Feel a little silly asking this, but is it okay for mud-on-J to end at a butt joint, or should I remove it and re-install so it bridges the joint and the J bead joints fall in the center of the sheet? Drywall installers did the entire garage this way, and I have a couple days to fix it if necessary.

Also, do I need to use a special (meaning fire retardant) caulk to seal around the chimney where it meets the sheetrock, or can I use clear silicone? Thanks in advance.

http://www.mediafire.com/view/ghk4l7...udOnJ.jpg/file

http://www.mediafire.com/view/4ww8xw...imney.jpg/file

 

It would be better if the bead spans the joint, when it stops/starts on each side of the joint - that's a weak point.

 

But you will have tape or mesh between the two pieces and that will overlap.

If it's nailed securly, and hopefully glued your ok!

 

It isn't glued, just stapled, and not enough staples (good for me if I need to remove it).

 

The drywall, they used glue against the studs?

Your good, your overthinking this!

 

The reason the joint in the bead is where it is in your first photo is because if it was anywhere else, their knife would "CLICK" on the joint as they finished it. Its on a joint that gets taped vertically, therefore it can be taped and finished no problem.

And no, you don't use silicone where anything is going to be painted! Firecaulking should have been completed before the drywall was ever installed. That's done on your framing inspection, which if it passed, you should be good. If the drywall needed to be firecaulked for some reason, that should have be done before the bead was put on.

As for staples or glue on the vinyl bead, I have seen it both ways. The mud is supposed to adhere to the drywall through the holes in the bead, so either way I doubt it matters much. Mud can also be applied first and the bead is pressed into the mud and then is coated again. You obviously can't do that on a tricky curve.

 

I left it as-is, but added a bunch more staples. Trim Tex recommends a staple every 2" to 3" if not using adhesive. The installers only put them every 12". They were also using 1-1/4" screws for the 5/8 rock on the ceiling, but I caught them and made them switch to 1-5/8 screws (per code). I spoke with the guy that will be doing the mud, and asked if he typically tapes his corner beads, and he said no (not surprised). I'm expecting they will charge more if I ask them to do so :/

There was no fire caulking whatsoever. I planned on using that cementious paintable caulk around the chimney. The inspector hardly looked at anything when he came. I added three new electrical circuits, lighting, an air vent, and plumbing for a water spigot, and he didn't check any of it. I was shocked.

 

I personally hate seams like that. I always get a bump when I mud but with a good finisher it isn't a problem.

 

Things turned out decent, but I can tell where the pieces join. Not a big deal. What is a big deal (to me anyway) is that they didn't caulk around the chimney like I wanted. The whole point of using Trim Tex tear away was to have a nice clean edge around the brick. Instead then caulked the crap out of the joint and overlapped the wall, which looks sloppy. I expected them to tear off the tear away strip, caulk between the brick and bead, then paint (the caulk is paintable). Is there a way to safely remove the caulk without damaging the paint/tearing the paper off the drywall? I see Goo Gone makes a caulk remover. Has anyone ever used this stuff?

 

I don't recall ever using that product. IMO the best method to remove caulk is to cut it's bond to the wall and then carefully pull the caulk loose.

 

I may just have to live with it. The caulk was applied after/over top of fresh paint, so I'm assuming it will tear the paint off with it. I confronted the contractor about it and he told me that isn't how tear away is caulked. I'm not sure I understand his reasoning, but I don't see why caulk can't be applied between the edge of the tear away and the brick, and that the only way is to apply caulk over the edge of the tearaway. Makes using tear away pointless and a waste of money. My money.

If I do decide to remove the caulk and redo it the way I want, and the paint tears, can I simply sand the area to knockdown the edge then reprime and paint, or would I need to apply a skim coat of joint compound then sand/prime/paint? Should I score the paint with a razor prior to removing the caulk so if/when it tears it tears cleanly?

Also, I thought the best way to caulk against brick was to apply tape to the brick, caulk, smooth with a finger, then remove the tape to leave a clean edge. I asked the painter about this and he said that never works. I've never actually tried it, but I've seen it done on a home improvement show.

 

Anytime I've had to caulk against brick I did it freehand - it takes practice, not everyone can lay a nice untooled bead. I doubt tape would work well against brick.