Help. Self Adhesive Paper Tape Problem.

jstrand23

I have a problem in the basement I am finishing. I used EZ taping systems self adhesive tape on all the seams(butt and taper). I then covered the tape with an initial coat of setting compound, half durabond and half lightweight setting, both 90). After the setting compound dried, everything looked fine and dandy so I applied a second coat of premix lightweight. While the 2nd coat was drying, I noticed that the center of most of the seams were floating to the top and creating a little bubble type thing in the seam. Frustrated, I pushed down the tape creating a dimple along the seam in the middle of the tape and went along my way with 3rd coat. after 3rd coat, there were still a few seams that this happened again to, so now I am getting worried. I applied a fourth coat to these problem joints and sanded everthing flat and everything looked fine.
Now I primed all of the walls and the moisture from the paint has seemed to play with the middle of my seams again. Not all, but a lot of them can be seen, especially on the ceiling.
What went wrong? Anybody else have this problem? What can I do to remedy this, besides to not use this tape anymore. I would like an easy solution, but also am to the point mentally that I may need to rip up all this tape on the seams and redo. If i do rip down this paper tape and replace with real tape, can i just cut out the bad tape and scrape it out and leave my feathering or will i need to almost start over. What a nightmare. Obviously, I am not a drywall pro, but I have finished enough to know what's going on. Guess that is what I get for trying a different product. Any responses would be greatly appreciated. I need to get this done by Thursday so the flooring guys can start.

Jason

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Jason
Strand Carpentry
Glyndon, MN

tapekid

I have never heard of a good experience with this brand, no matter which tape is used.The problem with most self adhesive tapes (this can include mesh) is that they can delaminate, paticularly if ANY moisture gets on the adhesive The paper release adhesive tape that works best that I have used is one made by a company called Wall Tool that has holes punched.Even that can have problems. I am a big fan of paper tape, the best I have used is this brand called Grabber Wet Stick. Using water instead of mud for initial bond this stuff is awesome. Anyway this doesn't help your problem. I hate to say it but sounds like you need to cut out blisters.