an entire ceiling with a nice straight joint. So I tried some of this myself. You can see my complete trial at Taping Wide Angle Drywall Corners. This product worked really well! A few precautions to take are to pre-fill any gaps at the corner first, make sure to place plenty of mud at the corner, and don’t expect this tape to conform to the wall like paper - it is fairly stiff and if you imbed it too tightly, it will “bounce” back and create a gap. Still, I would highly recommend this product, or something similar for arched ceiling peaks or other wide inside angles.