[rachel101]

I've been remodeling, painting, etc. The house is 8 yrs. Old with textured walls. It's mostly on corners but in several places the drywall tape is popping up along edges here and there. I took care of it with spackle and painted etc. In some places it has started coming up again. Is my spackling substandard or is there a better way to take care of this?

[Dr1757]

Did you install the tape or is it old/original? It sounds like the bond between the tape and the drywall is letting go. To get it to stick properly, you will need to scrape the old tape off and use enough drywall mud to bed the new tape in place so it won't pop up again.

[schwim]

Dr is spot on. You can't spackle over popped tape and hope to keep it down. The bond between the tape and the wall is what keeps that from happening.

If it's tape you've applied, then try leaving a little more mud between the tape and joint. Squeezing too much out and not having a straight run are the two common culprits of poor tape adherence.

If the problem is in a few remote locations, I use a razor knife to cut out the lifted tape sections and spackle the indentations. This only works for small areas that don't actually cross the joint! If the raised area is of considerable size, I pull the tape off completely, sand or scrape the joint free of old compound and rework.

Also, make sure that the joint is well fastened, as movement can cause failure as well, alrhough this will show up as a crack and not an isolated "bubble".

Thanks,
Json

[rachel101]

Thanks for the advice. It's the original tape from when the house was built and it is the bond between the tape and drywall that is failing. I will add the fact that "spackle will NOT hold the tape down" to my list of things learned. Thank you.

[glavine]

You may be able to slide the drywall mud between the tape and wall, id try that first, if it was just smooth walls id say cut the tape out and retape and mud it.