Why isn’t drywall tapered on all 4 sides? Why only 2? I would think that since butt joints are a headache, why couldn’t they just make it tapered all the way around?
Also, does anyone taper their own butt joints? I typically use an xacto knife to shave off the sides so when I tape and plaster there’s no bump at all. Is this the way to do it?
Replies
http://www.ezbacker.com/rock_splicer.html
I'm gonna break my
I'm gonna break my rusty cage and run
I saw a similar product in a back issue of FH. See my point, instead of having to engineer a product around the problem, why can't sheetrock manufacturers just taper the butt edges as well?
"why can't sheetrock manufacturers just taper the butt edges as well?"
I emailed GP once about it. The answer I got back basically said they can't taper the ends of the drywall because the ends of the sheets of drywall aren't tapered.
It was kinda like trying to talk to a politician and getting a confusing, nonsensical answer.
(-:
Be nice to your kids. They'll choose your nursing home.
What material is the rock splicer made of and why is different from a board say 6 to 8" wide by 54" long?
Dan
It appears that the rock splicer has a concave face to draw the end of the sheet in when you use the screws.
A regular board wouldn't taper the edges.
Hey, maybe that's a good use of badly cuppd 2x lumber. :)
I have a dumb question about those type of products.I can see how it's supposed to work, but if you're haning 48" GWB with 8' ceilings either piece will land on either the top plates or the bottom plate. The drywall would bow in just fine near the center of the wall, but wouldn't you still have to deal with the hump as you get about 16" away from the plate?
Jon Blakemore RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
Your point makes sense. I've never used the product. I was just linking a product that makes tapered butt joints.
Always flat tape my butt joints, and feather them out.I'm gonna break my I'm gonna break my rusty cage and run
Drywall is formed in continuous sheets, cut to 8', 12', etc. lengths along an assembly line. The price for drywall would skyrocket for the sake of 4 tapered sides.
...that's not a mistake, it's rustic
Agreed. I've seen a video of the factory process, and the way the product slides down the assembly line as a continuous sheet and is sliced to whatever arbitrary size is needed doesn't allow for the ends to be tapered.
Cloud, I knew the answer when I read the title.
But I want to challenge the answer.
I believe the drywall is chopped off to length. Not cut, as with a knife or saw.
They have a machine that straddles the drywall, and chops downward with a straight blade, to chop off the correct length.
If they changed the shape of the knife as in my pic, the very same hydraulic chopping machine could be used to put a taper in the butt ends at the same time it is chopped to length.
View Image
Welcome to America.The best republic money can buy.
Or you could just run over it with the edge of your tire on the job site.What I cannot remember is the state of the panel when they cut it. Soft, hard, etc. If fully "cooked" I'd expect that trying to compress it would break it. I'm pretty sure the edge is tapered with rollers as the paper is applied. It has a different solidity (?) when cut, most likely.
Did you just say "solidity"?
:)View Image
Like you need any further encouragement...
Nope. At the plant I saw on tv, the sheet of Dry wall is sailing along and a SAW comes across at a diagonal, creating a square cut, pretty cool actually. This was an episode of a visit to USG plant in Montana I think.
Look closely at the butt edge, you can spot the saw marks.
edit for this crappy LT keyboad.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
There is no cure for stupid. R. White.
Edited 6/30/2006 7:35 pm ET by Sphere
That's right...it was the diagonal cut. Pretty cool.
Basically the way sheets of glass are cut - the glass is pulled out of the furnace in a long ribbon, then a glass cutter wheel (diamond version of a hand glass cutter) cuts across at an appropriate angle to result in a straight-across cut. After that there's a slight step down to make it break, and a slightly faster conveyor to separate the panels.
Well dangit, there goes my idea !Unless they are willing to set it up as a chop process instead. I am positive they could hesitate the rolling mass for the millisecond or so that it would take to chop the next section off. Unless it's going at something like 40 MPH or something. LOLAnd hydraulics being what they are, I am sure that edge could easily be pressed to a taper at the same moment without any other damage.You'd still have an unsealed edge, but it would be a lot easier to tape than just a square butt joint.I think that whatever company started with this process would quickly get the edge on the market. At least until everyone else caught up to them.
Welcome to America.The best republic money can buy.
whatever the process of cutting and tapering, I'm sure it could be developed, I just don't understand why they don't. Perhaps they also sell all the butt joint products along with making drywall.
reminds me of a little something:
"A room contains a researcher and a small stool. Hanging over the stool is a banana on a string. The researcher wears a white lab-coat and holds a fully pressurized fire-hose. An arbitrary number of monkeys is released into the room.
