We are in the process of redecorating our daughter's room with new wallpaper, and as we're taking down the old wallpaper, I've noticed that the people who installed the walls seem to have cut corners a bit... In at least two of the corners (we haven't removed all the wallpaper yet), one of the walls flexes 5-10 mm when you press lightly on it with your hand.
They probably didn't install any studs against the other wall (not easy to know without tearing down the wall, which I want to avoid).
I don't think it will work to just apply a fiberglass tape there and then paint and wallpaper? (three walls are to be painted and one wallpapered) But is there any reasonable way to stiffen the construction? Try to fill with foam sealant behind it? A bit risky when you have no idea what it looks like... Possibly if you insert a double-folded plastic strip and then fill with foam sealant... so that it kind of becomes an elongated "balloon" behind the gap, but then it starts to get complicated and it feels almost easier to try to saw off a strip of the wall and redo everything...
Or should we just tape, spackle, and hope it holds? (It looks like they did that before... probably why the wallpaper is cracked in the corners.) Maybe it works if we use PP100 or something sturdier than regular light filler?
One wall (which is the back of the closets in the next room) seems to be particleboard, but the others are plasterboard.
They probably didn't install any studs against the other wall (not easy to know without tearing down the wall, which I want to avoid).
I don't think it will work to just apply a fiberglass tape there and then paint and wallpaper? (three walls are to be painted and one wallpapered) But is there any reasonable way to stiffen the construction? Try to fill with foam sealant behind it? A bit risky when you have no idea what it looks like... Possibly if you insert a double-folded plastic strip and then fill with foam sealant... so that it kind of becomes an elongated "balloon" behind the gap, but then it starts to get complicated and it feels almost easier to try to saw off a strip of the wall and redo everything...
Or should we just tape, spackle, and hope it holds? (It looks like they did that before... probably why the wallpaper is cracked in the corners.) Maybe it works if we use PP100 or something sturdier than regular light filler?
One wall (which is the back of the closets in the next room) seems to be particleboard, but the others are plasterboard.
As I would have done it...
Find the center of the nearest stud, for example with pins or screws, mark it out and use a ruler of some kind so you can cut straight. Personally, I avoid sawing drywall indoors, it creates a lot of dust.
Cut and remove the drywall in sections, as it is attached at the top and bottom as well.
Bevel the edge, place a stud where it is missing in the corner, cut a new strip to fit, sand and bevel the edge of the new board where it meets the other beveled edge, tape and joint compound. In the corners, latex should work.
/Kent
Find the center of the nearest stud, for example with pins or screws, mark it out and use a ruler of some kind so you can cut straight. Personally, I avoid sawing drywall indoors, it creates a lot of dust.
Cut and remove the drywall in sections, as it is attached at the top and bottom as well.
Bevel the edge, place a stud where it is missing in the corner, cut a new strip to fit, sand and bevel the edge of the new board where it meets the other beveled edge, tape and joint compound. In the corners, latex should work.
/Kent
I realize that when I wrote that, I remembered incorrectly... It seems they put up new walls (the old wallpaper continues "behind" the wall), and the new wall (where you can access the edge of the board) doesn't spring, it's the old wall that springs (i.e., the one that is at a right angle to the new one).
It becomes significantly worse then...
It becomes significantly worse then...
I would probably have taken a plaster corner for outer corners, pressed it in, and screwed it in place. Then tape and spackle.
That's how I do in all my corners mostly because it feels nice, but I have OSB behind, so it might attach "a little" better
That's how I do in all my corners mostly because it feels nice, but I have OSB behind, so it might attach "a little" better
Try pressing some PL600 into the gap, it's not certain that the "rebound" will be enough for it to hold though. But it's worth a try.
The proper way is to do as the workshop suggested, if you have a Fein, this is a job for it.
The proper way is to do as the workshop suggested, if you have a Fein, this is a job for it.
I probably need to check how the last two corners look (have only removed the wallpaper from one wall and two halves).
After taking a closer look (was in the countryside all weekend), it's in one corner where the panel "ends" that has some give (it's the edge of a panel) while in the other corner, it's the wall that the panel connects to...
Inserting a drywall corner and screwing it in (I assume it should go in as an angle behind the edge that has some give and be screwed to the other wall?) might work well. Since most of it will be painted, maybe filling it in with flexible sealant could work too... I need to try to measure how much it gives. Maybe sealant is better than paint tape in the corner if it's going to be painted anyway? Because paint tape with filler is likely to crack more easily than sealant?
Glue paint tape and "fill" with latex sealant? (I'm just brainstorming a bit
It will probably take a couple of weeks before all the wallpaper is down (I'm trying to do as little as possible, but my daughter isn't too keen on tearing down the wallpaper in her room, so it's going slowly.
After taking a closer look (was in the countryside all weekend), it's in one corner where the panel "ends" that has some give (it's the edge of a panel) while in the other corner, it's the wall that the panel connects to...
Inserting a drywall corner and screwing it in (I assume it should go in as an angle behind the edge that has some give and be screwed to the other wall?) might work well. Since most of it will be painted, maybe filling it in with flexible sealant could work too... I need to try to measure how much it gives. Maybe sealant is better than paint tape in the corner if it's going to be painted anyway? Because paint tape with filler is likely to crack more easily than sealant?
Glue paint tape and "fill" with latex sealant? (I'm just brainstorming a bit
It will probably take a couple of weeks before all the wallpaper is down (I'm trying to do as little as possible, but my daughter isn't too keen on tearing down the wallpaper in her room, so it's going slowly
.
I think that painter's tape will be good enough. But if you want to be safer, place a metal angle in the corner, preferably with glue and screws. If there is a board behind the plasterboard that the screws can fasten into, screws will be enough.
But indeed, you can do as suggested and open the wall locally to fix a stud there.
But indeed, you can do as suggested and open the wall locally to fix a stud there.
Painter's tape holds much better than sealant.
I mean that painting tape with putty should be more prone to "small cracks" than if you "putty" the painting tape with something like latex sealant?
Regular putty isn't elastic at all, right? So if the painting tape moves, it will crack, even if it stays on the tape?
Regular putty isn't elastic at all, right? So if the painting tape moves, it will crack, even if it stays on the tape?
I solved the two corners in slightly different ways.
For one corner, I realized that it was just the plasterboard that was bulging out. There was a stud behind it, so with a couple of screws, it was in place as it should be (checked to make sure it was straight with the screws so that it doesn't bulge in now).
In the other corner, there was a chipboard on one wall (against the back of the wardrobes in the next room) that angled towards a plasterboard wall that was springy. I simply drilled a few diagonal 4.5 mm holes in the chipboard, "countersunk" a bit with an 8 mm drill, and then screwed in screws that "grabbed" the plasterboard and prevented it from springing away. Maybe not the prettiest solution, but it was relatively simple and seemed to work. With enough screws, I think it will hold. And if it comes loose, it won't look much worse than it did before so...
For one corner, I realized that it was just the plasterboard that was bulging out. There was a stud behind it, so with a couple of screws, it was in place as it should be (checked to make sure it was straight with the screws so that it doesn't bulge in now).
In the other corner, there was a chipboard on one wall (against the back of the wardrobes in the next room) that angled towards a plasterboard wall that was springy. I simply drilled a few diagonal 4.5 mm holes in the chipboard, "countersunk" a bit with an 8 mm drill, and then screwed in screws that "grabbed" the plasterboard and prevented it from springing away. Maybe not the prettiest solution, but it was relatively simple and seemed to work. With enough screws, I think it will hold. And if it comes loose, it won't look much worse than it did before so...