I still swear by sanding joints before taping, journeyman told me I was wasting time

So my buddy Mike who has been doing commercial work for 15 years told me to skip sanding the drywall edges before applying tape on a house job near Akron. Said modern mud is good enough to fill gaps. I tried it on one wall in my basement and the tape bubbled up in three spots after it dried. Had to cut out and redo that whole section. On the flip side he saves like 20 minutes per room on his big jobs and says he never has issues. What's your take on this do you sand before taping or just roll with it?

2 comments

2 Comments

markl755d ago

Funny you mention that, because my cousin was a taper in Columbus for like 20 years and he swore by a different trick entirely. He used to throw a little water on the joints instead of sanding, said it made the paper tape bite in better. I tried it once and ended up with a mess of drips everywhere, looks like a crime scene in my garage now. I think a lot of that commercial speed stuff just doesn't translate to smaller houses where you don't have a crew cleaning up after you. Did you ever notice any difference if you just use a slightly wider knife to feather the compound out more?

finley_lee5d ago

Man, yeah, a wider knife makes a huge difference... I swear I can get three passes done where I'd be fighting with a narrower one for an hour just trying to get that last ridge smooth.