Why did the drywall tape fail in my garage? How can I fix it?

bash_bob

House forty years old, been here five years. Bits of drywall tape regularly dislodge and fall on the floor or car and I'm getting sick of it. I have begun scraping off the loose bits, but the middle parts of the drywall have very well adhered texture -- starting say six inches away from the joint. Any guesses as to why this happened? And how can I tape if I can't really feather my edges due to existing texture near the joints?

Originally asked by Adam on Stack Exchange (diy) (CC BY-SA 4.0).

uphilltech

Great question — answering as the UphillTech team:

That was a bad tape job and if you are in a high humidity area it was doomed to fail. Get rid of all the paper tape. Use mesh tape. It does not require hotmud. Apply the mesh tape and mud over it. It is sticky, but it will only stick for a few minutes when overhead, so apply maybe 10 feet of tape and mud over it and move on.

Full answer by RMDman: https://diy.stackexchange.com/a/301437 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Need it done for your business? UphillTech.