[Shop-talk] Tapeless Joint Compound?

[Karl Vacek]

Ahhh - once again confirmation from this esteemed group that some of the
shortcuts I've thought I invented are actually recognized techniques.
Faced with some bad wall-to-ceiling joints (actually some were never taped -
just wallpapered over in the 60's), I didn't want to tape a fairly
close-fitting, square joint so I forced ALEX into the void instead, and
painted immediately.  It's still fine 20 years after that "repair".  I've
used ALEX on stubborn cracks occasionally too, but my crack treatment of
choice is Krak-Kote, which  is essentially a thinned caulk-like material,
very flexible, applied over a flattened fiberglass mesh.  My house has
literally hundreds of feet of Krak-Kote repaired cracks, and with a couple
of exceptions (former window openings that were closed off in the 60's)
nothing has failed.
Karl

-----Original Message-----
From: Peter J. Thomas
Subject: Re: [Shop-talk] Tapeless Joint Compound?

Interesting on the liquid nails though.  I've used a similar technique to
deal with corners where the walls meet the ceiling.  Because of settling,
some of the tape either ripples or compound cracks at the edge of the tape.
I pull off the old tape and compound with a corner trowel but no tape.
Before painting gouge out the seam with a stiff putty knife and fill with
ALEX (painter's chaulk) .  Like the liquid nails, the ALEX remains flexible
and allows for some movement.  My repairs are only a year old so I don't how
well this will hold up in the long run.  
No cracks so far and I suspect if cracks do appear it will be in the seam
instead of the tape edge.

Peter T