Creating a tape groove for a drywall patch

12 years ago

Due to water damage, I had to remove the bottom four feet of a wall. Now I want to put up new drywall in the bottom section. The new drywall will have the indentation for the tap and mud where the new and old drywall meet. What is the best way to do the taping. Do people pound the old drywall near the edge to create an indentation for the tape? Or do they just add the tape to the existing drywall and feather out the edge. Also, is putting the tape groove at the top the right way to go or is it better to put the cut edge at the top so there is no indentation and two pieces of drywall match?

Comments (5)

brickeyee
12 years ago
It is a flat seam and just requires a WIDE area to hide the buildup.

Think at least a foot from the seam or even more).
renovator8
12 years ago
Use a large curved drywall trowel that can span the entire patch. This tool is essential even when the edges are tapered so it's good to own. By varying the angle and the pressure on the handle you can make any wall look good.

Here is a link that might be useful: curved trowel
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woodbutcher_ca
12 years ago
Hi, You want to create a butt joint. You want to install a four foot high piece. Cut your 4x8 sheet rock in half you now have 2 4X4 pieces. Mount it with flat part next to flat part ( butt Joint) and tapper to tapper ( tappered Joint.) Do not put a tapper with a flat piece you will have a mess on your hands. When I patch Small Holes in sheet rock most times I cut the tappered part of the sheetrock off and throw it away.
Good Luck Woodbutcher
mtsullivan
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks for all the great advice. I do have a long curved trowel for feathering the joint. I will definitely NOT try to put a tapered joint next to a flat piece. Some of the seams will be very visible, so I will see how hard it is to create a taper on the old drywall in an inconspicuous spot as advised by darrelectric and go taper to taper. If I don't think I can get a good taper, I will do a butt joint as advised by woodbutcher_ca and feather the seams.
brickeyee
12 years ago
"Do not put a tapper with a flat piece you will have a mess on your hands."

Works fine as long as you treat both sides as a flat joint

The curved trowel is a production tool, no reason to use it for a small repair job.

Just use s 6 inch knife and feather out.
One advantage of setting type compound is tat you can control the mix and adjust stiffness to match the tooling required om the joint.

If you use a short setting time you can apply multiple coats in a single day on a small repair.

The setting compound does not need to be dry to re-coat, just hard.