Is There Special Mud & Tape for Vaulted Ceiling Joints?

If you own a home built in the last 20 years, chances are you have at least one vaulted ceiling. Vaulted ceilings usually require a special type of drywall tape, but not a special type of mud, or joint compound.

Significance

Many new homes have vaulted ceilings, sometimes called cathedral ceilings. These ceilings often require professional drywall finishing because of the angled joints.

Function

Joints are where two drywall boards meet. To finish them, you must embed drywall tape in joint compound over the joint so that the seams will not be visible through paint.

Types

If two drywall boards are level with each other, or if they roughly are at a 90-degree angle to each other, you can use normal paper drywall tape.

Considerations

Vaulted ceiling joints are often obtuse, meaning they are somewhere between 90 and 180 degrees. These require special tape for finishing.

Expert Insight

Two popular brands of obtuse angle tape are No-Coat and Strait-Flex. Neither requires a special type of joint compound for installation.

References

• Strait Flex (PDF)
• No-Coat website

Resources

• Example of typical wide-angle tape installation procedure

Photo Credit

Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Mo Riza