I was wasting time on 90 degree corners until I tried pre-filling the gap with a thin layer of quick-set and letting it tack up for 5 minutes before the paper tape, and it cut my finishing time on a 1500 square foot basement in Minneapolis by almost 2 hours.
I was hanging bead in a bathroom remodel last week and couldn't find my 10-inch knife anywhere. Figured I'd just muscle through with my 6-inch since the job was small. Spent almost 45 minutes fighting to get the mud smooth along a 8 foot corner. The whole thing looked like a messy frosting job when I was done. Had to sand it down and redo it the next day with the right tool. Lesson learned: using the wrong size knife just costs you double the time. Anyone else ever try to shortcut a tool swap and regret it?
Used to just mix dry and fight chunks for 20 years until I watched a guy on a job in Phoenix do it and I felt like an idiot, anyone else still stubborn about old habits?
I was working on a walk-in closet in a house off 14th street in Portland, hitting the last corner piece, and I forgot to check my laser line. The board was off by nearly 2 inches at the top corner, so I had to yank it down and trim it with a rasp. Spent an extra 20 minutes fixing it, but the final fit was clean. How do you guys handle those small awkward spaces without losing your cool?
I was adding up old job logs from my notebook, and that number caught me off guard. Does anyone else ever stop and calculate how many boards you've actually put up?
I was in the middle of a 2,000 square foot basement job in Denver last month and the butt joints were killing me. Tried that trick where you slightly overfill the joint and then scrape it flat with a 10 inch knife before it dries. Cut my sanding time in half easy. Anyone else do this or am I just late to the party?
I was on a job in Phoenix last month and this young guy shows up with a brand new $700 automatic taper. He's bragging about how fast it'll go. Three hours later he's covered in mud and fighting with it while I'm halfway done with a manual banjo. I've been doing this 12 years and tried those things twice. They jam, they're heavy, and you still have to hand finish anyway. For commercial maybe it pays off but on a 1500 sq ft house? Waste of cash. Anyone else stick with the old school tools or am I just stubborn?
For the first 5 years hanging drywall I would do all the screws first on a whole wall, then go back and mud the dimples. Took forever and the mud was always drying out by the time I got to the far end. Last year on a big job in Albany my partner showed me he does a row of screws, then immediately muds that row before moving on. He said the mud stays wet and you get way less bubbles. I tried it and honestly my taping got faster even though it feels like you're doing more back and forth. Has anyone else changed their dimple order and seen better results?
I was working alone on a ceiling in Bradford last month and the board slipped right off my lift. Landed on a stack of spare lumber and split clean in half. Had to scrap it and drive 45 minutes back to the supply house for a replacement. Anyone else ever have a board get away from them like that?
I had a 3/4 inch gap on a ceiling patch last week in an old house in Denver. Figured I'd try using a foam backer rod instead of my usual paper tape and mud first. The mud shrank like crazy overnight and left a deep crack right down the middle. Learned my lesson, backer rod is for caulking not drywall mud, has anyone else made a similar mistake with gap fillers?
I used paper tape for years like everyone told me to. But last month on a job in Cleveland I tried mesh tape on some garage drywall where the seams were a bit uneven. It held up way better for me and I didn't have to fight bubbles. Has anyone else actually given mesh a fair shot on tricky corners or am I alone on this?
I was finishing a basement job in Sandy and the first batch of joint compound I mixed up had these weird hard lumps that kept tearing my paper tape. Had to stop everything, scrape off what I could, and drive 20 miles to get a fresh bag of dust. Has anyone else run into a bad batch of mud lately or was I just unlucky?
Bought this expensive self-leveling compound for a basement floor in Denver. Label said it flows out flat on its own. I mixed it exactly to spec, poured it, and it looked like a moonscape. Troweled, re-poured, still lumpy. Called the company and they said I needed to use their $80 special primer first. Did that on attempt three. Still garbage. Had to grind it all off and do it with traditional mud. Anyone else run into a product that was way oversold?
Buddy at the supply house told me to switch to a 6-inch for the first coat and my corners came out way cleaner. Anyone else find that the smaller blade handles the angle better on the initial pass?
Been doing drywall for about 5 years now and always thought wetting the back of boards before hanging was some old school waste of time. Last week at a job in Austin, this guy Bob who's been hanging since the 80s showed me his trick on a ceiling with really tight corners. He just wiped a damp sponge along the back and the board bent like butter without cracking. Saved me from having to cut extra pieces on a 12x12 room. Anyone else got a weird trick from a veteran that you ignored at first but now swear by?
I did a big basement finish near Detroit last month with 10 foot ceilings. I had always used paper faced metal corner bead because that's what I learned on. Switched to a vinyl L bead for this job after a buddy kept bugging me about it. The time I saved on not having to prefill and tape the outside corners was NUTS, probably cut 2 hours off my day. Has anyone else found that certain beads work way better on taller walls?
I spent YEARS arguing with my crew about which tape is actually better for inside corners. Paper tape always seemed like the right way because that's how the old timers taught me. But after a job in Nashville last month where we had this HUGE humidity problem, I tried fiberglass mesh tape on a total whim. The mesh tape actually let the mud set up way faster and I didn't get those stupid bubbles that paper tape loves to leave behind. Plus I didn't have to mess with bedding the tape as much, just stuck it on and went right over it. My buddy still swears by paper for flat joints though. Any of you guys had better luck switching to mesh for certain spots or am I just imagining things?
I was hanging board at a 48 unit condo complex over by Riverbend and every metal corner I put up had a dent or a bounce by the time the painter showed up. The foreman walked me over to a finished unit where they used paper faced tape instead and it looked clean with zero shadows. Has anyone else tried ditching metal for paper on high traffic walls?
Last Tuesday I walked into a house in Phoenix to patch a quarter-sized hole in a bedroom wall. Turns out that hole was connected to a fist-sized hole behind the dresser, and that led to a section of water-damaged mud running all the way down to the baseboard. By day three, I had ripped out a 4x8 sheet and was matching the original knockdown texture from 1987. Has anyone else had a 'quick fix' spiral into a full room redo?
Was finishing a basement remodel in Arlington last week and I had to choose between my 10 inch and 12 inch taping knife for the flat work. I went with the 12 inch even though I'm more comfortable with the smaller one cause it covers more ground faster. Took me a bit to get used to the extra weight but by the end of the second wall I was moving way quicker than usual. Anyone else find bigger knives worth the learning curve?
I was working a job over in Lancaster on this old house with super crooked corners. This guy I was partnering with, must have been 60 something, showed me how to pre-fill the corner bead with a thinner mix before even taping. Said it saves sanding time and makes the bead sit way flatter. I tried it on a tricky spot in the living room and honestly, it cut my finishing time by like 20 percent. Never thought to do that, always just jammed the tape on and prayed. Has anyone else tried something like that or got another trick for busted up corners?
He just said 'you're spending 10 extra seconds now or 30 minutes later doing touch-ups' and honestly that math hit me different after a 400 board job last week where I had to go back twice, has anyone else had a simple quote just click like that?