Hello all, building a basement for the first time. Just got finished hanging all the drywall. (Most is hung quite well, a couple people helping took a couple shortcuts and there are some gaps.) However, all in all, pretty good.

A friend came over and offered to mud/tape the seams as I had/have no idea how. He finished most of the seams/joints on the walls, then I watched some youtube video's and noticed he did a really bad job on it.

He put on about 1/8" to 1/4" of mud on first, then put the tape on. However, he did not squeeze out the excess, so the tape is floating on a minimum of 1/8" of mud. He then mudded over the tape (without it drying) with another 1/8" or so of mud. Is the tape doing anything when it's so far from the wall? After watching some youtube video's it appears the most of the mud is squeezed out from behind the tape. Some of the tape is so high, it's above the factory edge seams of the drywall!

I sanded down all the mud he put on top of the tape, and in some spots the tape has not bonded to the mud underneath, it's lifting on one edge. I presume as it wasn't squeezed in so it was just 'floating' there. AFter sanding down to the tape, some of the tape is still about 1/8" above the actual surface of the drywall. Will I be able to blend that in? (I can't sand through the tape.)

So, should I remove everything he's done as I'm not sure if the tape is doing anything on top of so much mud. (Or is fine there?) If I do need to remove it all, how?

If I don't need to remove it all, can I try to flatten out the lifting tape with a bit of white glue? Perhaps a bit of mud underneath?

Will I ever be able to blend in something that's 1/8" above the surface of the drywall? All I'm going off of is youtube video's then I did all the ceiling seams (which look good so far, first coat only though.)

The basement will be painted fairly dark, which I heard makes waves/high spots stand out even more. (The basement will primarily be a home theater room with a projector, hence the dark paint)

Thanks!

 

Welcome to the forums!

Don't you just love it when someone who knows less than you portrays himself as an expert

Whenever you apply the 2nd coat of mud over a wet tape coat you run the risk of the weight of the 2nd coat pulling the tape off of the wall

It's hard to say what will be the best way to proceed. It is feasible to float out what you have and make it look good but that will mean a wider tape joint than normal. The other option would be to remove the tape and mud - and start over. While dark paint can make joints more visible, a dark setting [low lighting] helps to make them less noticeable.

 

Yeah, I'm not very impressed. I really wanted to hire pros for this step but a couple people told me they could do it, and that they had lots of experience.

Luckily, not all of the joints have the tape so high it's above the drywall. It's applied unevenly on the same joints, so in some spots it's high, and some it's actually low enough the tape is flush, or slightly below the factory edge. I'm more concerned with the tape not being close enough to the drywall, and the tape that's 'peeled' If you figure that's okay, I'll do my best to blend in the high spots, and attempt to fix the lifting tape. Any recommendations on how to fix the lifting tape?

Thanks so much for any advice you can offer!

 

Any loose or bubbled tape needs to be removed. It's usually best to cut the tape at both ends [of what you need to remove] and then peel and pull it up. A small bubble can be fixed by cutting a slit in it and 're gluing' it with joint compound.

It shouldn't hurt anything other than looks for the tape to have a thicker than needed coat of mud under the tape. The 2 main things when finishing drywall is to have the tape well adhered and the joints finished out smooth/level.