After a week of trying to mud, everything you mentioned as being a problem, I was doing, especially pressing too hard to set the tape. I, also, realized that having the right consistency of mud is so important.
Just found out about you Ben. You have some of the best content available! You also are great with your delivery and all around presence on camera. Thanks to you, an old tile contractor was able to drywall about 1000 square feet, the ceiling and walls of his garage and tape/finish all drywall. And it turned out great! Using a hawk and trowel worked out great for me because of my experience mudding walls for tile. In California I've only seen tapers use knives and bread pan. I'm looking forward to going through all of your content. Thank you!
I'm a carpenter that paints my installs, on small drywall installs, I've been able to tape perfectly, and that equals happy customers and more references. Thank you for your very informative vids.
Nope, not watching for blistered tape. Not sure why i watch, but I find it entertaining. Hard to explain to the wife. "What are you watching?" Me "guy showing how to fix blistered tape on drywall." Wife "do you have a drywall project" Me "Nope" Wife
Great info, I'm a Carpenter in Vernon B.C. and do the odd reno and small mudding and taping jobs in almost every reno, your channel has helped me improve every aspect of my mudding sonetimes a little improvement but things like 45 degree walls using a different product was 10x better Thank you
I was told I did a decent job but I know I didn't do well enough and I tend to be a perfectionist. Your videos REALLY help Thank You so much for these tips and guidance 🙏🏽 you're awesome dude
I had an old sheet rock guy suggest quickly dunking your paper tape in a bucket of water before application. I've been using this technique ever since and never have issues with blisters. Of course, I'm usually only taping a room at a time, not a full 2000 sq ft home.
The reason I watch these videos…. Where I work I have a saying: “they won’t teach you anything, but you can learn everything.” Attentively watching others work and asking questions teaches me a LOT.
Very helpful for me. I’ve only used mesh tape n the past; and am now doing multiple rooms with paper tape. I noticed several bubbles early on and you helped me understand why. I’m attempting to do a 4 bedroom house and am finding your videos, amongst others, extremely helpful
You're the one who said in the other video to go over tape and get all the mud out from underneath! Now you got me watching this blister video... genious!
I’ve watched all your videos, and I just wanna say thank you. I did my entire house and only had four bubbles in the whole job. Your videos are highly informative and enjoyable to watch. Thank you ten million times over!
GM, thanks for your tips! I was able to fix my mistakes without having to redo it all. This helped me very much. Thank you very much for taking the time to do this simple but yet to the point video!!!
I realized how simple this is. I made both mistakes too thick and too thin. I finally figured out the level between. What i understand now is get a good level of mud and make sure the edge is clean. Simple as that.
Ok I just finished corners while on a sketchy scaffold for 16 ft walls. Let's see how I do after watching this informative video. Crossing fingers!! :o
A good son always put mom first, LOL. I’m repainting the interior of every room in my house, being a complete obsessive person, I must fix every little tiny defect. You have helped tremendously. Enjoy your videos.
Thanks for sharing, I really enjoy your videos. I am paper taping challenged, I have always used mesh tape, never experienced cracking, and never knew about it being a second choice until I started watching TH-cam videos. Anyway, before watching this video, I tried paper taping again, and, despite my best efforts, I found that i am still useless at it. I wound up ripping out the paper tape and replacing it with fibafuse tape. I found fibafuse tape, really quick and easy to install. I tend to use around 48 drywall screws per sheet, and always put wood behind edges that are not supported by framing lumber, perhaps this is why I have not experienced cracking in my DIY drywall projects.
In my experience (15 years), the reason most people get blisters is due to the Sheetrock not being planned out evenly. Little undulations in the joint cause voids and high spots, which will blister.
This happened to me doing a friends ceiling. How do I avoid it? I tried to build the plain with mud and then lay the tape on but I think during my skim process I pressed it back uneven. About an hour later it was blistered.
gladly ive had this guy to watch over the past couple of years ive never had a single paper joint blister or anything i take alot longer than he does but i end up getting it done and done right
I have been drywalling for 27 years in Canada. I have had trouble with Synko taping mud letting go. Loose tape all over the place. Finally did my own experiment with heat. The result of my test was that with this brand, if it dries too fast, there is a good chance that the tape will come loose. This reason is that the tape does not get a chance to absorb any of the glue in the mud.
Got bored baking bread during this pandemic so decided we needed to remodel the bedroom! (70 year old coop with tons of joint compound on top of plaster ceiling and loads of cracks--scrapped it all off-aaggghh whatta job!!). Hubby was thrilled (not). Watching Vancouver Carpenter & a few others I skimmed a 10x12 room ceiling and had 1 blister--only used a 6" plastic spackling knife as I found using the longer equipment I lost control of the flow. Only weekends to work-but 3 weekends in----it's looking awesome. Thanks so much. p.s. Told sweetie next time I get a 'great idea to fix' something to tell me 'Ahh, I don't think so!' hahaha. (He won't though, we love a good redo challenge).
