OK let's get started on How To Tape Drywall Flats. First of all let's get set up fill your 5 gallon pail with water 3/4 full is fine,this is so you have water on hand to keep your tools and drill mixer clean. Take your drill and install your mixing attachment for mixing the drywall compound.Then stand it in the pail with the water,now open your drywall compound use the large plastic 12 litre they are easy to work with and you can reseal them. Now take your drill with the drywall mixer,I know what you thinking that this compound is ready to use trust me it's not,now mix it so it's nice and creamy and smooth and after you have used about half of it you will want to remix it. After you are done using the mixer place it back in the pail of water so the compound on the mixer does not harden.
Now we are ready to learn how to tape the flats,check your drywall wall and make sure there are no nails or screws sticking out. Take your roll of drywall tape make sure it's the paper tape and not the mesh tape,Place it in a corner so it stands up on it's end and start unrolling it about 20 or thirty feet to start is fine. Now we have are drywall compound and our tape ready,let's tape a drywall flat. take your plastic drywall compound holder,now using the 3 inch knife scoop drywall compound into your holder then place that knife in the pail of water so the compound does not harden on it.
Now hold your compound box in one hand and take your 12 inch knife in the other and scoop out some compound onto the knife and start to apply the drywall compound to the drywall board seam making sure you cover the indents of the seam fully. Now if the wall is 8 feet or over do half at a time,take the drywall tape that you unraveled and starting at one end place the tape onto the compound down the drywall board as far as you applied the compound, do not ripe the tape off at this point just let it hang there.
Now with your fingers hold the end of the tape so it does not pull when you run your knife over top of it and with your other hand take the 12 inch knife and start to squeeze out the excess compound from underneath the tape, lightly at first and then applying more pressure as you go over it again .Keep going over the tape until you squeeze all the excess compound until you have a completely flat surface with no bumps or lumps. Now you can apply compound to the remainder of your wall and finish it the same way, now you can rip the tape off at the end of the wall,sorry if I keep stating the obvious, just want to keep it as detailed as possible. So now you should have one seam with the tape on and is nice and flat,just repeat this process with the rest of your flats making sure you squeeze out all the excess compound out from underneath the tape so it is nice and flat, I can not stress this enough. At this point of how to tape drywall do not touch anything else just do all the flats and when your done all the flats let them dry good over night and do not attempt to apply your first coat over top yet. This is not a race or production work,this is about a good quality drywall taping job that will save you money and make you proud. My next post will deal with how to tape drywall corners.
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