Hey drywall gurus!

[Lefty]

The entire west wall of my living room was once covered with 1/4" paneling which through the years was painted and papered over. Ugly to say the least, but we finally decided to go drywall. I might have just put drywall over it, but there's a heating register in front that runs the whole wall.

Anyhoo... When I pulled the paneling off this weekend, I found out that my home was a modular, likely shipped to the site on the back of a couple of those difficult-to-pass-on-the-highway trucks. Behind the piece of plywood in the center of the wall, I found a great seam that runs from ceiling to floor (explains the big ornamental trim that runs the length of the ceiling). It leaves an uneven gap of 1/2" to 3/4" inch. If I lay a straightedge horizontally across the seam, the wall doesn't match up too well, but it could be a lot worse.

I'm looking for suggestions on how to tackle this. Do they make 48" drywall knives?

Any help on this is greatly appreciated.

[Pappy]

False post supporting a false beam across the ceiling to minimize the visual offset?

[Lefty]

Not quite the look I was going for. I'm thinking of removing the 'faken-beam' at some point, too, though not as soon as the wall work.

[JR]

Are the drywall edges fastened down ok? If so, you might be able to fit a strip of drywall in there (maybe put some mastik on the back) then tape both edges and mud the heck out of it.

If the edges are floating you'd need to find a way to get a board back in there. Use drywall screws to fix it to the drywall, then put the drywall patch in and mud like heck.

Just my 2c.

JR

[Lefty]

quote:Originally posted by JR

Are the drywall edges fastened down ok? If so, you might be able to fit a strip of drywall in there (maybe put some mastik on the back) then tape both edges and mud the heck out of it.

If the edges are floating you'd need to find a way to get a board back in there. Use drywall screws to fix it to the drywall, then put the drywall patch in and mud like heck.

Just my 2c.

JR

Edges of the drywall are fastened pretty well. The exposed seam is two butted strips of plywood. If I'm screwing in, it's going to have to go into the edges of the ply. Better than nothing, I guess.

[crokett]

Ok, so just so I understand...

You pulled the paneling off and there was existing drywall underneath. However, there is also a seam running down the middle of the wall that varies from 1/2 to 3/4" wide. The seam is created by 2 pieces of ply face to face leaving you the edges to look at. And the wall on both sides of the seam don't sit flush with each other.

Assuming that's true, that is too big a gap to fill with drywall compound alone. You could fill with some sort of plaster, then mud/tape over it but that much might crack. Here's what I'd do:

However thick the existing drywall is, get some that is one step thinner. Cut a piece to fit in the seam. Use construction adhesive and a screw or two to hold it till the glue dries. Mud and tape with paper tape, not fiberglass.

[Lefty]

quote:Originally posted by crokett

Ok, so just so I understand...

You pulled the paneling off and there was existing drywall underneath. However, there is also a seam running down the middle of the wall that varies from 1/2 to 3/4" wide. The seam is created by 2 pieces of ply face to face leaving you the edges to look at. And the wall on both sides of the seam don't sit flush with each other.

Assuming that's true, that is too big a gap to fill with drywall compound alone. You could fill with some sort of plaster, then mud/tape over it but that much might crack. Here's what I'd do:

However thick the existing drywall is, get some that is one step thinner. Cut a piece to fit in the seam. Use construction adhesive and a screw or two to hold it till the glue dries. Mud and tape with paper tape, not fiberglass.

That sounds pretty good. I was worried about the lump from using the same size drywall.
Why paper tape?

[JimD]

Eric,

David's advice is fine but I would disagree with the paper tape only comment. I use both but fiberglass is a lot easier if you do not have lots of experience especially for a butt joint. You could also just use mud with tape but it would be better to put something into the joint. I have also filled openings like this with wood thinner than the drywall. Some people think paper tape is stronger and maybe it is but I do not get cracks with fiberglass and that is all that I think counts.

I recommend you use setting compound instead of drying compound. Drying compound is the stuff that comes pre-mixed in buckets and it dries from the water evaporating. Takes at least overnight. Setting compound comes in bags and you have to mix it each time you need some. The advantage is greater strength (maybe helps to make up for fiberglass tape?) and much shorter drying cycle. You can sand in as little as an hour depending on the type. I use the 90 minute stuff that really needs to set about 2 hours before the next coat. 3 coats in a day are easy. If you have height differences between sides of the wall, be prepared to feather it out a significant distance to make it look right - you need wide knives and may have to use more than the normal 3 coats.

Jim

[Tundra_Man]

Hey Eric, haven't seen you around lately.

I've got a smaller drywall project pending. I came across this site that I found very helpful: http://www.drywallschool.com/

[Lefty]

quote:Originally posted by Tundra_Man

Hey Eric, haven't seen you around lately.

I've got a smaller drywall project pending. I came across this site that I found very helpful: http://www.drywallschool.com/

It's been tough finding the time for my BT3Central family lately. I've been unable to even keep much sawdust in my hair. I do lurk a bit from time to time, but I really miss the forum and all things wooden.
I did check out the drywallschool.com a bit, but didn't really find anything to help this particular problem. It's going to be a constant resource for me this weekend, though! Hope you and the family are well. I suppose TundraBoy is as tall as you now!

[Tundra_Man]

Not quite as tall as me, but getting there. He's my task driver in the shop:

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[Lefty]

quote:Originally posted by Tundra_Man

Not quite as tall as me, but getting there. He's my task driver in the shop:

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Wow! He's big. The ruler reminds me of my days in catholic school. The nuns used wooden rulers though.

[crokett]

Lefty,

Paper tape because my experience has been that it cracks less than fiberglass. I had some tricky joints in my basement last fall. One was fiberglass one was paper tape (ran out of the fiberglass) and the fiberglass joint cracked.

For new walls & clean butt joints Jim is correct, fiberglass is fine and is faster. However, for something like this I'd use paper tape, esp since there will probably be a fair bit of mud behind the tape. Also, the seam may be wide enough that you might want to consider 2 strips of tape with the edges overlapped. In that case I would definitely use paper tape.

Lastly, my comment on the setting compound (hot mud) is it is ok if you think you can work it fast enough before it dries out.

[Lefty]

Thanks for that. Makes sense.

New question. I've got a ceiling and adjoining walls that are already textured. I'll have to corner tape these. I'm thinking I'll need to remove this texture to tape. How do I do this?

[parnelli]

After the first time I used hot mud, I swore I'd never go back to the other stuff. Sure I ended up tossing some here and there, but it went on so nicely....then a couple weeks back I bought the new stuff in the grey tub and love it!

It's got something in it that causes the sanded dust to fall straight to the floor. No floating, no covering everything.

USG's page: http://tinyurl.com/al7e3