Drywall sqare too long

Helped my daughter and SIL drywall. My drywall square kept hitting the floor. Had to put spacer under drywall. Then I measured drywall, it was 47 7/8 inches wide.

1/8 mud joint?

That is the old school and a good way to hang drywall, 1/8 joint. I use durabond in the brown bag for my to fill joints and corners. When it drys, better have tools cleaned off, it like concrete. Had to use hammer to clean off mixer. It water proof, next to impossible to sand too so better get it right. Great for first coat.

I follow what you're saying, but I can't see the advantage to doing it that way. Any patching compound or filler material can crack at the joint, because no matter how good it is, you can never count on applying it perfectly. That means it has to be followed up with joint compound and paper tape, which you would normally do to the butted joints without the extra step. Is there some benefit to hanging the drywall with gaps around it that I'm not getting here?

Stan

Times 2 is 1/4 inch.

Stan,
I have a house built in 1940, plaster lath. Back then they left about 1/2 inch between lath. I have another house built in early 50's. Lath was replaced with about 12x32 inch 3/8 inch sheets of drywall. They too left a good 1/4 to 1/2 gap.

Yes, if you use pre-mixed mud in a bucket, it will shrink and crack. I use the old school power, durabond 90 minute in brown bag. I mix the durabond with water and you don't have the full 90 minutes before it sets. This stuff is designed for building corners and filling big cracks. I've never had it crack, little shrinkage. Never had my tape ever come lose. It is harder to work with, very difficult to sand, and may people don't use it. Best of all it's water proof. Durabond also makes a power in white bag and it junk. The white bad is white while the good stuff in a brown bag is brown.

Someone put drywall in daughters garage, all the taped seams need redone because they used mud out of a bucket. 20+ years ago I drywalled my garage, not the first sign of cracking, tape pealing. Humidity in garage does get high on occasions when snow melts, and days like today raining. Been using this stuff for decades. Only joint failure is from bucket mud.

(quoted from post at 04:17:35 06/29/15) Helped my daughter and SIL drywall. My drywall square kept hitting the floor. Had to put spacer under drywall. Then I measured drywall, it was 47 7/8 inches wide.

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I don't see how your square could hit the floor. You're not using it on the wall are you?

Anyway, on an 8 foot wall, the first sheet goes up against the ceiling and the second sheet goes up against the first and clears the floor by a 1/4" or so.

George;

I guess I misunderstood. You're saying you use the durabond just as you would use regular joint compound, to tape the first application?

When I was renovating old houses in Seattle 40 years ago, I used to encounter lath and plaster walls frequently, and occasionally the drywall lath system you described. I always assumed that that system was the earliest attempt to figure out what to do with this new product, which was plasterboard. I don't think the manufacturers had figured it out, and I'm sure the old school plasterers were just trying to make the best of an innovation which seemed far inferior (although potentially cheaper and quicker) than the method they were used to.

How about mortar-set ceramic tile on expanded metal lath? I lost a lot of blood taking apart bathrooms done that way--but man, that was some beautiful work. Not for do-it-yourselfers, or the faint-hearted, though.

Stan

Something does not sound right. I just hung some drywall in my daughters house and did not have a problem with the t-square bottoming out. Maybe you got some of that imported drywall. With that said, I dry walled back in the seventies and used bucket mud with no problems. I completely remodeled my two story farm house in 1988 using ready mix and I have never had a crack or loose tape in 27 years. I have seen tape come loose after a couple of years and I suspect moisture was the problem. I have to admit I know nothing about this new "Light" ready mix stuff.

I used both 1/4 inch to cover up wall paper and 1/2 in to fill in wall in kitchen. Both measured 47 7/8. Perhaps Menards got this form china and there was a problem with metric conversion or something. Trust me, it was not a full 48 inches wide, like I've used in the past. I've been remolding homes for over 40 years, this was a first.

Stan, I first bed the joints with the gray durabond and then apply moist tape to joint. So I do tape with durabond.

If you think about the old plastered walls, they put a gray coat of plaster on lath, then a white coat of plaster of Paris. Well durabond is the same, gray bag for the first coat, white bag for the top coat. You can get both in fast set, 20 minutes. I'm very slow and use the 90 minute stuff which after about 20 minutes you have to pitch what is left in bucket, so you need to work fast and not use a banjo for taping. Just apply mud to wall and work it the old school way.

Never seen metal lath. In bathrooms I use 1/2 durock, cement board, on floors before I tile. If you are going to tile walls, I suggest you use cement board. It comes in two sizes. Lot of fun to work with, heavy and hard to cut, but the only way to go.

Geo,I believe what you are saying. I know there was some bad drywall that came from china floating around.