If drywall is patched, shouldn't it look flat like it never needed repair?
Asked by
JLeslie (
65790
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1 month ago
In my new house there is a section of the ceiling about 8 inches by 48 inches that looks obviously patched. It is a perfect rectangle. The ceiling has knockdown finish, which will never be perfectly matched I understand that, but to me it looks like the drywall patch is thicker than the otherwise existing ceiling. The superintendent is saying the patch can never be perfect and what I am noticing is the knockdown, but I say no, because I can see the wear the rectangle of drywall was replaced. He agrees they did have to patch the area.
Why would a drywall new seam or new piece be any different than any other drywall seams that are all over the house when installing drywall?
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17 Answers
Sounds like the patch was thicker drywall. There are different thicknesses !
@JLeslie Understand that drywall is literally an art. If you want perfect results, it’s quite expensive. For passable, it’s reasonable. Matching drywall finish takes skill most people will never have. If they used ¾ inch where there was ½ inch, well… that’s just lazy/shoddy work.
@JLeslie it’s possible that the floor joist the drywall is attached to is bowed, and therefore the drywall is lower.
@snowberry It’s the attic, but that still is helpful, maybe it is something about the attic floor.
@Blackwater_Park The house was just built, and the drywallers are the same company who installed the drywall. It was patched before closing.
Ceilings are nearly impossible to be perfection because of the sheer size and nowhere to but a non tapered edge to a corner.
In the right light you will notice every seam unless it was done by a trades person that exclusively is good at doing only mudding and taping. The boards are tapered on the long edges so you will see more of the seam on the 4’ edge anyway.
^^Maybe that’s it, not tapered on the patch piece.
@JLeslie Since it’s in your attic, will you see it very often? If not, I wouldn’t worry about it.
If I hired someone to do such work I would not be satisfied if I could detect where a seam exists in the sheetrock.
Is it an attic where you’re going to have furniture and it’s going to be a living space, or just a storage space. I agree with @chyna if it’s just a storage space. I also agree with @SnipSnip, if it’s a living space, I would feel I want it to look correct, and not like a patch.
Its expensive to redo the whole thing, sounds like they were cheap or just didnt care about it being in the attic. My husband was a union drywall finisher and its definately an art. But not cheap.
It’s not in the attic, it is the ceiling in the main living room, the attic is above. I thought @snowberry was referring to the floor above, I might have misunderstood.
If it were in the living room ceiling, it would annoy the crap out of me.
I would hold back $1500 or more until it is fixed !
Put $1500 into an escrow account for completion.
We closed on the house already.
In that case, it would really bug me.
The drywall guy is coming mid November to look at it, and hopefully fix it. I’ll let you know what happens.
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