Gypsum board sheets are the most popular material used in the renovation process. Partitions are sheathed with them, walls are leveled, multi-level ceilings, niches and boxes for water pipes are created with their help. The material has high technical characteristics and long service life. But these indicators are saved only if the sheets were installed correctly.
To ensure that gypsum board products do not lose their original appearance for a long time, the seams between the sheets are glued with reinforcing tape. For information on how to glue sickle on drywall, read our article.
Features of sheet building material
Drywall itself is a strong enough material, but if the sheet loses its integrity, it begins to crumble and quickly becomes unusable. For this reason, the most vulnerable place of gypsum boards is the corners and seams. Soover time, they can diverge, crack and break.
If the structure is used in damp conditions, the joints of the plates may absorb moisture and swell. Metal fasteners and self-tapping screws may begin to rust over time, as a result, red spots will appear through the finish and the owners will have to make repairs again. To prevent this from happening, the seams and corners of drywall are glued with reinforcing tape. But before gluing the sickle on drywall, the joints of the plates are processed in a special way.
Criteria for choosing a serpyanka
Reinforcing mesh (serpyanka) is made of fiberglass and can have different densities and sizes. The main purpose of the tape is the restoration and strengthening of corners, walls and ceilings. The material has an adhesive side, making it easy and efficient to work with.
Serpyanka does not allow old cracks to grow and new ones to form. It perfectly prevents the destruction of seams and corners made of drywall sheets.
Before gluing a sickle on drywall, you should familiarize yourself with the types of material and the scope of each option. So, for indoor work, a tape is made with a width of 3.5 to 5 cm. The length of the roll can reach 10 meters.
Exterior tape is much denser than the previous variety and does not have an adhesive side. It is used in facade work, more often it is fixed in plaster. If the dimensions of the sickle fordrywall (for seams) do not exceed 5 cm, then the facade varieties are much wider. Such products are produced in rolls of 20 meters. The maximum width of the sickle is 25 cm.
What you need to know before using sickle
Fiberglass tape is used for a number of advantages. These include:
- low cost;
- resistance to aggressive climate;
- high strength characteristics;
- good adhesion to the substrate;
- resistance to mechanical stress.
Understanding the question of how to properly glue sickle on drywall, you should also know its negative qualities. One of them is the weakness of the adhesive layer. In most cases, the tape has to be additionally fixed. If you stick it on a dusty surface, there is a high probability that the material will fall off even before the putty is applied.
If we compare sickle with paper tape, it is less convenient when working in the area of internal corners. Masking tape fits much better in such places, so experienced professionals use fiberglass material only on the outer sections of the sheet and at the joints of the plates.
What tools and materials are needed to process drywall seams?
The reliability of joints and corners of gypsum sheets directly depends on the correctness of their processing. A simple sealing of drywall joints with a sickle will not improve the strength of the product, problem areas must first be prepared and processed.
In the process of work you will need:
- spatula;
- gypsum-based plaster;
- primer;
- paint brush;
- stationery knife;
- Sickle.
As a putty composition, you can choose any finishing mixture. Experts recommend giving preference to the Knauf company and its Fugen putty. It is highly resistant to cracking, making it ideal for grouting.
When working with drywall joints, a sickle with a width of 50 mm is most often used. Products of large parameters are not used for these works.
When choosing a primer, give preference to acrylic varieties. They provide maximum adhesion of putty to the surface.
As for the spatula, it is better if you purchase 2 tools: one narrow (10 cm) for spreading the composition over the working spatula, and the other wide (25 cm) for direct grouting.
Preparing drywall for work
Before sticking the serpyanka on drywall, carefully examine the assembled structure. Check the seams: there should be a distance of about 1-2 mm between two sheets. This is necessary so that in the event of surface deformation, the structure does not lose its original appearance.
Pay special attention to fasteners. Self-tapping screws should not rise above the surface of the sheet, but it is also not recommended to drive them too deep. The ideal option is when the fastener does not protrude beyond the sheet, but its head does not yet touch the plaster layer.
If there are scuffs or burrs on the surface of the corners and seams, all defects are cleaned off with a construction knife. The final stage of preparing drywall for work is the treatment of its entire surface with a primer. Pre-clean the sheets of dust with a broom or sponge, and then walk over them with a brush dipped in acrylic liquid.
Do I need to prepare the seam itself?
