Old timer taught me to wet my tape in 1998

Back on a job in Portland, this guy named Jerry who had been doing drywall since the 70s showed me something simple. He took his joint tape and dipped it in a bucket of water before applying it to the mud. Told me it makes the paper stick better and stops bubbles from forming under the tape. Took me 25 years to finally try it on a kitchen remodel last month and he was dead right. Has anyone else ever heard that trick from an older worker?

2 comments

2 Comments

karen_perry3820d ago

dipped it in a bucket of water" - wait, WHAT? That's wild lol. Never in my life heard of anyone doing that, sounds like it would just make a mess tbh.

kim_west20d ago

And that honestly tracks with so many things I've noticed over the years. It's like how my grandmother always salted her pasta water way more than seemed normal, and I finally tried it and realized it actually changes the flavor of the noodles. Or how a buddy of mine insisted on letting his cast iron skillet cool down slowly in the oven instead of rinsing it with water right after cooking, and now my eggs never stick. There are just these little tricks that older workers and family members picked up through sheer trial and error that don't make logical sense on paper but absolutely work in practice. We all just get so set in our ways or think we know better until something finally forces us to try it their way.