I hope someone else is enjoying themselves as much as me, but I am done for the day. You wouldn't want to pay me by the hour. Do you use a flashlight?
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*THANKS FOR THE TIPS* Anybody Else Sanding Joint Compound This Weekend?
- Thread starter Vtgw938
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While in college I spent a summer working for a drywall company. Drywall mud can cover a multitude of sins. I used a flashlight often. I learned how to use a 10" mud knife for everything. Feathering was the key. We used more fiberglass tape than paper tape but both worked.
Mud dust permeates everything. I would go home and slip on shorts and hang my work clothes outside and beat them with a stick before throwing them in the washer.
Before my shower I looked like I was wearing a powdered wig.
Glad that's over.
Mud dust permeates everything. I would go home and slip on shorts and hang my work clothes outside and beat them with a stick before throwing them in the washer.
Before my shower I looked like I was wearing a powdered wig.
Glad that's over.
Anybody Else Sanding Joint Compound This Weekend?
I did far too much of it over the years,I'm still coughing up white dust [emoji23]
(I hope you're sanding topping mud rather than joint compound [emoji33])
I did far too much of it over the years,I'm still coughing up white dust [emoji23]
(I hope you're sanding topping mud rather than joint compound [emoji33])
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Thats still part of my job,only small bathrooms or repairs on jobs. We have a drywall contractor for the big stuff and a plastering contractor to make us look good when ceilings are off in relationship to cabinets or crown moldings.Yes feathering out compound is the trick, I always add water to last coat of compound, a little slick on the trowel but welll worth it when it comes to sand.
bigwheelzip
Absent Comrade
Nope, never. That's men's work. 
Ivan the Butcher
Member
arjay;141404278 (I hope you're sanding topping mud rather than joint compound [emoji33 said:
I'm 66 and probably spent 1 to 2 years of it sanding! The absolute worst is when some Nimrod used joint compound and left a repair looking like a frosted cake! I never worked for a drywall company this was from damages left in apartments!
On new construction watching a good "Tape & Mud" man was like watching an artist paint a beautiful woman: Everything smooth and no lines or cracks! (I was no where that good!)
When my youngest was in college, we're fixing a downstairs unit's ceiling from a flood upstairs. I was showing him some tricks on fitting repairs into finished work. We had taped it joints already and he wanted to try top coating. He started with a 4" knife, then a 10", then went out to his car and brought in a 12" Concrete finish trowel. He did the most beautiful skim coat over large areas. I forgot he'd done concrete finishing before he started college! 3 years of busting concrete and replacing it makes any sane man yearn for college!
Sanding drywall, got more young men to enlist in the Army than bar fights and angry fathers with shotguns combined!
Ivan
GypsmJim
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Pffffttt. Just look at my screen name. 45 years in the bizness.
Never sanded a wall yet. Go to level 5 finish, skim coat and then wipe with a damp sponge. The end result is better, the amount of extra mud used is insignificant, and the results are better.
Never sanded a wall yet. Go to level 5 finish, skim coat and then wipe with a damp sponge. The end result is better, the amount of extra mud used is insignificant, and the results are better.
I learned about drywall when kid sanding after my dad used a ton of mud building a bedroom in the attic.
years ago on a habitat for humanity project house during the week they had volunteers sand drywall,ALL THE WAY TO THE TAPE, most of the home needed remudding!
OP
My end product is good but getting there is time consuming and effort. Only do it in my home, can't feather it out with a 10" knife, tried the sponge method but can't feather it good enough so that is a lot of work and I will try the thinning for the top coat. I sort of skim coat the walls so the the texture will be the same when painted but it isn't skim coating to mimic a plaster wall.
How about wallpapering and stripping it 20 years later? Do that a few times and you appreciate those bland painted walls.
When I get the bathroom remodeled I'm clear for full-time playing, from my wife. One room a winter is all she asks. Than back to huntin', fishin' and shootin'.
How about wallpapering and stripping it 20 years later? Do that a few times and you appreciate those bland painted walls.
When I get the bathroom remodeled I'm clear for full-time playing, from my wife. One room a winter is all she asks. Than back to huntin', fishin' and shootin'.
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Ivan the Butcher
Member
We converted an 1847 house into our company offices in 1976. 129 years of wallpaper needed stripping. Used a propane powered steam stripper. The wallpaper came off in quarter sized chunks that were 3/8" thick. It took over 100 hours to do 3 rooms. Far worse than sanding drywall!
Ivan
Ivan
You can wet sponge it too.......NO dust.
Ceilings are especially fun.
We restored an 1880s mansion several years ago. Lots of new holes in papered plaster walls for modern wiring and plumbing. The dry wallers did an incredible job of skim coating everything after it was patched. It was impressive!
OP
I do it but don't like it. Like anything it is amazing to watch someone do it who knows what and how to do it. Unfortunately those guy's are harder to find. Back in the day around here, my worst offenders (deer poachers) were either loggers or drywall workers. They were both work hard, play hard kind of guys and always a handful at 3 in the morning!
LVSteve
Member
Steam wallpaper stripping in a house formerly owned by a couple of heavy smokers is no fun.
mckenney99
Member
I don't know if there are ANY jobs that I hate and am worse at than drywall work. Painting is a close second.
I use biggest knife practical 12-14 and sponge it.
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Contrary to what is usually stated by the manufacturers, I find Joint Compound to be better than Spackle. In my experience Joint Compound is more crack resistant and just works better. Just my personal experiences.
I rarely if ever have to do any sanding - I just use a damp sponge. The KEY to a good job (took me years to learn) is do at least 3 thinner coats and do NOT try to get the first coat perfect! Feather out the edges and never try to do a job in just one coat - it's impossible to get everything perfect with a single coating.
I rarely if ever have to do any sanding - I just use a damp sponge. The KEY to a good job (took me years to learn) is do at least 3 thinner coats and do NOT try to get the first coat perfect! Feather out the edges and never try to do a job in just one coat - it's impossible to get everything perfect with a single coating.