When I was trying taping for the first time I ended up having to tear out a few sections of tape and remove the plaster to redo it. I found the best way to remove was to first use a spray bottle on the tape, let it soften up for a minute then peel the tape off. Spray again to soften up the plaster and then scrape it off with your taping knife. It comes off in big flakes and is dust free and easy to clean up too.
"I had to work pretty hard to create these blisters" *looks at my basement ceiling that the previous home owner installed DIY. He must have worked his ass off for at least a month!
In older construction and having to repair drywall before tape and float it's best to dust off the drywall. I've discovered through the years if your drywall is dirty that can also cause bubbles. Bubbles is what I call blisters, but always dust clean your work area.
So I'm a finish carpenter, and I find myself finding SO many times doing drywall. And I have the words "suspiciously drywall-ey carpenter" go through my head multiples times a day while I'm drywalling :) Although I don't drywall for clients, I find it insane the eye-rolling stigma that's thrown at drywallers. The process is so satisfying and it has an undeniable craft.
Your videos are excellent. You have helped countless people save time, do a better job, and feel a bit more confident in doing drywall mud work and repairs. Excellent training session. Great detail, with explanations as well. I have a great deal of respect for all the time you took to make this video for thousands of people. Thank you.
Wish I found this video first! All others had convinced me they were actually practicing dark magic and witchcraft. Because they made it look so easy. I go to do it and it’s like everything goes so, so wrong! Thank you Sir!
I got blisters quite a bit when I started. I think it's because I was using all-purpose and it was too dry. I saw a video of another guy who was talking about adding some water to the mud right from the start and then again every time you closed your bucket up and that made a WORLD of difference. Just a handful or two of water and the mud stays pliable for a long time, even with just the hawk on it or the lig coving it without being sealed. It's a little frustrating that you didn't talk about that in this video. You mentioned using mud "right out of the bucket or box", but didn't say anything about what to do to correct it. For everyone who caught that, I hope this comment helps.
My son is "The Cajun Ninja" on You Tube and FaceBook. Nothing to do with what you do, but he has about 800,000 total followers. With that being said I know how important it is for you to have supporters. I am doing a bedroom ceiling right now, all new sheetrock. Of course it is not perfect as I had one row with a one inch gap. This problem happened to me so I pulled the tape out. I bought the mesh tape, but I watched your video on that and you prefer paper tape. I am about 75% finished and if it was not for your videos I would have to hire someone. Thank you so much for all your videos. They are a huge help.
I don't have his experience, but while taping I noticed that it's practically a no brain task, unless you have two left hands and in this case you should probably leave it to more competent people.
Like your videos. I'm doing a 30x40 garage with 10 foot walls right now. I'm a carpenter but have dabbled in drywall a little bit. I wish you would have been around 25 years ago. I'm doing pretty good on my project. I think anyway. I have learned a lot from your videos. Thank you
I've been installing drywall for years now and although I concider myself pretty good I still struggle with mudding and tapping joints. Don't care what anyone says there is as art to it.
I learned a lot from your videos, I guess a lot of people getting blisters under tape, I never got one ,I use heavy mud most of the time for imbedding tape, it’s bucket mud , it’s sets in 15 min , where I live pre mixed bucket muds sets in 15 min , can you believe that , at the beginning I had a problem with leaving to much mud under the tape , that was my biggest problem, thanks you for everything
Thank you we just found this issue all over our new house. I was thing it was wallpaper, but it looks exactly like what you are showing! Thanks for info….
Yes, it just takes the right method and the right tools and accept the tried and true method. Also do the verticals before your horizontal. The horizontal mark studs if you missed any. Carry your 🪛. Awesome video..really helped
Great vids always very informative. A method I have used to fix blisters is after the second coat I usually see the odd one. I take a 4 inch knife which I usually use for applying the mud a tape. I slide the knife blade under the tape accessing the void. The second coat of wet mud allows me to access the bubble. The access point has to be bigger than the blister. Then I apply mud sliding it under in a fashion where it is filled with enough mud to caused adhesion. You can almost see the bubble vanish before eyes. Then I continue with second coat. I totally agree with all of your other comments as I have experienced most of them good and bad. Thx
Had to build a growroom in my basement cuz lil punks were stealing my plants. This is what slowed me down the most out of framing, electrical, and plumbing...the damn tape and mud. I have only tried one butt joint, and didn't have any blisters, but i blew like 2 hours on ONE joint! Not getting anywhere at that speed. So I'm now subscribed!
I always keep a mister bottle in my plaster kit to freshen up the mud on my hawk. I find the excess scraped off the wall is already too dry to apply the next tape reliably.
Hahaha the phone calls when you're trying to do something... thanks for all the helpful videos I like watching them. I've just hung my drywall and about to tape and mud for first time
Dude, you're like the male version of me. Drywalling isn't exactly fun, but generally has to be done. From one mudder to "anudder", you got my subscription.
