That automatic taper I swore I'd never use

I had a guy on a job in Nashville last year trying to sell me on a self-feeding automatic taper. Told him no way, manual taping gives better control and I've been doing it 15 years. Then we hit a 30,000 square foot hotel job with a 4 week timeline. On day 3 of wrist pain I borrowed his and ran 40 boxes through it. The finish was way more consistent than what I get hand taping, especially on long corridors. Has anyone else found these things actually make your life easier or was that just a one off?

3 comments

3 Comments

reese12415d ago

That hotel corridor work changes your whole perspective. I did a 60 room motel near Memphis last spring and by the second day my grip strength was shot. The automatic taper gave me back my afternoons because I wasn't fighting fatigue and doing sloppy touch ups the next morning. Once you see how flat and even the mud lays out on those long runs, it's hard to go back for anything bigger than a closet.

sarah_mason15d ago

Man you're absolutely right about the grip strength thing. I did a 40 unit apartment complex outside Nashville and by day three I could barely close my hand around a coffee cup. The machine changed everything for me. I was knocking out corridors in half the time and my joints actually felt okay at the end of the day instead of like they were on fire. The consistency is what got me too. Hand taping on those long runs you're fighting with your own fatigue and the mud starts drying weird. The machine lays it down so even that you barely have to sand. I honestly don't think I could go back to hand taping for anything over a couple hundred square feet. It's just not worth the pain or the sloppy results.

shane_fisher3715d ago

Man I never thought about the wrist pain angle but that's a solid point. I remember taping a whole basement in a new build a couple years back and my hand was cramping up something fierce by the end of day two. I bet a lot of guys who swear by hand taping haven't had to do a job that size yet, just small rooms where it doesn't matter. Once you're running through a hotel corridor that goes on forever, that machine pays for itself in comfort alone, not even talking about the finish quality.