The question of how to properly glue sickle on drywall causes conflicting opinions. Some experts say that the joints of the sheets should be embroidered beforehand, while others say that this should not be done. How should inexperienced craftsmen act?
The technology of work on the processing of drywall seams has two options. In the first case, the sheets really need to be embroidered, but this only applies to situations where there are two cut edges of the sheet in the seam area.
In this case, the master should arm himself with a sharp construction knife and make a chamfer on each such connection. The knife is located at an angle of 45 degrees, the blade deepens 5 mm deep into the material. Thus, the edge is cut off from each sheet. As a result, you should get a small seam, the width of which does not exceed 5 mm. After preparation, all joints are re-treated with a primer.
If you purchased a concentrated composition, first dilute it with water in the proportions indicated on the package. Ready working fluid can be applied immediately.
Such works are performed only onsections. If you have factory edges at the junction of the plates, you do not need to embroider such a connection.
Embroidered seam treatment
If you had to embroider most of the seams between sheets of drywall, then the resulting recesses should be puttied. This must be done before gluing the sickle onto drywall.
Pre-prepare the working mixture. Read the manufacturer's instructions for preparing putty, prepare a container and a drill with a mixing nozzle. First, water is poured into the bucket, and the powder mixture is already poured into it.
Do not knead the putty in large quantities, as it sets quickly and is very difficult to work with in the future. Prepare as much mixture as you can use within 1 hour.
Next, proceed according to the following technology:
- Fill the embroidered seams between the sheets with the finished mixture. To do this, pick up putty with a narrow spatula, apply it to the edges of a wide tool. Apply the composition with transverse movements, pressing it into the resulting grooves.
- When all the seams are filled with putty, place the spatula along the joint and start leveling along the plane. To smooth the embroidered seam, putty must be applied in a wide layer (approximately 150 mm on each side of the joint).
- After the composition dries, the surface is smoothed with sandpaper and a sanding bar.
At this stage, process not only the seams, but also the places where the self-tapping screws are attached. Fill inputty all the recesses and, before processing the drywall joints with a sickle, smooth the entire surface.
Tape sticking process
When the putty is completely dry, the surface must be treated with a primer again. If you have factory edges at the seams, you can not pre-putty them. In this case, we immediately proceed to the installation of the tape. On the treated seams, fiberglass tape is attached with primer drying ambassadors.
How to properly glue the sickle on the seams of drywall? To do this, take a roll of tape, place it at the top edge of the seam, fix the tip of the tape on the surface and gradually unwind the roll, moving towards the bottom edge of the seam. While working, press the tape with the adhesive side to the surface of the sheet.
Re-process the resulting seam with putty and smooth with sandpaper. The resulting base does not need further processing, you can proceed to the direct decoration of the walls.
How to handle corners correctly?
Now let's look at the question of how to glue sickle on drywall in the corners. Similar processing is carried out on the outer corner joints of the sheets. It is very difficult to glue the inner corners with such tape, because if in some area the serpyanka moves away from the surface, the appearance of the wall will deteriorate greatly.
A wide serpyanka (100 mm) is used for processing outer corners. It allows you to make the surface as strong as possible, prevents cracks from forming in difficult areas.
Tocarefully stick the mesh on the corner, unwind a short length and place part of the tape on one corner. Then carefully fold the rest of the strip over the other part of the corner and press the strip against the base.
Further processing is done with putty. To make the site as smooth as possible, purchase a special corner spatula. With it, you can quickly fix problem areas with minimal time.
Helpful tips
In order for the work to be done efficiently, pay attention to some of the nuances that affect the final result. Namely:
- In the process of sticking the tape, try to avoid layers and unevenness. The voids under the mesh cause these areas to crack, so try to press the tape firmly against the seam.
- Cut off the ribbon carefully. There should be no protruding threads on the seams. If there are any, treat the edges of the sickle with a lighter.
- While sanding the walls, keep rolls of tape in tight bags. Dust that gets into the skein leads to damage to the adhesive layer, which will negatively affect the quality of work.
When buying serpyanka, give preference to certified products. Its density should be equal to 150 g/m2, and the cell size should correspond to the parameter 5 x 5 mm.
Conclusion
It's not difficult to guess how to use a drywall sickle. However, simply sticking the tape is not enough. Be sure to process the seams properly, and only then glue themgrid. This will protect your structures from cracking and premature failure.
