# Can you use fibafuse with Sheetrock blue top?



## cornerbox (Apr 24, 2010)

This would be good for the butt joints here in Germany.


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## Saul_Surfaces (Jan 8, 2010)

I tried Fibafuse with setting compound and it worked ok. Can't see why it wouldn't suit blue board. I find it pulls too much in the corners for my liking though.


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## FibaFuse (Feb 25, 2010)

cornerbox said:


> This would be good for the butt joints here in Germany.


yes, FibaFuse can be used with butt joints. in fact, fibafuse embeds tighter against the wall compared to paper. tighter means coating is thinner and less finishing needs to be done to hide the tape. perfect for butt joints.


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## FibaFuse (Feb 25, 2010)

Saul_Surfaces said:


> I tried Fibafuse with setting compound and it worked ok. Can't see why it wouldn't suit blue board. I find it pulls too much in the corners for my liking though.


what do you mean by pulls in the corners? Do you use a flat knife to embed the tape or a corner trowel?


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## Saul_Surfaces (Jan 8, 2010)

FibaFuse said:


> what do you mean by pulls in the corners? Do you use a flat knife to embed the tape or a corner trowel?


Mmmm . . . Sounds defensive to me If you had any real experience using your product you'd know exactly what I mean. But, for the sake of clarity, lets take this dance anyway.

My use of Fibafuse was preceded by reading the online user guide, and watching the sponsored video featuring a guy named Myron. In the video they warned that using a knife to embed corners would cut the tape. Good to know. Corner knives aren't hard to come by.

The attraction of Fibafuse in my case was the need to mud a single 18'x35' room in a day, and the hope Fibafuse would bond into the setting compound better than paper tape (since the mud gets into the weave, its reasonable to expect some mechanical bonding, in addition to any glue effect the setting compound offers). For this intent Fibafuse worked fine. I've never been keen on using paper tape with setting compound (less glue than taping mud), and certainly don't like mesh in my corners.

The annoyance comes from the flexibility of Fibafuse as compared to paper. When setting corners with either an angle flusher, or a corner trowel, the ends would pull in toward the center accordion style when trying to set the few inches at the end that don't set pulling the corner knife or flusher from the center. The difference can be seen handling the two products dry. When you fold paper for a corner, you can pretty much dial a phone with a 6" piece, but the Fibafuse just kind of crumples at the same distance.

It's not an unmanageable product, just a little difficult to set. Perhaps if you nice people at Fibafuse manufactured the next version with a few stiff fibers the length of the tape parallel to the center line the tape would be a shade stiffer and easier to set.

In any case, once the Fibafuse is finally set, it's nice to know the setting mud is into the weave and mechanically bonded. It likely stands up to mild water damage better than paper too.


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## FibaFuse (Feb 25, 2010)

Saul_Surfaces said:


> Mmmm . . . Sounds defensive to me If you had any real experience using your product you'd know exactly what I mean. But, for the sake of clarity, lets take this dance anyway.
> 
> My use of Fibafuse was preceded by reading the online user guide, and watching the sponsored video featuring a guy named Myron. In the video they warned that using a knife to embed corners would cut the tape. Good to know. Corner knives aren't hard to come by.
> 
> ...


Sorry, didn't mean to sound defensive. That's one negative thing about written communication... it's hard to convey the tone of the message. Anyhow, I love hearing experts, like yourself, talk about likes and dislikes with products. No matter how much I try to design a product response from end-users is valuable because you have the experience. I really appreciate and take seriously your input.

Thanks for the description of the issue. When applied like paper in the corner, the crumbling issue does occur with FibaFuse because it is lighter (lower density) than paper; so it has a tendency to pull when you put force against the surface; paper is more resilient so can take a beating better than FibaFuse. 

My suggestion is two-fold... 1) put slightly more water in the setting compound to make it a bit more creamier than you would with paper and 2) use about half the pressure when embedding FibaFuse as you would paper. The reason for doing both of these things is the mud will flow easier with a creamier compound and because FibaFuse is so porous you don't need a lot of pressure to embed it; paper is very dense so you need a lot of pressure to squeeze excess mud out from behind the tape. I know this is a change from your standard taping technique but your tired arms and shoulders will thank you for it.


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## cazna (Mar 28, 2010)

Hi Tom, Just got some fibafuse to try out, just wondering how you are getting on with winstones nz, Are they ok with it?


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