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Overheard a guy at the supply house say he never tapes the inside corners first
I was picking up some 45-minute mud in Denver last week and this older installer was telling the counter guy his method. He said he always does the butt joints and flats before even touching the inside corners, claiming it lets the wall settle and prevents cracks. I've taped my corners first for ten years, thinking it gave the room its shape. But after trying his way on a garage job, the long seams went up way straighter and the corners tucked in nice after. Maybe letting the big panels lock in first is the real trick. What order do you guys tape in?
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campbell.elliot25d ago
That Denver guy's method sounds backwards to me. I always tape the inside corners first to lock the room's geometry, been doing it for fifteen years. It sets the lines for everything else, so your flats just follow the established corners. I hear what @loganthompson is saying about flats pulling boards tight, but if your framing is off, taping corners last just hides the problem. Getting the corners plumb and square from the start means you're fixing the issue, not working around it.
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loganthompson26d ago
Listen, that guy is onto something but he's got the reason wrong. It's not about the wall settling, that's just the mud drying. The real trick is that taping your flats first pulls the boards tight against the studs and gets everything flat and lined up. THEN you come back and your corners are just filling a nice stable gap, not fighting a panel that's still trying to move. I switched to this method years ago and my finish work got way cleaner.
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