I would imagine it is easier to rectify imperfections when you're working on a horizontal surface than when working on a vertical surface ??? To be honest I don't know ! I know nothing about paper tape and mud and drywall etc. but I really enjoy watching these videos and often pick up enough hints to be able to do a little bit of remedial work on my own house when needed. I think these are wonderful skills to have. I congratulate you on your obvious expertise and I thank you for sharing it with us .
This is a pretty good vid from a chippy. All purpose joint compound is not nearly as strong as base coat plaster. 11:30 you will never rip a tape out if installed well using base coat plaster. All purpose is ok for small jobs but definitely inferior in many ways like takes a long time to dry, shrinks back more and is weaker in strength compared to base coat plaster. Another reason you will get blisters in tape is wind drying mud out. Dry (very low humidity) hot and very windy weather will dry out mud fast. Close all windows and doors to stop drafts whilst tapping. U can fairly easily do long joins over 2 meters or 6 feet under the right conditions with practice almost never getting blisters. The contrary is also true under the wrong conditions it's difficult to even do short tapes without getting blisters.
I’m always telling my people to not do it until you get it right but keep doing it until you can’t do it wrong! Maybe it’s my military traning but it works. That’s why I like watching you explain all the things you do. You don’t yell enough though. 🤣
A common scenario happens for the restoration guys where 2” ft of wet drywall has been to removed from the bottom of the wall. When you mount the new 2” ft replacement piece and choose to bud the factory divot edge up to the old edge. This can cause the new drywall side to get tones of mud and the other gets starved add to that an uneven cut from the tear out crew so your mud disappears out the back and now you have the perfect drywall tape bubble maker. One solution is realizing you need to do a run of non watered down mud or thick quick set to fill the uneven gap. Once dry then start the taping process. Anyone else have a trick for this?
If it's near 2ft exact or under. After you cut your sheet, flip it upside so the cut end of your rip is at the top. Bevel that top end (to bevel if you're right handed go on the right side of your cut sheet with the cut side facing the ceiling. Hold you knife at a 45 degree angle to the edge angled with the tip of your blade facing up and away from you and your knuckles facing the floor. Cut like that on the paper side on the top edge. Walk backwards and cut off a very very small amount to "bevel" the edge of the rock. That gives something really solid and good for the hot mud to grab to. Bevel the existing rock at the bottom of the wall (the rock that stayed 2ft up). Install beveled cut side to the beveled side of the existing rock. Buy some 45 or faster minute drying quickset (aka hotmud). Mix it up either in a pan if you don't have a lot to fill, or a bucket if you have a lot of joint. You can add glue if you want but I don't usually. Pre-fill the joint. Tape. That should do it. You're already gonna have to build it out a bunch so trying to use the factory tapered end doesn't matter. If the demo guys really cut that unevenly or cut above 2 ft off, you'll have to cut it yourself to get it straight enough to install. If it's above 2 ft then you were gonna need more rock anyways, buy taller sheets.
Drywall is not flat. I think that's the thing that took me the longest to learn. After watching some good quality videos like the ones you do I realized these guys aren't making it flat they're just tapering the high spot over a massive distance.
Wrong, there a slight drop in thickness along the long sides of the face of drywall so when u put two together you have a sort of valley to fill. You would see any high spot regardless how far you taper it.
Paper swells when wet and shrinks smaller as it drys, the blisters are patches of the paper that didn't get wet enough and so are 'baggy' compared to the surrounding paper that has properly shrunk. Artists wet and stretch paper prior to doing water colour paintings and blisters can happen there too if parts of the paper aren't wet through enough.
Ben: thank you very much for your drywall videos. They are without a doubt the best resource on the internet for a DIYer to improve their skills. This is especially important in a year in which there's not too much to do but renovate a home and trades people are booked for over a year. On our current project this advice has really revolutionised both our results and speed.
I have also found that "old" paper tape tends to fail more often... I have been dry-walling for 20 years... I recently got 12 rolls of "old" tape from "a friend" (I found a box I had ordered 4 years ago in my shop) ... Well I decided despite it being a bit "yellow from age" I would use to to finally finish said shop. This was a mistake... I know how to tape... and I had blisters wrinkles, pull offs etc etc... worst $25 I DIDN'T spend... I threw out all my paper tape and went and bought 6 rolls of brand new tape, stripped it all off, BIN'd it and re-tapped.
5:03 literally made me laugh out loud despite having blisters under a few inches of tape ps. your videos taught me so well that I only got a few inches over a couple hundred feet. Not too bad for my first time installing drywall!
You, are an artist. Thoroughly enjoy your teaching skills and knowledge of the trade. Extremely informative and helpful. If you want to know how to upholster something, let me know!😁
I love this channel. I’ve been a handyman for 8 years and drywall projects are not an everyday deal. I sucked so bad when I started! I have a patch in my own house that looks like a huge spitball on my ceiling but I refuse to fix it because it is a reminder of how far my skills have come. This channel reminds me of how much more I have to learn! Thanks Ben aka Captain Spackle. If you’re looking for ideas for videos, one of my weak points is matching texture. I have used the aerosol cans but I’m not a huge fan. Do you have any clever tricks for matching texture?
