10

My contractor told me it's much cleaner to use caulking instead of mud/tape on my new ceiling.

He's not talking about the corners. He's talking about where the seam of the drywall sheets meet. I've never heard of this method. Is this acceptable?

isherwood
  • 137,324
  • 8
  • 170
  • 404
Vernette
  • 101
  • 1
  • 3
  • There is some sheet rock that is designed for this. It will not work on tapered edge drywall – Kris Apr 14 '21 at 16:36
  • Many contractors will caulk a corner that has a tight fit and no tapered edge. – Kris Apr 14 '21 at 16:42
  • Is your new ceiling panelled, and can you add a picture of it? – P2000 Apr 14 '21 at 16:44
  • 2
    Does this answer your question? Caulking a corner instead of taping with joint compound? – FreeMan Apr 14 '21 at 17:10
  • To P200 - My ceiling is not panelled. It just doesn't sound right. But not sure – Vernette Apr 14 '21 at 18:09
  • 2
    There's not enough information here to answer. We'd need to know the details of the technique and the product. I'd be genuinely surprised if the idea is to just squeeze a tube into the joint. I want to know more. – isherwood Apr 14 '21 at 18:43
  • 1
    And the proposed duplicate is rather a different situation. – isherwood Apr 14 '21 at 18:43
  • 1
    I gave an answer but curious to what he proposed for the screws/nails? Caulk? I have never in my life seen this so I would ask him to provide pictures of some of his work. It has to be something to see a bunch of shiny dots all over the ceiling. – DMoore Apr 14 '21 at 20:05
  • @Vernette I mean: panelling is the stage where drywall sheets are cut to size and screwed into the joists. Is that part done already? – P2000 Apr 14 '21 at 20:14
  • @Kris wrote "There is some sheet rock that is designed for this." I'm interested in learning about the sheet rock you mentioned. Do you have a link to an example or to a photo? – End Anti-Semitic Hate Apr 15 '21 at 01:25
  • 1
    @RockPaperLz-MaskitorCasket In the 1990’s I did commercial wallcovering and saw it. I can’t find anything like it on the web now. – Kris Apr 15 '21 at 02:37
  • @Kris Thanks. If you stumble upon it, please do let me know. I actually have a small project for which it may be very useful. – End Anti-Semitic Hate Apr 15 '21 at 02:58
  • I can't imagine many things 'messier' than tape, mud, and the subsequent sanding. So I'd say he's technically right XD –  Apr 15 '21 at 20:05
  • Hmm if he really wants to show you the technique you should have him do you a sample with a flat patch, inside corner and outside corner to show why he thinks it's better. I was thinking today he probably means more something like a caulking style wood filler like DAP. Still doubt it's a stellar plan, but when you use it to fill out simple fibreboard mouldings it's rock solid. – K H Apr 16 '21 at 08:50

2 Answers2

23

No no no no and NO. You need to fire this guy immediately. Anyone who even brings this up is beyond reproach as far as incompetency in this area.

  1. Caulk is expensive.
  2. Caulk cannot be smoothed to seamlessly fade into drywall. Even if you took days/months to flatten caulk it would still have seams and ridges.
  3. Caulk will not look the same when painted as drywall. That is the whole point of using mud/joint compound... when you paint it, it looks the same as drywall.
  4. What is he supposing for any nicks or scratches? More caulk?
  5. Caulk will dry out over time and harden and loosen.

However... I have started using caulk for ceiling cracks that keep appearing. It is a good binder for seasonal contraction - but I tape and put joint compound over the caulk!

Edit: I have a small room in my basement to finish in 2-3 months... Thinking about giving the caulk a go. I don't mind the caulking but to get the pictures right I would need to put on a little primer and paint and those steps are a PITA to do over again... I will try to do a couple feet of a seam like this.

DMoore
  • 48,293
  • 15
  • 84
  • 193
  • +1 for the bringing up the right situation where you might use caulk, and the clear NO – P2000 Apr 14 '21 at 20:12
  • 13
    Beyond reproach is exactly the opposite of what you meant to say. – Kris Apr 15 '21 at 02:48
  • 4
    @Kris He's saying the person's incompetency is beyond reproach, which is correct as long as incompetency is his goal lol. Agree bad phrasing though. – K H Apr 15 '21 at 04:21
  • 2
    Or he's so bad that reproaching him just won't change anything. – jaskij Apr 15 '21 at 16:02
  • 3
    @DMoore you can get all bent out of shape about it for some reason if that makes you happy, but the fact is that's simply not how that expression is used. – Alex M Apr 15 '21 at 21:01
2

I would stick with the tried and true taped and mud joints. You can't sand calk to make it smooth. Sounds like a mess to me. Kris is right, no way will it work on tapered edges.

BrianK
  • 5,415
  • 8
  • 29
  • 37