Splice plasterboards lengthwise

[Ta i trä]

I will need to hang the drywall horizontally on two walls in a room. The walls will be painted, so the spackling should be extra smooth and neat and absolutely should not crack.

How do you handle the butt joints since the drywall only has recesses along the long sides? Drywall on the ceiling is fairly common, so the same issue should arise.

I will install framing behind all joints (long and short sides).

Thankful for any answers.

 

[huggan]

Leave a small gap, very small, then just fill with putty.

I'm not a pro, it's just how I would have done it.

 

[Ta i trä]

Should you use a strip then? Otherwise, it will likely crack when the wood moves. The strip goes on top of the board, which requires fairly wide spackling for it not to be visible.

 

[huggan]

If I had wallpapered, I would have ignored the strip, now I don't know.
It's sensitive when you're just going to paint directly on. Don't want it to crack, you know, it shows immediately.

 

[Richtmann]

You should chamfer the boards at the short ends, so you get a V-joint when they meet each other.
Should you apply fabric before painting or paint directly on?
If you paint directly on, use a fabric strip then, if you apply fabric, no strip will be needed, fabric strips are used when wallpapering or painting directly on, e.g., gypsum boards.

 

[Ta i trä]

Thought of direct painting, i.e., no wallpaper.

So:
- bevel the boards at the joint so I get a V-joint (with, for example, surform?)
- putty the joint
- tape
- wide spackle

Could it work?

 

[Stefan N]

As I wrote in another thread, there is gypsum that is recessed all around to be able to have tape there.

 

[dusthall]

For best sustainability, make sure to use a paper tape and not a fiberglass tape in the joints.

 

[Mikael_L]

I was thinking of painting directly on, i.e., no fabric.

So:
- chamfer the boards at the joint to get a V joint (with, for example, a surform?)
- plaster the joint
- tape
- plaster widely

Could that work?

That's exactly what I did on the garage ceiling. All the joints there cracked a year later. :@
I used fiberglass tape, if I were to do it again today, I would have used paper tape.

Because on the walls, I placed fiberglass tape along one long wall and paper tape on the other, just as an experiment, and even on the walls, all the joints with fiberglass tape cracked, but none with paper tape did.

 

[Gabbe1]

That's exactly what I did in the garage ceiling. All the joints there had cracked a year later. :@ I used fiberglass mesh tape, if I were to do it again today, I would use paper tape.

On the walls, I used fiberglass mesh tape along one long wall and paper tape on the other, just as an experiment, and even on the walls, it cracked at all the fiberglass joints, but not in any of the paper tape joints.

That sounds strange, I've only used fiberglass mesh tape everywhere, in about 100 joints both in the garage and in the house, and I haven't seen a single crack yet.

 

[hheheh]

That sounds strange, I've only used fiberglass tape everywhere, in about 100 joints both in the garage and in the house, and I haven't seen a single crack yet.

Not so strange since you haven't worked in the same garage.
The substrate and the frame's stability are crucial factors in whether it will crack or not. In some cases, fiberglass tape works, in others, it doesn't. The same goes for paper tape, which can't withstand everything either.

 

[Ta i trä]

That's exactly what I did on the garage ceiling. All the joints there had cracked a year later. :@
I used fiberglass tape, if I were to do it again today, I would go with paper tape.

On the walls, I used fiberglass tape along one long wall and paper tape on the other, just as an experiment, and on the walls too, every fiberglass joint cracked, but none with paper tape.

Do you have large temperature variations in your garage?

 

[Mikael_L]

Not heated, so yes, fairly large.

 

[nino]

I had beveled the edges, puttied, applied microlite (completely smooth fabric), and painted.

 

[Ta i trä]

Guess I'll have to do the same process I described above, but with a paper strip, and hope for the best.

Provided I can't get discs that are countersunk all around, that is.

Thanks to everyone who replied!