I agree 100% that texture is a big pain to match. I HATE how texture looks. I’m from Vancouver where people have nice smooth walls. That’s probably why you don’t see Ben talking much about texture. I live in California now, where lazy contractors use texture to cover their poor drywall work.
Thanks for doing this video Ben! Made me laugh at how hard it was for you to make one and now I know what I’ve been doing wrong and how to fix it. I’ll also stop wetting the tape first ( which totally worked lol) and go back to step one.....thank you!
Wetting does work because you are thinning the mud down in place. It's kind of a slower method to the same end result. I do think it's better though to just start with thin mud so you have uniform consistency and adhesion.
I will use thinned down taping mud as you suggest. Recommendation for another video is how to do rounded corners, boarding and taping. Love your channel. (Near Banff)
Great instruction and guidance. I complete my first big drywall project this past weekend and did get blisters in my tape, but only on butt joints that had a gap more than quarter inch. I took off too much mud on my first go over. I now know better.
I’m in pure rage mode at this exact moment. Having watched videos.. tried.. realized I sucked ass.. torn it up… Waited dayssss to try again. Watched more videos got started.. sucked ass. Wasting product and time. And now making my family fearful of me….. I want YOU to come to Ontario and give me a 1:1. Why do I still want to learn!? Ahhhhh! Will rewatch again.
I did a small room today after watching many many many dry lining videos. Especially a few by this nice chap. It was not easy. I had already bought pre made ‘mud’, it was very thick and hard to spread.. I’m nervous about seeing my work tomorrow once it has dried. Ha ha ha ha.
Taping and mudding is a real art. It looks easy but not so much. My problem has been that when mudding over screw heads the mud "humps" I have use premix before. Today I am going to try hot mud.....
Do you have a video on installing bull nose corner beads? I’m wondering if I need to fill the empty v with mud or just where the paper goes? Also, do I need to nail or staple them on, or just use mud? Thanks! All your videos are helping this ol dozer hand with his drywall adventures! 👍🏼
I don’t know if its right or wrong, but i have always wet down my paper tape before applying it onto the mud, then immediately bury it with another skim coat. No bubbles, ever. Then wet sand when it has nearly hardened. I’m 65 and don’t do any huge projects so it’s probably not fast enough for most folks but that’s why i bring a thermos of coffee with me.
3:30 "Drywall is not flat folks"
That's great advice
That's probably the best takeaway for me from this video.
Underrated comment. Customers need to understand this
After a week of trying to mud, everything you mentioned as being a problem, I was doing, especially pressing too hard to set the tape. I, also, realized that having the right consistency of mud is so important.
Just found out about you Ben.
You have some of the best content available! You also are great with your delivery and all around presence on camera.
Thanks to you, an old tile contractor was able to drywall about 1000 square feet, the ceiling and walls of his garage and tape/finish all drywall. And it turned out great! Using a hawk and trowel worked out great for me because of my experience mudding walls for tile. In California I've only seen tapers use knives and bread pan.
I'm looking forward to going through all of your content.
Thank you!
"you have to try pretty hard to screw it up..." no... actually, screwing things up is the one thing that I can do really well without even trying.
Me too!
And feel confident while performing any task and not finding out I screwed up until after the fact
Avery Morgan - I’m in your league (:
Same! Screwing it up now 😂
Haha me too 😂
I'm a carpenter that paints my installs, on small drywall installs, I've been able to tape perfectly, and that equals happy customers and more references. Thank you for your very informative vids.
You are probably even shottier than this noob
Nope, not watching for blistered tape. Not sure why i watch, but I find it entertaining. Hard to explain to the wife. "What are you watching?" Me "guy showing how to fix blistered tape on drywall." Wife "do you have a drywall project" Me "Nope" Wife
😂 Happy to be of service!!!
This had me rolling! I'm in the same boat on most videos. : )
Just finished taping 108 sheets of drywall in a basement today...no chance for blisters...but I'm still watching...lol.
Women just don't get it.
@@pby1000 Oh, I not only "get it" I do it. Girls rule at drywall. We can put icing on a cake, we can ice that wall just as easy.🍰🎂
When you're too good and you low key tell people "I don't know how you guys get this wrong, I tried, and got it right" 🤣
“As you can see, I’m a trained and experienced professional, and had to actively try to fail.”
I tried not to get my feelings hurt at the, “You’re just applying the mud really poorly.” bit 😂 you’re not wrong
The feels when his intentional bad job is still in competition with your best attempt.
That's someone you want to hire. Can't even do a crap job on purpose.
Great info, I'm a Carpenter in Vernon B.C. and do the odd reno and small mudding and taping jobs in almost every reno, your channel has helped me improve every aspect of my mudding sonetimes a little improvement but things like 45 degree walls using a different product was 10x better
Thank you
I was told I did a decent job but I know I didn't do well enough and I tend to be a perfectionist. Your videos REALLY help Thank You so much for these tips and guidance 🙏🏽 you're awesome dude
Me too
I had an old sheet rock guy suggest quickly dunking your paper tape in a bucket of water before application. I've been using this technique ever since and never have issues with blisters. Of course, I'm usually only taping a room at a time, not a full 2000 sq ft home.
