Old timer told me to pre-fill corners before hanging board.. he was dead right

Been doing drywall for about 4 years now. Always just hung boards tight and mudded over the gaps. Last month I had a job over near Springfield, 12 foot ceilings in a basement. This guy Bob who's been hanging since the 80s watched me for 5 minutes and said 'kid you gotta pre-fill those inside corners or you'll be back in 6 months.' I shrugged it off. Finished the job, came back yesterday for a touch up and there it was. Cracks running down every inside corner I didn't pre-fill. Had to rip tape off and redo three corners. Cost me 4 extra hours on a job I already bid too low. Now I keep a bucket of hot mud and a 3 inch knife with me just for corners. Has anyone else found out the hard way that skipping prep on corners is a bad move?

3 comments

3 Comments

abby_robinson589d agoMost Upvoted

Pre-filled my last two basements and zero cracks so far.

maryh969d ago

Oh man that's awesome! I just saw a video from a contractor saying the same thing, he's been doing it for years now and swears by it. Makes sense to me if it actually stops the cracks from showing up.

tyler4927d ago

Learned that lesson myself a few years back and felt like a real dummy standing there watching my corners crack apart. Bob was right. @maryh96 that video you saw probably saved you some headache because I ignored the same advice from an old timer and paid for it with my own time and money. I even tried to justify it by thinking the tape would hold everything together, like some kind of drywall magician, but nope. Now I just spend two minutes pre-filling each corner and it saves me from having to come back with my tail between my legs. Feels dumb to admit but sometimes you gotta get burned to listen to the people who already got burned.