Taping and Finishing New Drywall

Some painters do whole house - new construction drywall finishing, others leave it to specialty drywall contractors who do nothing but drywall hanging and finishing. All painters will need to at one time or another do some drywall taping and finishing.

While hanging the drywall is considered a part of the carpenters trade, finishing the drywall once hung, is considered part of the

painting trade in some areas. Basic drywall finishing involves applying tape and compound to basically four different types of areas: Flat seams (both tapered and un-tapered), inside corners, outside corners, and nail or screw dimples.

Filling nail or screw dimples

The easiest of the four tasks. The nails / screws will be in line on a stud or framing member, so the usual method is not to fill one at a time, but to swipe the whole row of nail / screw dimples in one pass. The compound will shrink and it will require at least two applications of drywall compound to finish off these.

Filling screw dimples on new drywall demonstrated.

Please use a short ladder - don't substitute a bucket for a ladder as the drywaller does in this video.

Taping flat seams

One edge of a sheet of drywall is tapered. When hung together this forms what is known as a tapered seam. Tapered seams are easier to hide that un-tapered seams. Un-tapered seams need to be much wider to avoid the appearance of a "bump" of drywall compound over the seam.

Tapered seams start below the surface and when completely finished with three coats of drywall compound, will be flush with the surface. Each coat of compound is a couple inches wider than the previous coat, forming a tapering effect to a feathered edge.

Drywall sheets are typically 4' x 8' or 4' x 12' etc... The long edge on one side is tapered - but the two short (4' ) edges are not tapered and these edges will form a "butt" or un-tapered seam. These un-tapered seams need to be spread out very wide to avoid a noticeable bump as previously mentioned. How wide should these seams be? Usually 2' - 2.5' wide.

All flat seams are first taped by embedding the tape (usually paper tape) into the compound and smoothed out. This coat is allowed to dry, and a second coat is applied, and then a third. Do not sand between coats. Most drywallers will scrape any ridges off with the drywall knife prior to application of the compound. Each coat of compound is wider than the previous coat. On butt joints (un-tapered seams) you will probably do four coats of compound in order to form a wider and more gradual seam.

Embedding the tape on flat seams.

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