The reason I watch these videos…. Where I work I have a saying: “they won’t teach you anything, but you can learn everything.” Attentively watching others work and asking questions teaches me a LOT.
Very helpful for me. I’ve only used mesh tape n the past; and am now doing multiple rooms with paper tape. I noticed several bubbles early on and you helped me understand why. I’m attempting to do a 4 bedroom house and am finding your videos, amongst others, extremely helpful
I'm a Automotive Mechanic but new to Home diy stuff. Your videos are helpful and your delivery gives a kind of confidence to dive into the job...
You're the one who said in the other video to go over tape and get all the mud out from underneath! Now you got me watching this blister video... genious!
I’ve watched all your videos, and I just wanna say thank you. I did my entire house and only had four bubbles in the whole job. Your videos are highly informative and enjoyable to watch. Thank you ten million times over!
GM, thanks for your tips! I was able to fix my mistakes without having to redo it all. This helped me very much.
Thank you very much for taking the time to do this simple but yet to the point video!!!
I realized how simple this is. I made both mistakes too thick and too thin. I finally figured out the level between. What i understand now is get a good level of mud and make sure the edge is clean. Simple as that.
Ok I just finished corners while on a sketchy scaffold for 16 ft walls. Let's see how I do after watching this informative video. Crossing fingers!! :o
A good son always put mom first, LOL. I’m repainting the interior of every room in my house, being a complete obsessive person, I must fix every little tiny defect. You have helped tremendously. Enjoy your videos.
I went back and listened again. He said shut up phone.
@@mrroche8295 - darn, need to dial up the hearing aid....
Thanks for sharing, I really enjoy your videos.
I am paper taping challenged, I have always used mesh tape, never experienced cracking, and never knew about it being a second choice until I started watching TH-cam videos. Anyway, before watching this video, I tried paper taping again, and, despite my best efforts, I found that i am still useless at it. I wound up ripping out the paper tape and replacing it with fibafuse tape. I found fibafuse tape, really quick and easy to install.
I tend to use around 48 drywall screws per sheet, and always put wood behind edges that are not supported by framing lumber, perhaps this is why I have not experienced cracking in my DIY drywall projects.
In my experience (15 years), the reason most people get blisters is due to the Sheetrock not being planned out evenly. Little undulations in the joint cause voids and high spots, which will blister.
This happened to me doing a friends ceiling. How do I avoid it? I tried to build the plain with mud and then lay the tape on but I think during my skim process I pressed it back uneven. About an hour later it was blistered.
3:32 "drywall is not flat folks..." always a good reminder 👍
comment of the week!
gladly ive had this guy to watch over the past couple of years ive never had a single paper joint blister or anything i take alot longer than he does but i end up getting it done and done right
I have been drywalling for 27 years in Canada. I have had trouble with Synko taping mud letting go. Loose tape all over the place. Finally did my own experiment with heat. The result of my test was that with this brand, if it dries too fast, there is a good chance that the tape will come loose. This reason is that the tape does not get a chance to absorb any of the glue in the mud.
Thanks! I am drywalling our bedroom and it's the most successful attempt so far. No having to peel off and retape blistered tape
Got bored baking bread during this pandemic so decided we needed to remodel the bedroom! (70 year old coop with tons of joint compound on top of plaster ceiling and loads of cracks--scrapped it all off-aaggghh whatta job!!). Hubby was thrilled (not). Watching Vancouver Carpenter & a few others I skimmed a 10x12 room ceiling and had 1 blister--only used a 6" plastic spackling knife as I found using the longer equipment I lost control of the flow. Only weekends to work-but 3 weekends in----it's looking awesome. Thanks so much. p.s. Told sweetie next time I get a 'great idea to fix' something to tell me 'Ahh, I don't think so!' hahaha. (He won't though, we love a good redo challenge).
When I was trying taping for the first time I ended up having to tear out a few sections of tape and remove the plaster to redo it. I found the best way to remove was to first use a spray bottle on the tape, let it soften up for a minute then peel the tape off. Spray again to soften up the plaster and then scrape it off with your taping knife. It comes off in big flakes and is dust free and easy to clean up too.
"I had to work pretty hard to create these blisters"
*looks at my basement ceiling that the previous home owner installed DIY. He must have worked his ass off for at least a month!
HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
In older construction and having to repair drywall before tape and float it's best to dust off the drywall. I've discovered through the years if your drywall is dirty that can also cause bubbles. Bubbles is what I call blisters, but always dust clean your work area.
Just want to say "thank you" for all your videos. They have helped me a lot and I really appreciate them. You make things look easy! Lol
Thank you VC , thank you for your expertise, keep it going
9:30 Brilliant idea pre-sand all your joints and nails spots outside. Saves so much cleanup. ;)
:)
"You have to try hard to screw this up" Don't worry, I am a natural.
