Butt Seams, ceiling

We sheetrocked our kitchen and now I notice a couple areas in the ceiling (the butt seams), where there is a small ridge.

What are my options to fix this? Its been painted already.

Sand and reapply mud?
Feather mud 12 inches on each side?

Thanks for the help.

 

When the sheetrock has a gap between sheets, this gap needs to be filled with joint compound and be left to dry before applying the tape. I am just guessing that you have a void (a gap or air space) under that tape that is causing the tape to bubble. If so, applying more mud on top of the tape will probably not make it go away. I would say the tape needs to be torn out and done right.

If you wanted to test this theory, just take a utility knife and poke it into the tape, and see if there is a gap under the tape. You can always patch the small hole.

If this isn't correct, maybe you could take a picture of the ridge and post it, so that we can see what you see.

 

Thanks for the help, XSleeper! That very well could be it.

Now, to rip out that tape and mud, what is the best way to do that? Scraper? Sander as well?

 

ACtually, I dont think its a ridge, but more of shadowing. I don't think I tapered the edges out enough. 12-18 inches on each side?

 

On butt joints, the more you can feather out the joint the better. It will depend on the joint. 12-18" each side is a good place to start.

 

Dig out your 2' or 4' level or straight board and place it across the high spot. As it rocks back and forth you can see how much mud is needed to fill to each side. When they are too high, as stated, start over.

Bud

 

There's a fine line between putting too much mud on a butt joint, and not enough. If I am taping butt joints by hand, after the tape coat has dried, i will come back and lay a nice even coat right over the tape that is not quite 1/8" thick, using a 10" knife. The next coat, I will run down both sides of that joint with a 10" knife. A final skim coat cleans up any messy areas before a final sanding.

So it certainly could be that you didn't apply enough mud to completely cover the tape, if that's what you're seeing- just a thin area and a shadow.

A butt joint will always result in a slight "hump" since there is no tapered edge. But the hump shouldn't be much more than 1/8" and should be feathered out a total of about 24" wide or it could create a shadow too.

 

I am almost positive that is what I did (or actually didnt do)!

I'll go over it with a wider knie and feather is out more. There is a slight hump, and its no more that 1/8 inch. Took the level to it. In sunlight you can see it, at night with the lights on you can't.

 

I couple of other mistakes that can make a joint look worse than it is. If you have more than a 4' joint because you didn't stagger the sheets, that makes the tape job more visible. Also, a low joist. There are always ups and down that need to be corrected before the drywall is applied. If you get one slightly down right between two slightly up, you would not want a butt joint at that location.

That's why I hate to tape after someone else hung the drywall.

Bud