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How-To

Control Your Tape Roll

Joint compound keeps paper drywall tape from unrolling before the next use.

By Josh Risberg Issue 332 - July 2025
Click here to enlarge. Drawing by Martha Garstang Hill.

Here’s an easy way to prevent paper drywall tape from unraveling when you’re done using it. Just smear a small dab of mud under the end of the tape. Once you squish it back down onto the roll, the mud dries almost instantly, forming a mild adhesive. Of course, you will have to tear that bit off when you next use it, but a few inches of tape costs almost nothing—and because unraveled tape often gets mangled and destroyed in transit anyway, you will end up saving more tape in the long run.

— Josh Risberg; Rosemount, Minn. Edited by Mark Petersen.

From Fine Homebuilding #332

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