So I'm a finish carpenter, and I find myself finding SO many times doing drywall. And I have the words "suspiciously drywall-ey carpenter" go through my head multiples times a day while I'm drywalling :) Although I don't drywall for clients, I find it insane the eye-rolling stigma that's thrown at drywallers. The process is so satisfying and it has an undeniable craft.
Your videos are excellent. You have helped countless people save time, do a better job, and feel a bit more confident in doing drywall mud work and repairs. Excellent training session. Great detail, with explanations as well. I have a great deal of respect for all the time you took to make this video for thousands of people. Thank you.
The impulsive "shut up, mom!" got me, I'm in tears
Man, even with all the precautions I still get blisters... This is an artform!
Wish I found this video first! All others had convinced me they were actually practicing dark magic and witchcraft. Because they made it look so easy. I go to do it and it’s like everything goes so, so wrong! Thank you Sir!
I am currently working on my lake house.your videos have come in handy. I have dyi the whole house top to bottom. All new everthing.
This is the best drywall channel I have been to.
I got blisters quite a bit when I started. I think it's because I was using all-purpose and it was too dry. I saw a video of another guy who was talking about adding some water to the mud right from the start and then again every time you closed your bucket up and that made a WORLD of difference. Just a handful or two of water and the mud stays pliable for a long time, even with just the hawk on it or the lig coving it without being sealed.
It's a little frustrating that you didn't talk about that in this video. You mentioned using mud "right out of the bucket or box", but didn't say anything about what to do to correct it. For everyone who caught that, I hope this comment helps.
My son is "The Cajun Ninja" on You Tube and FaceBook. Nothing to do with what you do, but he has about 800,000 total followers. With that being said I know how important it is for you to have supporters. I am doing a bedroom ceiling right now, all new sheetrock. Of course it is not perfect as I had one row with a one inch gap. This problem happened to me so I pulled the tape out. I bought the mesh tape, but I watched your video on that and you prefer paper tape. I am about 75% finished and if it was not for your videos I would have to hire someone. Thank you so much for all your videos. They are a huge help.
Imagine being so good at taping that it's actually a challenge to try and do a bad job
I don't have his experience, but while taping I noticed that it's practically a no brain task, unless you have two left hands and in this case you should probably leave it to more competent people.
Every minute was a gold mine for me. Thanks so much!
Like your videos. I'm doing a 30x40 garage with 10 foot walls right now. I'm a carpenter but have dabbled in drywall a little bit.
I wish you would have been around 25 years ago. I'm doing pretty good on my project. I think anyway. I have learned a lot from your videos. Thank you
I've been installing drywall for years now and although I concider myself pretty good I still struggle with mudding and tapping joints. Don't care what anyone says there is as art to it.
Nice video. Thanks for the input, effort and upload!! Although I'm a carpenter and not a drywaller enjoy learning a bit more everyday. 👍
I learned a lot from your videos, I guess a lot of people getting blisters under tape, I never got one ,I use heavy mud most of the time for imbedding tape, it’s bucket mud , it’s sets in 15 min , where I live pre mixed bucket muds sets in 15 min , can you believe that , at the beginning I had a problem with leaving to much mud under the tape , that was my biggest problem, thanks you for everything
Ben, you’re like the Bob Ross of Dry Wall.
Thank you we just found this issue all over our new house. I was thing it was wallpaper, but it looks exactly like what you are showing! Thanks for info….
Yes, it just takes the right method and the right tools and accept the tried and true method. Also do the verticals before your horizontal. The horizontal mark studs if you missed any. Carry your 🪛. Awesome video..really helped
Great vids always very informative. A method I have used to fix blisters is after the second coat I usually see the odd one. I take a 4 inch knife which I usually use for applying the mud a tape. I slide the knife blade under the tape accessing the void. The second coat of wet mud allows me to access the bubble. The access point has to be bigger than the blister. Then I apply mud sliding it under in a fashion where it is filled with enough mud to caused adhesion. You can almost see the bubble vanish before eyes. Then I continue with second coat. I totally agree with all of your other comments as I have experienced most of them good and bad. Thx
Had to build a growroom in my basement cuz lil punks were stealing my plants. This is what slowed me down the most out of framing, electrical, and plumbing...the damn tape and mud. I have only tried one butt joint, and didn't have any blisters, but i blew like 2 hours on ONE joint! Not getting anywhere at that speed. So I'm now subscribed!
I always keep a mister bottle in my plaster kit to freshen up the mud on my hawk. I find the excess scraped off the wall is already too dry to apply the next tape reliably.
I like that idea
My mud is too dry and I'm squeezing out too much of it. I have a crap ton of blisters..Thanks for the video! I'll be fixing them next weekend
Very helpful stuff. Just getting started in drywall etc.and these videos are probably the most practical and helpful on the youtubes.
