If you’re a homeowner or know anything about houses, you surely recognize the classic paper tape used to finish joints. If your house is not custom built there are probably areas you can actually see the tape through your paint or are beginning to, because of cracks, all along your ceilings and walls. Many of these headaches are caused by using the wrong kind of tape, or a low quality plaster job. At Filadelfia Construction we want to help the typical home owner have the home they always imagined whether you need us to get there, or you’d like to try yourself. So here is a guide of a few of our most used kinds of tape. to help you make your decision and finish your project with the best possible results.
Classic paper tape – This tape is the most recognized and most widely used. This tape has one side with a ridged edge showing the fold in the middle. This also gives you indication of which side should go on the wall in contact with the mud. Ridged Edge to the wall. If not you may see the edge underneath your mud.
If your walls change direction on off angles, whether narrower or wider than 90 degrees you DO NOT want to use regular paper tape. The tape will not sit well and can be frustrating to clean, and overall will give a very ugly finish.
FibaFuse (Fiberglass Tape) – This tape is very multipurpose, will provide strong results and is definitely worth the hassle it can be occasionally to find it.
Don’t get this tape mixed up with Mesh-Tape which is sometimes also referred to as Fiberglass tape. This tape can be itchy to the touch so we recommend using gloves when handling this product. This tape is very porous and will allow mud to seep through and almost becomes part of the drywall compound you are applying. When dry it will provide the strongest finish and is much better at not cracking than any other tape.
Mesh-tape - You might have seen this tape before used by tapers or at the store. For this tape we have one very specific use and that is to cover over metal corner beads. (Filling and Finishing Corner Beads) Usually this tape is placed directly over top of the joint or corner bead witho
ut mud, then coated over. We DO NOT recommend using this tape to fix patches or much less to tape joints. This tape over a joint with normal compound WILL crack.
NO-Coat (Off Angle Tape/Paper Corner Bead) - This product is a great option for tough corners, as it is a stronger tape with a hard middle edge, (similar to the ridged edge of the paper tape, but stronger) Will provide more flexibility when setting in off angle corners so the tape doesn’t lift off and will always give a straight edge. Be careful when setting as this requires a lot of mud underneath and spread evenly to set properly without bumps or bubbles. Apply mud generously and then methodically clean and squeeze excess mud out. When cutting the length of the tape very important to cut precisely to the exact fit of the space you are applying to. With this tape there is no playing around or bending to fit the space. Length must be exact, measure, re-measure and then cut.
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