Had a week where every drywall patch I did cracked overnight

Last spring I had 7 straight days where I'd tape and mud a patch job, come back the next morning, and there'd be a hairline crack right down the middle. Turned out the humidity in that basement was way off and I wasn't letting the compound dry slow enough. Anybody else run into weird curing issues with certain weather?

2 comments

2 Comments

saraho4815d agoMost Upvoted

Honestly used to think any cracking was just from bad technique or not enough mud. Then this spring I did a bunch of patches in a garage that had crazy high humidity and every single one cracked no matter what I did. Had to slow way down and put a dehumidifier in there before the mud would even hold overnight. Tbh weather makes way more difference than I ever gave it credit for.

colesanchez15d ago

Tbh I had the exact same wake up call a few years back, @saraho48. Did a basement job in late summer and every coat of mud just kept lifting and peeling no matter how thin I laid it. Finally figured out the humidity was trapping moisture under the tape and making it bubble up overnight. Ngl it made me feel like I forgot how to tape and mud for a solid week. Had to stop everything and borrow a big commercial dehumidifier from a buddy, and even then I had to run it for two days straight before the room was dry enough to work. That garage must have been brutal if the mud wouldn't even hold overnight, that's next level frustration.