Super helpful. So glad I'm watching these BEFORE we finish our drywall!
Best drywall & skateboarding videos out there
Thanks. Been using all your tips to do a small drywall project in my home. Make us rookies look bad when a couple little blisters pop up.
Hahaha the phone calls when you're trying to do something... thanks for all the helpful videos I like watching them. I've just hung my drywall and about to tape and mud for first time
Great video man thanks for the tips master electrician here learning the ins-and-outs of drywall
Dude, you're like the male version of me. Drywalling isn't exactly fun, but generally has to be done. From one mudder to "anudder", you got my subscription.
Does it so well he can't do it wrong when trying...
Kinda like Larry Bird trying to miss a 20 foot jump shot. He just couldn't do it!
9and7 or like trying to purposely crash your bike. I found ways to entertain myself in my childhood lol.
I wish I found your videos before starting my ceiling. Not looking too bad so far but have things to go back and correct.
You make it look really simple. I have a couple bubbles under my tape. Thank you for taking your time to help us diyers
I would imagine it is easier to rectify imperfections when you're working on a horizontal surface than when working on a vertical surface ??? To be honest I don't know ! I know nothing about paper tape and mud and drywall etc. but I really enjoy watching these videos and often pick up enough hints to be able to do a little bit of remedial work on my own house when needed. I think these are wonderful skills to have. I congratulate you on your obvious expertise and I thank you for sharing it with us .
ohhhhhh how I appreciate you and your clear instruction...... Thanks so much for your time and humor!!
This is a pretty good vid from a chippy. All purpose joint compound is not nearly as strong as base coat plaster. 11:30 you will never rip a tape out if installed well using base coat plaster. All purpose is ok for small jobs but definitely inferior in many ways like takes a long time to dry, shrinks back more and is weaker in strength compared to base coat plaster.
Another reason you will get blisters in tape is wind drying mud out. Dry (very low humidity) hot and very windy weather will dry out mud fast. Close all windows and doors to stop drafts whilst tapping. U can fairly easily do long joins over 2 meters or 6 feet under the right conditions with practice almost never getting blisters. The contrary is also true under the wrong conditions it's difficult to even do short tapes without getting blisters.
I’m always telling my people to not do it until you get it right but keep doing it until you can’t do it wrong! Maybe it’s my military traning but it works. That’s why I like watching you explain all the things you do. You don’t yell enough though. 🤣
😩I’ve had to do the blister cutout repair you describe, but at least I now know why.
Blisters under the tape caused by poor application.
Blisters on the hands caused by poor coating and over sanding.
3:20 hehe you know exactly what goes through a beginner's mind. "Less mud must be better" - I've sure done it a few times.
A common scenario happens for the restoration guys where 2” ft of wet drywall has been to removed from the bottom of the wall.
When you mount the new 2” ft replacement piece and choose to bud the factory divot edge up to the old edge. This can cause the new drywall side to get tones of mud and the other gets starved add to that an uneven cut from the tear out crew so your mud disappears out the back and now you have the perfect drywall tape bubble maker.
One solution is realizing you need to do a run of non watered down mud or thick quick set to fill the uneven gap. Once dry then start the taping process.
Anyone else have a trick for this?
If it's near 2ft exact or under. After you cut your sheet, flip it upside so the cut end of your rip is at the top. Bevel that top end (to bevel if you're right handed go on the right side of your cut sheet with the cut side facing the ceiling. Hold you knife at a 45 degree angle to the edge angled with the tip of your blade facing up and away from you and your knuckles facing the floor. Cut like that on the paper side on the top edge. Walk backwards and cut off a very very small amount to "bevel" the edge of the rock. That gives something really solid and good for the hot mud to grab to. Bevel the existing rock at the bottom of the wall (the rock that stayed 2ft up). Install beveled cut side to the beveled side of the existing rock. Buy some 45 or faster minute drying quickset (aka hotmud). Mix it up either in a pan if you don't have a lot to fill, or a bucket if you have a lot of joint. You can add glue if you want but I don't usually. Pre-fill the joint. Tape. That should do it. You're already gonna have to build it out a bunch so trying to use the factory tapered end doesn't matter.
If the demo guys really cut that unevenly or cut above 2 ft off, you'll have to cut it yourself to get it straight enough to install. If it's above 2 ft then you were gonna need more rock anyways, buy taller sheets.
Drywall is not flat. I think that's the thing that took me the longest to learn. After watching some good quality videos like the ones you do I realized these guys aren't making it flat they're just tapering the high spot over a massive distance.
Wrong, there a slight drop in thickness along the long sides of the face of drywall so when u put two together you have a sort of valley to fill. You would see any high spot regardless how far you taper it.
great content, great education, and your not annoying. This is rare. New Subscriber, thanks for the good info!
Everytime he reiterates how hard it is to mess this stuff up it reinforces how terrible I am at this lol
Paper swells when wet and shrinks smaller as it drys, the blisters are patches of the paper that didn't get wet enough and so are 'baggy' compared to the surrounding paper that has properly shrunk. Artists wet and stretch paper prior to doing water colour paintings and blisters can happen there too if parts of the paper aren't wet through enough.
