c/drywall-installers

Saw a buddy's basement ceiling job 6 months later... night and day how the tape held up

Just ran a moisture meter on a fresh sheet of drywall and got 18%

Picked up a new moisture meter at Home Depot last week and checked a stack of board that had been sitting in my garage for three days. 18% moisture means you are asking for mold and tape failure down the line. Has anyone else had supplier board come in way wetter than it should be?

PSA: Don't trust pre-mixed mud from the big box store on a Monday morning

Grabbed a bucket of pre-mix from Home Depot in Denver last week and it was full of lumps right out of the seal. Spent an hour straining junk out of it on the job site, never again without checking the date code first. Anybody else run into this or am I the only one getting bad batches?

That one Tuesday where everything went wrong from the jump

Started the day with a busted taping knife and spent 20 minutes trying to fix it before giving up. Then the mud I mixed was too thick and I had to redo a whole corner joint. Has anyone else had a day where you just should have stayed home?

Warning: cheap compound will ruin your day

Bought the $8 pre-mixed joint compound from the big box store. Had to sand every single joint twice because it was full of air bubbles. Cost me an extra 3 hours on a 500 sq ft basement job. Anyone else stick to the mid-range stuff?

TIL that using a wet sponge to smooth mud isn't always a shortcut

I was on a job in Austin last week and saw a guy wet-sponging his butt joints instead of sanding. I figured it was just a lazy trick I’d skip. But I tried it on a small patch job in a closet and the finish came out way smoother with less dust. The trick is you gotta keep the sponge barely damp or it’ll peel the mud right off. Has anyone else found a specific setting where this works better than sanding?

Old timer at the supply house said to use 20 minute mud for patches, not the 45

I was picking up some sheets in Tulsa this morning and this guy who looked like he's been doing this since the 70s told me I'm wasting time on small patches using 45 minute mud. He said 20 minute sets faster and you can do two coats in the time it takes to do one with 45. I tried it on a 2x2 hole in a closet and he was right, it saved me like 30 minutes. Anybody else use the fast stuff for patches or am I just slow?

Changed my mind about using fiberglass mesh tape on corners after a job in Austin

I always used paper tape for inside corners, thought mesh was junk. But last month outside Austin on a 5000 square foot house, the GC insisted on mesh for all the corners. I fought it for half a day before giving in. The mesh held better with the hot mud and I only had to go back for one repair out of 40 corners. Anyone else had better luck with mesh than they expected?

Watched a perfect corner bead pop off 20 minutes after I set it

I was finishing up a basement remodel in Maplewood this Tuesday and everything was going smooth. Got the corners taped, mudded the first coat, stepped away to grab coffee for like 20 minutes. Came back and one whole corner bead had popped off the drywall. Just sitting there on the floor like it gave up. I used the same setting compound I always use, same technique, no drafts or anything. Had to scrape off all the fresh mud and start that corner over from scratch. Set it again with some extra screws this time but now I'm paranoid the whole job is cursed. Has anyone else had a corner bead just bail on them like that for no reason?

Spent $45 on a self-leveling compound for my first big ceiling job and it saved my back big time

I always used to mix the cheap stuff by hand and try to feather out the bumps with extra thin coats. Took forever and my arms would be dead after one room. Finally grabbed a bag of the premium self-leveling stuff from the lumber yard for my last living room ceiling patch. It was like $45 for a 50lb bag vs $22 for the regular stuff. Poured it out and watched it find its own flat spots in like 15 minutes. Had to go back over two low spots with a little extra but the finish was way smoother than anything I ever did by hand. Only thing is you gotta commit to mixing the whole bag at once or it sets up weird. Anyone else try the pricey leveler on a ceiling and have it work out?

Went to a drywall supply yard in Phoenix and saw something wild

I had to pick up some sheets in Phoenix last Tuesday and walked into this supply yard I never used before. Right there in the loading area, one of their guys was finishing a ceiling patch with a paint roller instead of a mud knife. I stopped and stared for a good 10 seconds before he noticed me. He said it was faster and he'd been doing it for years. I asked him how he got the corners and he just shrugged. Has anyone else ever seen somebody use a roller for taping and finishing like that?

That old timer on a jobsite in Tulsa kept telling me to wet my mud less

He said 'stop chasing that perfect first coat, it's gonna crack every time'. I finally listened on my last house job and saved myself like 3 hours of sanding. Anyone else have an old school trick they resisted for way too long?

TIL the hard way that mud dries faster when you add a little hot water to the mix

I was fighting with a batch that kept cracking in my shop last winter, temp was like 45 degrees. Tried dumping in warm tap water instead of cold and it blended way smoother, set up in half the time. Anyone else mess with water temp or am I just late to the party?

