My Drywall Strategy Is Paying Off

[crokett]

Had a comp day from work so I started taping out the new room today. I used 4x12 sheets when I did the drywall to minimize butt joints. There are only tapers on the main ceiling and only 1 butt joint that runs floor to ceiling on 1 wall. I also made sure no seams on the same stud as an electrical box and no seams at the corners of doors or windows. I -tried- to pay attention to how I did cuts to avoid frankensteining smaller pieces together. That mostly worked.

I used up the premix I had doing the closet. Tomorrow trying something else new - 90 minute hot mud. As slow as I work in theory I can work all the way around the room and it will be dry enough for a second coat by the time I get back to where I started.

[jking]

If you haven't used it before(setting type mud), make sure you clean your knife periodically as you work. You don't want it to set up on your tools.

[parnelli]

I prefer the light blue logo bag of lightweight hot mix. I'm not good enough to use the regular hot mix and the regular stuff is tough to sand my mistakes.

[bigstick509]

Good luck with the mud job, it is one of my least favorite home improvement jobs.The other is anything to do with plumbing, I always seem to be on my back and in tight quarters.

[chopnhack]

Fast mud is good!! But yes watch your tools, you don't want to have drag marks all over your nice work. Don't overtool it either, just pick it up on the next coat. That is cool that your planning paid off. Are you going to texture the surface? If you do just spray a light lace pattern, much lighter than knockdown, its just enough to break up the flatness and it further hides any imperfections, flat smooth boards will always show some spots.

[Shep]

I hate drywalling. Good luck.

[JimD]

I keep the setting compound on hand for patch jobs. I also use it for bathrooms because it is water resistant. I don't think it sands noticably worse than pre-mix. The only real disadvantage is the need to mix. Put water into the container and then add the dry mix.

Jim

[crokett]

Some other things I learned.... I prefer the setting type to the premix but I am too slow for the 45 minute. I wasted a lot while it got too stiff to work. I don't think it sands any harder than the premix. If I'd used a bigger knife on the tapers I wouldn't have had to run a 2nd coat. A corner knife really does work, but it takes some learning to use it.

All in all this is going much faster than I thought. Except for some outside corners and some trouble spots, most of the room is done. I was thinking it would take at least another weekend but I think I can wrap it up this week.

[JimD]

I use a corner trowel but I tend to build up the corner too much with it. I noticed that the guys that did the drywall in my house just used a regular trowel and did one side of the corners at a time.

Jim