carter.casey•25d agoProlific Poster

Serious question, why do guys still back-taper every joint like it's 1999?

I used to back-taper every butt joint with a 6 inch knife and then come back with a 10. Took FOREVER. Then I watched a crew in Phoenix do all their butts flat with no taper and just two coats of topping. I tried it on a 1,200 square foot basement last month and saved like 4 hours total. Has anyone else ditched the old method or am I the only one?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_diana25d ago

Heard a guy from a drywall forum say he watched a crew in Texas do all their butts flat and just hit them with topping and a 12 inch knife. Swears it sped them up like crazy on production jobs. I tried it on a small bedroom ceiling last week and honestly it came out fine, no visible tape after sanding. Might be one of those things where we just do it the old way cause we were taught that way, not cause it's better.

theagibson25d ago

Wait, is that not just how a lot of people do it now and don't talk about it? I feel like there's a ton of stuff in trades where the "right" way is really just the way our grandpas did it and nobody ever questions it. Like, I've watched my uncle use a level to hang a picture and it took him ten minutes, but I just eyeball it and it's fine. Maybe it's just me, @the_diana, but I think there's a whole world of shortcuts that work fine if you're not trying to win a craftsmanship award. You're probably onto something about it being a habit thing more than a quality thing.

shanelee24d ago

Yeah, that's pretty much how most stuff in life works once you get past the basics.