In two rooms, there appears to be raised stripe between the sheets of drywall on the ceiling. I am not aware of water damage or leaks that may have caused this (ranch house, no rooms above). This looks to be exactly the width of the drywall tape used.
I am not planning to re-drywall ceilings, but is there a nice way of fixing this. Should I try to smooth it out by mudding around the stripe?
C_kubie
Ceilings are tough, at least for me. The way I have seen tape installed is to have a bed of mud then push the tape into it. So far so good. Then you have to put several light layers of mud over that with gradually larger blades finishing off with about 14-16". This is exactly where I have problems. I just finished my patio ceiling. 8' X10'. Just 4 seams to do. I finished off by using drywall mud like pancake batter with a 1 inch nap roller. Literally took a bath in it. After sanding and one coat of paint it looks pretty good.
Drywall taping is all in the wrist. Something like the jitter bug, something that has just plum eluded me. Lots of good light is best for ceilings
Pull down the old tape and start over. It won't be all that hard to do. Opinions differ, but I find fiberglass tape easier to use in situations like this. With luck you may not have to add too much more mud, and the less you put on, the easier the sanding. Look over the NG archives for many good tips on techniques. Dood luck.
Joe
Peel off the tape. You might as well fix it now. First off how long is the problem area? If it is 4 feet, you probably have a butt seam, and this is going to be a little tricky. If it is a long seam the taper probably left too thick a layer of mud under the tape. To fix this you need to get mud sanded down so you can re-tape the seam and have enough room to set the tape under the tapered edge of the sheetrock.
If this is a but seam you are going to have to cover over the tape without the help of the taper. This means you need to make a inconspicuous pile of mud about 16 inches wide and 1/16 thick in the center.
You also need to be sure the panel is secure to the joists. Push up and see if the panel is floating. If it is screw it down securely before mudding.
Are you sure it is drywall tape? Sometimes the contact line between the strapping or joists will show through drywall, unrelated to drywall tape. I think it is something to do with different temperature/moisture of the drywall in direct contact with the underlying wood, as opposed to contact with overlying insulation elsewhere. Dust in the air deposits at a different rate depending on the above factors, resulting in lines showing through years later. You need to be sure before you start....
Dave
the areas are long since painted over and I wouldn't be able to locate the tape within in order to pull it up.
I am trying to avoid doing serious ceiling work, and I am looking for an easy solution so it doesn't look so bad. I was considering mudding around the area to make it more gradual. But i would probably have difficulty matching texture of a ceiling with 5 coats of pain vs fresh primer and one coat of paint.
c_kubie
The first step is diagnosing the exact reason you have a flaw. All of want to avoid serious work. If we did not, there would be no such thing as progress.
Is the line you see as wide as tape? Does it run in a strait line? hey it is probably were the tape is. If you do not want to do the work, look for a drywall guy and have him fix it. That way all you have to do is write the check and paint the ceiling.
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