Talked to a guy who still uses hand tools for tape and mud

I was on a job over in Naperville last month and this older guy, must have been pushing 70, was finishing a whole basement with just a hawk and trowel. No banjo, no automatic taper, nothing. He said he learned in the 70s and never saw a reason to change. Made me think about how much we lean on these tools now and whether it actually makes us better or just faster. What do you guys think, is there something to learning it old school first?

That basement ceiling in Milwaukee that nearly caved my head in

I was hanging 5/8 board in a drop ceiling conversion over on Lincoln Ave last month. The homeowner wanted it direct applied so we skipped the furring strips. Third sheet in I hit a spot where the old water damage made the joists rotted underneath. The board split right down the middle and one half swung down and smacked my shoulder. My helper Dave was on the lift and had to jump off to brace the rest. We ended up cutting out about 4 feet of the bad section and sistering in new 2x6s. Took us an extra 2 hours but at least nobody got knocked out. Has anyone else had a situation where the framing was way worse than you expected once you started hanging?

Took me 2 years to stop over-mudding my butt joints

I used to pile on so much mud at every butt joint because I thought that was the only way to hide it. Last month a foreman walked by on a big hotel job downtown and just goes "hey you're making more work for yourself". He showed me how to feather it out thin and wide with a 12 inch knife instead of globbing it on thick. First coat dried flat and I only needed two more passes instead of four. Has anyone else had a random tip from a guy on site that completely changed how you tape?

Spent 20 years mudding backwards until a foreman in Denver pointed it out

Taping mud finally clicked for me after 15 years in the trade

I always fought with my taping mud getting too stiff or drying out too fast on the pan. Last month I was working a job in Nashville and the guy next to me showed me his trick. He adds a tiny splash of warm water to the pan before he loads it up and mixes it in with his knife. Tbh I thought he was crazy but I tried it and my corners came out way smoother. Anyone else got a weird mud trick that actually works?

Overheard two guys at Home Depot arguing about pre-filling screw holes and it got me thinking about my own method

A 6-inch knife was holding me back for 2 years

I used a 6-inch knife for everything until my buddy on a job in Nashville handed me a 12-inch one. Suddenly my mudding went way faster and I had way less sanding to do. What size knife did you guys start with?

The difference in my finish work after getting a 12 inch drywall knife

I used to only use a 6 inch knife for all my taping and bedding... then on a job in Denver last spring, a guy showed me his 12 inch knife for the final coat. Man, the difference was night and day. I went from needing 3 coats to just 2 and the feathering was way smoother. Has anyone else had that moment where a bigger knife just clicked for them?

Spent years using a utility knife the backwards way until a journeyman called me out

I've been drywalling for about 4 years now. Always cut with the blade facing toward my body because it felt more natural. Last Tuesday I was on a job in a basement remodel and this old timer named Mike comes over and just watches me for a minute. He goes "you know you're supposed to score away from yourself right?" I brushed it off but he showed me how much cleaner the cut is when you pull the knife toward you with the blade facing away. Tried it on the next sheet and honestly the edge was way smoother with less crumbling. I must have wasted hundreds of sheets over the years doing it wrong. Has anyone else had a basic habit they had to unlearn after years in the trade?

I finally looked up how much mud I actually waste per job

I was cleaning out my van last Tuesday and found three half-used buckets of joint compound from jobs back in May. Decided to weigh what was left and it came out to about 14 pounds total. That's basically a whole extra bucket I'm tossing every couple months just from overmixing and not sealing them right. Has anyone else actually tracked their mud waste or am I just being sloppy?

Flat taping vs. hand taping my own basement job

Worked for 3 years using a banjo for everything. Flat taping corners seemed faster. Then I hit a 90-degree corner in my own house last month. Mud kept blowing out, leaving gaps. Old timer walked by and said "Your angle's off because you're not letting the tape seat." Realized I'd been forcing it instead of letting the knife ride the bead. Has anyone else caught themselves doing a basic move wrong for years?

The day I stopped buying premixed compound after 15 years

I always thought the guys who mix their own mud from powder were just trying to look tough or save a buck. Been using premixed buckets since I started hanging in Phoenix back in 2009, never had a complaint. But last month a buddy brought over a batch he mixed himself for a ceiling patch job at my house. I gotta admit, the stuff felt smoother going on and dried way harder than what I get from the store. He said it costs him about $8 for a 5 gallon batch versus $15 for premixed, which adds up when you do big commercial jobs. So I tried it myself on a small garage remodel last week, mixed up 2 gallons with a paddle bit in a Home Depot bucket. It was a little lumpy at first but after 5 minutes it was like butter. I'm still a skeptic about doing it for big jobs where time is money, but for small patches it might be worth it. Has anyone else switched and noticed a real difference in durability?