Cut off tapered part of drywall???

My Drywall contractor just came up with a time-saving idea that I wanted to share with you guys and see what you think. When doing multiple layers of drywall, the challenge is that you need to make sure you apply enough mud to the tapered edge such that it will fit flush against the next layer once added. This requires a couple of passes. This means waiting for the first pass to dry before doing the second, and then waiting for the second to dry before applying the next layer of drywall. You want to make sure you do this since the mud often shrinks a little when drying and you don't want to leave any airgaps. SO, with that it mind the suggestion in question is whether you could just cut off the 3 inch tapered part so you'd only need mud or caulk one very small joint for each layer, hence making installation a whole lot quicker and easier. What do you guys think?

As long as you can make a good seem without the factory edge and you want to save some time you could get away with it. Personally I'd keep the factory edge there. Whenever I butt two piece of drywall together with non-factory edges, I cut the paper face a little to create a little bit of a dip in the surface for mudding, so I like the factory edge.

Save yourself the headache, buy untapered drywall at the local supply store... This is ideal for the first layer... Don't bother mudding or taping, use acoustic sealant at the edges.... take care:)

Untapered drywall is actually pretty hard to find. Home Depot doesn't stock it. In my case I just did one layer of mud. I didn't sand it down and I didn't apply multiple layers in order to make a perfectly flat surface. It saved a lot of time. The only layer I plan on making "perfect" like that will be my inner leaf final layer -- the one that will have knockdown texture applied to it. I'll change that plan only if I'm convinced making every layer perfect and even will make that big of a difference. --Keith :mrgreen:

This topic is somewhat related to my recent thread: Drywall moves 7/8" OFF O.C. w each layer of drywall? Result of that rampage thought was to measure industry standard OC and do not bother accounting for overlaps of wall coverings at corners. How it relates... when we install 2 or more layers of drywall we do not want seams to overlap, we want to stagger the seams of each peice of drywall from stud to stud. Also we want to alter long deminsion of drywall from vertical to horizontal for each layer. We want the last layer of drywall to have the long seam going horizontal for a good finish cause a horizontal seam is less likely to show on finished layer. SO we have to install at least one layer going vertically. IF 3" were cut off each side we would not have 4' to work with, only would have 3' 6", and obviously these custom taperless edge peices of drywall would not line up on either 24" or 16" OC studs. IF it was the middle layer of 3 layers, maybe... the 1st and 3rd layers would sandwich 2nd layer in place, but still got to make sure that 2nd layer is fastened for mud. Also I don't like the idea of wasting the material. Marc

If the problem you are trying to avoid by cutting off the tapered edges is that you'll have a small air gap behind the next layer of drywall (unless you "build up" the tape/mud), I think you are creating a worse problem if you cut off the tapered edge: You are now going to have a raised up section behind the next layer and the air gap, though small, would be bigger than a "dip" behind it if you used the tapered edge. len

raised up becaused of mudding an untapered seam you mean? :? Keith - with regards to your method - aren't you concerned that there may be air pockets left behind as the mud dries creating additional MAM?? Not trying to set the cat amongst the pigeons here, just want to make sure I understand how much attention to detail is too much.

Perhaps some of your worry (and the lack of same from Keith and I) has to do with the size of your project and the speed at which you are hanging your drywall. In my case, I had 200 sheets of drywall to put up and I can tell you, the mud/tape had plenty of time to dry on the first layer before I wanted to put up the second. I think even though Keith's room is smaller than mine, it's big enough that after a day of hanging DW, he's got the patience to wait 24 hours to let the mud dry. And yes, I was talking about the mudding an UNtapered seam. len

andy_eade wrote:

Keith - with regards to your method - aren't you concerned that there may be air pockets left behind as the mud dries creating additional MAM??

Nope, I'm not worried about that. I figure the small amount of air that might be trapped due to the shrinkage of the joint compound won't matter much, if at all. Perhaps I'm in denial, but I've gone overboard with my mass in part to compensate for these types of imperfections. I'm also using Green Glue as a cosntrained dampening layer between two layers of my outer leaf, and I'll probably do 50% coverage on the back of the last two of three layers on my inner leaf, which will dampen resonance a great deal. --Keith :mrgreen:

Hey folks - Rods book says to use mud and tape the at tapered edge so there's no air gap. However, I was wondering why you couldn't just fill the gap with acoustical caulking or Green Glue... seems like it would accomplish the desired result of no air gap. Creatch

You can ! But it would be more expensive, mud is very cheap.