Drywall repair is about turning the highly visible (a hole or crack) into the highly invisible—a wall or ceiling that looks like the rest of the wall or ceiling. Without getting hugely torqued off or doing a terrible job.
Soon after this drywall repair video posted, someone asked: Do you prefer paper tape or mesh tape?
Short answer: Paper. It takes a tiny bit more know-how to use. But using it makes repairing drywall a huuuuuge bit better.
The lure of mesh tape, in my experience, is that it’s tacky and sticks to the wall without a ‘bed coat’. Theoretically this saves a step, but in practice, not so much. The reason is that unlike paper tape, mesh tape is thick by comparison. This means you have to build up compound to cover it. And the more you build it up, the further out into the field of drywall you need to feather the joint compound to make it disappear.
And the more compound you use, the more you have to sand. Since mesh tape can be exposed and damaged by over-sanding just as easily as paper tape, in my experience, there really is no advantage.
When it comes to drywall repair, joint compound and sanding, less is more.
Two exceptions: A drywall patch (aka ‘bullet patch’) where you use a piece of drywall itself as the patch and the tape; and Hyde’s Wet ‘N Set which is a hybrid mesh/bed-coat that sets up fast and flat and eliminates the bed coat step in many repairs.
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I like what you say that the point of drywall repair is to make what is super visible, into something invisible and natural. Whenever I’ve needed drywall repairs I usually just call a professional. For me, that’s been the easiest solution if you don’t mind spending a couple bucks.
Nice tip Simeon. Thanks for jumping in on this one —
Paper Tape usually separates from the sheetrock after 15-20 years of New York, hot summers and cold winters. I use mesh tape to refinish sheetrock seams where the paper tape has peeled back with Durabond 45 or 90 as a first coat, followed by a 50/50 durabond and (professional black top) joint compound for a sandable finish coat.
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