Sooner or later one of them will make for the stool to try and grab the banana. Yet as soon as that monkey climbs the stool and approaches his prize, the researcher lets him have it with the hose. And not only does that monkey get it, but all monkeys in the room (whether they touched the banana or not) get sprayed. After soaking them roughly for a few moments, the researcher turns off the hose.
Perhaps another monkey gets brave or hungry. When he climbs the stool and touches the banana, the researcher lets him have it. And as before, all the monkeys also get doused, whether they moved towards the banana or not. Repeat this process enough and, after the group has suffered enough soakings, the following effect should be noticed: Should any monkey make for the stool, the rest can be counted on to beat him silly before he reaches either it or the banana, sparing themselves. After awhile, the group avoids the banana even as their bellies growl.
Now say the researcher removes a monkey and brings in a new one to replace him. No big surprise, one of his first actions might be to make directly for the banana. And of course the others won't allow this, for if he should make it they all get sprayed again. They administer a beating to the confused newcomer, until he learns not to near the stool.
Should the experiment continue, perhaps after replacing every monkey in the original generation, one can even remove the researcher. The descendants enforce the social order even though they may never been sprayed or even know about the researcher. By now no monkeys have directly experienced the hose, and in fact no white-coated danger exists, yet still their options are self-curtailed. There is no risk in the banana. Yet they avoid it, none quite certain why. "
You know this wouldn't be an issue if everyone would have taken the tour of the drywall plant instead of the boat ride on the canal las summer at River fest.
Rock the Tipi!
I'll bet the temps at the drywall plant were lower.;o)I never understood there to be a choice. One or the other. I thought we were going to do both. I wondered afterward why it never happened.I'll also never forgive you for not clueing me in on breakfast !!! You just said some of the guys were going to breakfast. You never said where or why...What ??? Did you think I'd embarrass all of you ?he he he
Welcome to America.The best republic money can buy.
Early on during the traditional negotiations that go with a fest it was offered as something to do on Friday. Everyone kind of blew it off in favor of the boat ride. Now we're all sorry. Not that I would have made it anyway. Way too slow leaving the house.
I think you were gone before I was. You had other agendas. IIRC. Fair maidens and all that.
I actualy stumbled upon it. Cal had given me directions, but you know first hand how I don't listen to them.LOL Anyway Diesel overslept on me and I just kind of went wandering and bam there it was. Then Holy and T wandered in wearing his "My wife wasn't home to tell me I couldn't wear these shorts to the party" shorts. And the rest as they say is history. What ever happened to that fair maiden?
Rock the Tipi!
Edited 6/30/2006 11:55 pm ET by Gunner
I'm like you - I don't see why they can't figure out a way to taper them if they WANT to. The machine that presses the sheets could be altered so it would make a slight indentation every 8' on the days they're running 8' sheets. Then the cutter would just have to run down the intentation and you'd have tapered ends. But somebody has to have the will to change the system, and apparently nobody does.
You can lead a horse to water, but, a pencil must be lead.
Exactly.
Welcome to America.The best republic money can buy.
But somebody has to have the will to change the system, and apparently nobody does.
it was done about 10 years ago by a small drywall manufacturer but it did not catch on. The rock makers who also make the mud would lose about $250 million per year if the butts were tapered (less mud required).
Also since the butt would be tapered you would need another paper label machine. Would not work for 3/8" and 1/4" rock as ther tapered edge would be too narrow for the screw or nail. You would also have to have straight wood vertical studs on the butts. If not totally straight the butt joint would not be flat.
I was thinking the same thing as Luka about using a knife with a wedge-shaped part to taper the ends. One time on This Old House they toured a drywall plant, and as I recall they cut the board while it's still semi-hard so it seems like it would work. Actually, the drywall is moving down the line at a pretty good clip so I think they use a flying knife to make the cut.
Luka,The drywall I have used in Colorado and in California has what look like circular saw marks on both factory ends. Different plants have different methods, perhaps?Bill
Check this out:
http://www.butttaper.com
When they form the taper the plaster is still moldable (is that a word?), and it goes through rollers on this one long continuous sheet that by the time it gets to where the cutters are it's fairly hard. I was at the USG Plant once up on the Hudson where I used to live and saw it in operation. 1000' long sheet before it was cut. Anybody up for hanging a long commercial hallway in one shot?!
Yeah, I could do it solo with onna dem drywall lifts . . .
Forrest
Hang your drywall in a way there are little or no butt joints. I always install 8' verticle. If I can get a long enought piece to fit a wall then I use it horizontal.
Tip time!
When hanging the rock do NOT screw the butt until the next sheet is butted to it.
That keeps the little goober from pooching out and keeping the next sheet from butting up as well.
I can't believe how long it took me to learn that.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
There is no cure for stupid. R. White.
50 milkbones to the scoungy looking bearded guy.
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