New Drywall Ceiling, Old Plaster Walls - Caulk Instead Of Tape?

[DerbyDad03]

My son lives in a rental house with a few of his buddies. It's not quite Animal House, but there are similarities. The landlord is really cheap and the house is pretty run down.

Due to a roof leak, part of the bathroom ceiling (plaster and wood lath) collapsed. The leak has been repaired by a roofer. For a break on his rent, my son offered to fix the bathroom ceiling. He gets a break on his rent and I get to help him for nothing. Go figure.

My son used plaster washers to secure the remainder of the plaster to the lath and filled in the parts that were missing with drywall. We are now at the stage where we will be putting 1/4" drywall over the entire ceiling.

The problem is that neither of us are that good at taping, especially the ceiling/wall junction.

Suppose we were able to get a nice tight seam between the new drywall ceiling and the walls. Would it be such a terrible thing to caulk the ceiling/wall junction instead of mudding and taping it? We need 2+ sheets of drywall, so we can lay it out so that the tapered edges of the drywall will be in the field, not against the walls.

Nothing else in the bathroom is anywhere close to nice, so it's not about making it look perfect, it's about getting it done and painted.

Note that I am only considering caulking the ceiling/wall joints. The 2 seams on the ceiling itself will be taped.

How bad of an idea is this?

[Jerry OHIO]

I wouldn't care ,It's not my house. Why should you ?

Jerry

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, How about using some sort of moulding strip covering the caulking? Nail or staple gun will mae the job cinch.

[hrhofmann]

You can get fibreglass tape that is sticky on one side and sort of open weave that is really easy to mud. The trick is to put the mud on very thin, with a very bright light close to the wall, but at the other end of the wall you are taping, or in your case, close to the floor. Shine the light upward and imperfections in your mudding will be much more visible. It is much easier to do if you buy mud that states it is easily sandable, and don't apply too heavily. Two thin coats work much better than 1 thick one.

[Stormin Mormon]

Ask the property owner. Sound wonderful to me. I don't do dywall tape.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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Would it be such a terrible thing to caulk the ceiling/wall junction instead of mudding and taping it?

Note that I am only considering caulking the ceiling/wall joints. The 2 seams on the ceiling itself will be taped.

How bad of an idea is this?

[DerbyDad03]

I've heard all the tricks, I have most of the tools. I've watch the videos and read the tips.

I've tried it a few times and I guess I just don't have the mudding gene. Maybe it skipped a generation and my son won't have any trouble. He finished a hole in the wall after I showed him how to do the main repair and explained how to mud it, and he did a real nice job.

Maybe I'll just help him put the drywall up and slowly back away. I'll tell him his mom needs me back home...that's it...I'll blame it on her. ;-)

[Mike Paulsen]

Do not use 1/4". You'd have to bond it (construction adhesive) completely to the existing plaster/drywall to keep if from sagging. Go with 1/2" ceiling drywall or 5/8".

You're probably not going to be able to cut and hang the ceiling accurately enough that a bead of caulk will work. Not to worry, though, because you don't need to. After you hang, prefill any gaps between the edge of the drywall and the existing wall. When it's dry, flat tape the perimeter of the ceiling. In other words, tape all around, but do not fold the tape over onto the wall. It will be easy to mud the perimeter, just a couple of tight coats with a 5" knife.

A crack may develop at the wall/ceiling junction over time, but it will be a hairline crack and be easy to hide with a bit of latex caulk.

You'll want to use paper tape and all purpose compound for embedding the tape and then a lightweight (Plus 3 or similar) compound for the topping coats.

[John Grabowski]

*I think it is a good idea. It usually takes me 4 or 5 coats with sponging in between to get corners perfect. I do one side first, let it dry, sponge, then do the other side. I use the mesh tape for this.

In your particular situation I think caulking would be acceptable. Use paintable caulk after all mud work is done. Someone else suggested a thicker drywall and I tend to agree with that. The new drywall may end up supporting the existing ceiling.

[DerbyDad03]

Never mind...it'll be taped. We hung the drywall today...not tight enough to caulk.

Old house, nothing was square, next to impossible to get a consistent ceiling/wall junction.

My son will be learning a new skill.

[DanG]

Flat tape the ceiling and allow the tape to get over to the wall. The caulk would have been fine if you'd gotten within a 1/4" or so.

[henrikbeech]

Hi all,

When they keys are broken, the plaster is detached from the wall. Detached plaster tends to crack or even, if the detachment is over a large area, fall off the wall. It is possible to have small cracks, especially around the tops of doors and windows, with minimal or no plaster detachment. But, if you have long cracks going across or up the wall, then most likely the plaster is detached along the crack. If you have two parallel cracks, then the plaster is probably also detached between the cracks.