Paper tape woes

Hey guys!

I am having some dramas with applying my paper tape joints on my ceiling....

The paper is not "delaminating" or bubbling excessivly, but i am still worried that it has not adhered correctly.

I put down my nice thick coat of mud, as per rods video on utube, I am using gyprock basecoat 45. i then bed in the tape and squeezed out the excess (it was definatly not dry)

From there we have applied another skim coat over the tape and the joint is flush

Now what has me worried is we had a couple of bubbles, i cut them out no problems there, but noticed the rest of the tape was very poorly stuck, i think i could probobally rip the whole strip out with minimal effort.

My question is, is this normal? will it settle in or should it be stuck like sh*t to a blanket?

thanks for your time!

No ideas anyone? my plastering is on hiatus at the moment because im worried i will have to re-do it all.

Gday memphis, I'm no help to you, but maybe send Rod a PM with a link to this thread & ask if he can help, then you should get an answer & it may be of use to someone else in the future.


Cheers.................Sean

How deepely embedded is the tape - it should be impossible to get out without ripping out the base coat as well.

Possible cuases - base coat was too sloppy (too much water which saturated the paper) - or wrong type of paper tape.

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Originally Posted by Dirty Doogie

How deepely embedded is the tape - it should be impossible to get out without ripping out the base coat as well.

Possible cuases - base coat was too sloppy (too much water which saturated the paper) - or wrong type of paper tape.

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well its embedded, i can only do it due to the fact i cut the bubbles out and removed the topcoat in that area. i put my nail under the cut edge of the tape and it came apart quite easily.

the mix was pritty sloppy but not excessive i thought. the paper tape was standard perforated stuff.

...maybe im just stressing over nothing

Hi Memphis,

Was it a hot day when you did the job?

From what you have explained it is possible the base coat dried in spots that may have been a bit thinner causing the bubbles. the only reason for bubbles is that there is no wet plaster under the tape. If the plaster dries out enough in the heat is loses its strength, thereby causing a weak lamination around the area that has dried causing the bubble.

Chances are that it wont be the case along the entire length of the join so I would not be too concerned.

When using paper tape on a hot day I would recomend only doing short runs until you are certain that you can get the tape embedded before any spot drying can occur.

I have seen this happen often even when I have bedded tapes on a hot day. So don't knock yourself out over it!

Cheers Rod

thanks rod yes it was a very hot day, 35degrees or so plus I was working upstairs so it was possibly hotter.

I will continue on and hopefully all will be OK

We are only talking about 3-4 spots bubbling out of the whole ceiling so its not that bad, i was just more worried about the risk of more bubbles once its painted.

You truley are an asset to the forum.

You will find any bubbles will appear after the join gets wet with the undercoat. That is the time to take a very good look and patch any areas that need it.

The moisture causes the paper tape to swell if it is not adhered correctly therfore it will lift exposing any bubbles.

Cheers Rod

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Originally Posted by memphis

You truley are an asset to the forum.

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Yeah,.. go ahead and give him a reputation point :)