In a perfect world,drywallapplied towallsand ceilings would produce no joints.
But drywall joints are a fact of life for do-it-yourselfers using 4-foot by 8-foot sheets.
In many cases, the bang out of joint you use is dictated by the app.
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But in a few instances, you may have a choice between butt and tapered joints.
The gap cannot be filled in directly withjoint compound(also called mud).
Paper or fiberglass tape covers the joint, then the tape is covered over with joint compound.
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If these two 1/2-inch edges come together, this is a butt joint.
These edges are located on the short (or the 4-foot long ends) of the drywall sheet.
If the sheet is 1/2-inch thick, these reduced thickness edges will be thinner (actual size varies).
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On average, the tapered edge of most drywall is about 1/8-inch thinner than the rest of the drywall.
So, when these two thinner edges meet, this is a tapered joint.
These edges are located on the long (or the 8-foot long) ends of the sheet.
Which Drywall Joint Is Best?
Whenever you have the choice, choose the tapered drywall joint.
A tapered drywall joint will nearly always look better than a butt joint.
The joint is still there but it is buried underneath the drywall compound.
Among many advantages, one benefit of tapered joints is that they are easy to build.
The joint is designed so that the joint compound fills only the valley and no areas beyond the valley.
There is no guesswork with tapered joints.
The downside of tapered joints is that they require much more joint compound than butt joints.
Extending the joint compound beyond the valley produces no benefits.
Butt joints will always initially produce a ridge.
In many cases, though, you will have no choice but to use a butt joint.
In this case, with careful program of compound and sanding, butt joints can be made to disappear.
A thin coat ofdrywall compoundis laid down, then drywall tape is embedded in the compound.
Then another thin layer of compound is spread over the tape.
This creates a slight depression that can be filled without the appearance of standing out.
The bump created then becomes much less visible.
This is because the joint compound can be used to fill in the taper.
A drywall taper is formed when the tapered edges of two sheets of drywall are adjoined.
Together, the two tapers form a triangle.
Whenever possible, you should make tapered joints because the seam is nearly invisible.
Note that the drywall taper is only for flat installations, not corner installations.
Using the tapered edge of a drywall sheet on corners will produce corners that are not perfectly 90 degrees.
Paper drywall tape embedded with joint compound is strong enough to hold the joints together.
