Step 6

Tape the joint

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Tape recessed butt joints beginning with an 8-in. wide knife for the tape coat. For the following coats, use a 12-in. knife, or better yet, a 14-in. knife.

The best way to handle butt joints is to avoid them altogether by using sheets of drywall that will span the entire room. Home centers carry 8-, 12- and sometimes 10-ft. long sheets. If 12-ft. sheets aren’t long enough, try a specialty drywall supplier, where you’ll find 14-ft. and, perhaps, 16-ft. sheets.

If you can’t get sheets that are as long as the room, or if there’s no way to wrestle long sheets into the room, you can make it a lot easier to finish butt joints by creating a recess at each joint (Fig. C).

To make recessed butt joints, put blocks between the studs or joists. The blocks are set back about 3/16 in. from the face of the framing, so when you screw the drywall to the blocks, the butt ends are drawn inward, creating a hollow recess that’s as easy to finish as a tapered joint. This may sound like a lot of unnecessary work, but if you’re a bush-league drywall finisher like me, you’ll get better results and probably save time in the long run. Next, check out drywall installation mistakes you’ve probably made before.