My wife's cousin did a lousy job of putting up some drywall in the attic. In several areas, long cracks have appeared where the sections of drywall meet. My wife says to just fill them with something, sand and repaint. I say it needs to be rough sanded down to the drywall, retaped, mudded, sanded and repainted. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I must admit that I am a newbie to this sort of thing but believe that it is well within my abilities. If you give any advise, could you be as specific as possible? Thanks in advance.
2006-08-26 06:13:11 · 6 answers · asked by dski76 1 in Home & Garden ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
Little cracks can be filled with some Spackle or joint compound and repainted. Long cracks probably mean a poor taping.
If you are ambitious, you can sand the joints down and redo it. If you do not mind a bit of a bump, you can sand lightly and tape over the area.
We used a plastic mesh with compound already on it (from Home Depot) for some of our more trouble prone cracks.
Good luck!
2006-08-26 06:34:07 · answer #1 · answered by paintingj 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You have the right idea of what needs done. Depending on how bad the cracks are just filling them may or may not last very long. Sanding it all the way down to the drywall will make blending the new compound to hide the seems in easier but not completely necessary. You will need to tape again for sure if you want it to last any time. Also, if it was taped properly the first time the problem with the cracks developing is the drywall bowing up. you should look to see if there are spots where the drywall can be screwed tighter where it has bowed. This will help to keep the seems from pulling apart as easily. If you are a newbie then don't expect perfection. Drywall finishing takes years to do well.
2006-08-26 13:25:06 · answer #2 · answered by TheDude 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Your wife is right. Spackle, sand, prime, paint. Cracks can't POSSIBLY be that big. ...and if you do what you're saying, you'll probably find your wife's cousin didn't do such a bad job after all.
YOU SHOULD LEARN TO LISTEN to your wife! Especially if what she says is easier than what you think should be done. Sounds like you're a newbie at this marriage thing too. If you do a good job at all that craziness you want to do (and trust me, it isn't as easy as it looks) you'll have wasted three weekends doing a small room. If you do what she wants you to do, you Spackle tonight, sand, prime and paint tomorrow and you're DONE. It will conceal the cracks, but even if it didn't, then she'd have to admit she was wrong, and then you might even get a "special treat" out of the deal!
Numbnuts.
2006-08-26 13:22:08 · answer #3 · answered by Wicked Mickey 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It all depends if he used tape. If he didn't, you're right and the whole thing has to be re-taped and joint compounded. If he did use tape, just fill and sand the gaps. I prefer joint compount so any bumps can easily be sanded. If spackle is used and you leave any bumps, it will sand smoothe very hard.
2006-08-26 19:19:32 · answer #4 · answered by Matrix 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Dulux do a wonderful filler stuff called Smooth-over. It is really easy to apply with either a putty knife, or the 12" long filler blade they recomend.
It is paintable, smothable, wallpaperable etc, and really does leave a good finish
2006-08-26 13:46:17 · answer #5 · answered by Frankie 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Use joint compound. Works much better than spackle, which should only be used to fill nail holes.
2006-08-26 22:53:18 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