Drywall finishing without tape?

The guy I hired to tape and finish my drywall installation insists that he doesn’t need to tape the joints, only cover them with a fast setting compound. I’ve never heard of that. Is it even possible to get a durable finished joint without tape? I’ll need to know by tomorrow morning.
Replies
Oh.... Hell no.
There is fibered compound that is supposedly tapeless. And at one time the paperless drywall was claimed to be tapeless if you used hot mud.
"supposedly and claimed"
any further ending to the story. This is something I have never ever heard a peep about.
Now I'm a firm believer in learning something new every day.
Learn me, today's been relatively uneventful.A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
I'm just reporting what I've read, and it wasn't recently, so I can't point you to a source.
The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one. --Wilhelm Stekel
If this were true it would be a revolutionary idea. Eliminate the mud and your life would change as you know it.
Forever.
A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
About 30 years ago, I watched a crew building office spaces in the building where I was working. They used metal studs and hung the drywall. Another guy came in with a bucket of mud, a knife & a sponge. He slaped the mud on the joint and smoothed it out with a wet sponge. The next day they painted. It looked good and didn't fail in the 3 or 4 years I continued to work at that place. Never tried it myself, but I believe using metal studs was part of the "trick" - - they don't move.
That is amazing, did you see the whole process. Sponges are used to substitute for sanding at times, but that after taping and couple of coats of mud (which can be done in hours with hot mud).
I work in the drywall industry and I can confirm there is no accepted type of drywall finishing that does not involve taping the joints. Mike
Small wheel turn by the fire and rod, big wheel turn by the grace of god.
My drafting table was about 12 feet from the process, they didn't use an inch of tape nor did they sand anything. That's why I was so interested in watching them :-)
I have used a sponge on fresh mud to smooth it out a bit so my wife wouldn't have to sand so much - - but I live in a 100-year old house and the way this house moves in a hurricane, I prefer to tape the joints.
the job was done in Pittsburgh, PA, but the building was demolished quite a few years ago to make room for a shopping center.
Edited 12/14/2008 8:09 pm ET by Ray
'dunno how many ceilings I repaired that were mudded and just not taped.
Not on jobs I have my name on, thanks. Although I am getting to be an old fa_t!
Quality repairs for your home.
AaronR Construction
Vancouver, Canada
Find a new taper.
I'd have to charge you about 50% more than he did, but I guarantee you, my finished product will be just as good.
(Oh, by the way, do you happen to have two tens for a five?)
Aitchkay
conventional DW...
use tape....
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!