Ben: thank you very much for your drywall videos. They are without a doubt the best resource on the internet for a DIYer to improve their skills. This is especially important in a year in which there's not too much to do but renovate a home and trades people are booked for over a year. On our current project this advice has really revolutionised both our results and speed.
I have also found that "old" paper tape tends to fail more often... I have been dry-walling for 20 years... I recently got 12 rolls of "old" tape from "a friend" (I found a box I had ordered 4 years ago in my shop) ...
Well I decided despite it being a bit "yellow from age" I would use to to finally finish said shop. This was a mistake...
I know how to tape... and I had blisters wrinkles, pull offs etc etc... worst $25 I DIDN'T spend...
I threw out all my paper tape and went and bought 6 rolls of brand new tape, stripped it all off, BIN'd it and re-tapped.
5:03 literally made me laugh out loud despite having blisters under a few inches of tape
ps. your videos taught me so well that I only got a few inches over a couple hundred feet. Not too bad for my first time installing drywall!
Good job Paul. We have a very skillful "mudder" as a teacher . . . LOL ;)
I appreciate the explanation on possible reasons why the paper would blister.
Great technique to practice. Hanging and taping are two different skills. Thanks for doing this
You, are an artist. Thoroughly enjoy your teaching skills and knowledge of the trade. Extremely informative and helpful. If you want to know how to upholster something, let me know!😁
You are super cool! Every homeowner that's redoing their home needs to subscribe to your channel!
I love this channel. I’ve been a handyman for 8 years and drywall projects are not an everyday deal. I sucked so bad when I started! I have a patch in my own house that looks like a huge spitball on my ceiling but I refuse to fix it because it is a reminder of how far my skills have come. This channel reminds me of how much more I have to learn! Thanks Ben aka Captain Spackle. If you’re looking for ideas for videos, one of my weak points is matching texture. I have used the aerosol cans but I’m not a huge fan. Do you have any clever tricks for matching texture?
I agree 100% that texture is a big pain to match. I HATE how texture looks. I’m from Vancouver where people have nice smooth walls. That’s probably why you don’t see Ben talking much about texture. I live in California now, where lazy contractors use texture to cover their poor drywall work.
Thanks for doing this video Ben! Made me laugh at how hard it was for you to make one and now I know what I’ve been doing wrong and how to fix it. I’ll also stop wetting the tape first ( which totally worked lol) and go back to step one.....thank you!
Wetting does work because you are thinning the mud down in place. It's kind of a slower method to the same end result. I do think it's better though to just start with thin mud so you have uniform consistency and adhesion.
I will use thinned down taping mud as you suggest. Recommendation for another video is how to do rounded corners, boarding and taping. Love your channel. (Near Banff)
Just did some taping and taking a break, I watch your video, which is very good. But now I’m afraid to go upstairs and see my work😬
Great instruction and guidance. I complete my first big drywall project this past weekend and did get blisters in my tape, but only on butt joints that had a gap more than quarter inch. I took off too much mud on my first go over. I now know better.
I’m in pure rage mode at this exact moment. Having watched videos.. tried.. realized I sucked ass.. torn it up…
Waited dayssss to try again. Watched more videos got started.. sucked ass. Wasting product and time. And now making my family fearful of me….. I want YOU to come to Ontario and give me a 1:1. Why do I still want to learn!? Ahhhhh!
Will rewatch again.
Really appreciate the information. Me trying to dry wall....got blisters. Thanks!
I did a small room today after watching many many many dry lining videos. Especially a few by this nice chap. It was not easy. I had already bought pre made ‘mud’, it was very thick and hard to spread.. I’m nervous about seeing my work tomorrow once it has dried. Ha ha ha ha.
You do a great job and are a great communicator. Thanks!
Taping and mudding is a real art. It looks easy but not so much. My problem has been that when mudding over screw heads the mud "humps" I have use premix before. Today I am going to try hot mud.....
Do you have a video on installing bull nose corner beads? I’m wondering if I need to fill the empty v with mud or just where the paper goes? Also, do I need to nail or staple them on, or just use mud? Thanks! All your videos are helping this ol dozer hand with his drywall adventures! 👍🏼
I'm about to go out and blister the F out of my new garage!! Woo Hoo!! Great video, thanks. Thought I should watch this one just incase!!
Love the videos, I am a decent carpenter but my drywall is average at best. Better lighting would be great.
Great Stuff!! I suggest showing the work up close and shine a light across surface to show more detail. It really reveals your results.
dude ur the best drywall guy ever!!!!
I don’t know if its right or wrong, but i have always wet down my paper tape before applying it onto the mud, then immediately bury it with another skim coat. No bubbles, ever. Then wet sand when it has nearly hardened. I’m 65 and don’t do any huge projects so it’s probably not fast enough for most folks but that’s why i bring a thermos of coffee with me.