Hi! I’m David Lupberger with servicemagic.com.

In this video, we’re going to talk about how to tape and finish drywall. If you’ve been on any unfinished home, you’ve seen something very much like this. The unfinished drywall and where the dry wall comes together, you put on what’s called a tape-finish. This is just the first coat of tape that’s actually a second and even third coat that can go on this. But this is what the wall looks like as your midway through construction. So, let me show you how this tape joint is applied in case you did this on your own.

Here are the materials you’re going to need to tape a drywall joint. Here’s paper tape, here‘s mesh tape, you can use either one. For the purpose of today, I’m going to use paper tape. Here’s the dry wall compound spreader and here is a small amount of all-purpose joint compound. This is what I’ll use to attach the tape to the wall. You can see this is a small quart size; it also comes in one gallon and five gallon sizes. So, depending on the size of your job, you can get as much as you need.

When drywall has been hang properly, you have two finished edges where these two things come together. There’s a small bevel which means there’s a slight depression. When we put the paper in place and add joint compound, once it’s finished, that will be a flat surface.

First step is to apply the joint compound. And you see I’m using a paint tray just for convenience. So, I took some of the joint compound, enter it to the pan. And I’m going to start by filling that gap. Now in this case, again, it’s a smaller piece but I precut a piece of drywall paper. And I’m putting it in place. And now with my six-inch blade, I’m going to spread that joint compound to apply that first coat of tape. Now, we’ll let this dry. Depending on how humid it is, it will usually take several hours to dry. In most cases, most people wait until the next day to go back and put the second coat on this joint.

Step two is putting on a second layer of joint compound. Let me show you what I mean. I’ve taken some of the joint compound. The surface is dry and I’m beveling the surface now. You’ll see, I’m starting to spread that finish and starting to level the surface of the wall compared to the edge of the tape. At this point, I’ll let that second coat dry and probably come back and do a simple sanding after this.

Sanding is imperative after that third coat if you’re looking for that flat wall finish. By sanding the entire wall, you’ll really do achieve that smooth surface. But even after the orange peel and knock down finish, make sure you go back and knock down or sand anything that might mar that painting surface. In this case, put in that tape on, you’re preparing your wall whatever finish you want. This is how you get your walls ready for painting.