Hear Me Roar: How to Use Drywall Tape

You know the feeling.  You want something done but the husband is doing something else you asked for/working the job that actually pays money/otherwise unavailable.  I'm normally pretty happy to be patient or to just do it myself, but I tend to leave the 'man jobs' for when Nic is available.

Well, after we'd finally tackled that terrible soffit, I was just dying to have the ceiling finished.

Nic was at work, and I found myself with two sleeping children and zero excuses.  We'd never used drywall tape in this house, but I figured it was time to do it right.  And by right, I mean give drywall tape a chance.  Obviously I'm no professional.

So I first just measured and cut the drywall.  When you're hanging drywall, you want as many studs to screw into as possible, but definitely two opposite each other.  You've just got to make sure the piece of drywall has something to grab onto and level itself out.  This often means cutting away more of the drywall than necessary to expose another stud.

As for screwing it in, just use drywall screws and a cordless drill.  You'll feel like a woman.  Roar.

Here's what we were looking like after I'd cut and hung the drywall.  Never mind that large hole between the drywall and the cabinet...there will be a thick piece of trim there.

The only things you really need for this are drywall putty, drywall tape, scissors, and a joint knife {the spreader thing}.

First up, just spread some drywall compound on the seam between the new drywall and the existing drywall {or two pieces of new drywall}.  It doesn't need to be smooth.

Next, cut a piece of drywall tape to cover the compound you put down.  I feel like the key is to do smallish areas.  Not too big, or it becomes unmanageable.

Then take your joint knife and smooth it out.  The idea is to take the putty that is under the tape, and smooth it out from underneath.  As you move the joint knife over the tape, you'll cover the top, too, and make a smooth {ish} seam.

It will look something akin to this when you're done:

And here's a bigger section:

We didn't have any 'outside' corners in this project, but we have several 'inside' ones.  I found these to be super easy.  Just fold the drywall tape in half {there's already a slight seam}, and then the steps are the same.

 The real key to nice-looking drywall, though, is to take your time.  After your tape is up, get as much air circulating as possible.  We pull in as many fans as possible, and if it's decent out, open up doors and windows.

Let it dry overnight {don't get impatient...it really needs lots of time to get really dry} and then sand it down using a fine-grit sanding block.  Get it nice a smooth, even if that means you have some divots.  Then bust out the drywall compound and apply another thin coat.  Let that dry, and sand it down.  We usually end up needing 2-3 different applications, though pros are much quicker.  They also cost money, so we choose to spend time over spending cash.

After you feel like it's really smooth, go ahead and wipe off the dust {ohhhhh that dust} and paint it.  We actually like to do this step even if we're not sure if we're done.  We've found it to be easier to tell if you actually need to do more smoothing if there is a coat of paint on.  Sometimes the different colors of the drywall, putty, and existing paint make it tough to tell.

You'll know when you're done because it will look like a flat ceiling or wall.

This was one of those projects that I thought was going to take forever and be really tough.  It wasn't.  It took about 2 days {since the drying time is so long}, but it was pretty simple.  If I can do it, so you can you!  Even sans husband/resident handyman!