Question about taping after a 3 day dry time in winter

I hung 30 sheets of 5/8 in a basement in Minneapolis last week and the mud on the seams looked perfect until I came back after the weekend and there's hairline cracks running along probably 8 joints. The heat was set to 65 the whole time, could the dry air from the furnace have pulled moisture out too fast? Any tricks to keep this from happening again on the next cold weather job?

2 comments

2 Comments

blaked793d ago

Dang man, sorry to hear that. That's a real bummer after putting in that much work. The forced air furnace running constantly in a dry winter basement will definitely suck the moisture right out of the mud before it has a chance to set right. One thing I've done in those situations is to keep a couple of cheap bucket humidifiers running down there, or even just a wet mop on the floor near the furnace to add some moisture back into the air. Also, I've had better luck slowing down the initial coat by mixing in a little extra water and a splash of dish soap to keep it from shrinking up so fast.

parkernelson3d ago

100% right @blaked79, that dish soap trick is a lifesaver. Did the same thing last winter when my basement drywall crumbled like sand no matter how much I watered it down.

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