c/drywall-installers

Tried using a 6-inch knife for taping a whole room, my wrists still hurt 3 days later

Switched to a 6-inch knife for the entire taping job on a 12x14 bedroom to see if it would speed things up. It just made my hands cramp and left more ridges to sand. Has anyone else found a good reason to use smaller tools for bigger jobs?

PSA: Why does every new build in Dallas insist on 1/2 inch drywall for all ceilings?

I was helping a friend finish his basement in Fort Worth last month and noticed his ceiling already sagging between the joists after just 3 years, so why do builders keep skimping on 5/8 inch when the extra cost is barely a few hundred bucks?

The day I stopped over-mixing my mud and saved 30 minutes per room

I was working on a house in Arlington last month and kept getting bubbles no matter what I did. An older painter stopped by and pointed out I was mixing my joint compound way too fast and for too long. Has anyone else had this issue where you realize you've been creating extra work for yourself for years?

TIL: Stop overfilling your mud pans when you're on stilts

I watched a guy on my crew last Tuesday dump a whole quart of mud down his leg because he had the pan stacked to the brim. He was up on stilts reaching for a corner and it just sloshed over. Took him 20 minutes to clean up and he still had to change pants. If you're working overhead or on stilts, keep that pan half full max. It saves you time and a mess. Am I the only one who learned this the hard way?

Hollow door patch job ran me 6 hours, should have been 30 minutes. What's your worst time sink?

I mean, I was patching a hollow core door from a doorknob hole and figured it would be quick. Somehow the mesh tape kept tearing and I ended up mixing mud three times before it looked right. Has anyone else found a faster way to do these little patches without it taking all day?

I used to backroll every coat of mud until a foreman in Des Moines showed me why that was wasting time

Just realized my boss has been marking up materials 40% and pocketing the difference

Had a chat with a supplier last week at the counter in Phoenix. He let it slip what our shop rate for 5/8" firecode was. I've been invoicing clients at $18 a sheet but we're paying $12. Boss told me it was "standard markup for waste and delivery." 40% markup on top of labor? That's not standard, that's just greedy. Has anyone else caught their company doing stuff like this?

Quick PSA: Stop using drywall shims from the big box stores

Picked up a pack of those plastic shims from Home Depot last week and they literally crumbled when I tried to tap them in. Had to dig out half a dozen pieces from behind a butt joint before the mud would even lay flat. Stick to the paper ones or just cut your own from scrap. Has anyone else had these plastic ones fall apart on them?

Can we talk about taping inside corners with a banjo?

I tried using a banjo for inside corners on a 2,000 sq ft basement job last month in Denver and it just kept bunching up on me. Switched back to hand taping after losing an hour cleaning mud off the tool. Any tips for getting the banjo to work smooth on those tight 90 degree angles?

Tried pre-filling screw dimples vs filling after hanging. Night and day difference.

Spent last week on a 1500 sq foot basement job in Maplewood. Always filled dimples after all the sheets were up. Buddy told me to pre-fill as I go per board. Saves so much time. No more hunting down missed dimples. Anyone else do it this way?

Can we talk about pre-filling screw holes before mudding

I was on a job in Columbus last Tuesday, ceiling job in a new build, and I skipped pre-filling the screw dimples on the first 50 screws because the crew was pushing for speed. The next morning the tape lifted in three spots right along the seams, and I had to cut it out and redo the whole section. Why do some guys swear it's fine to skip that step when it clearly saves a headache down the road?

Had a drywall lift fail on me at a church remodel in Akron last month

I was hanging 12-foot boards in a sanctuary ceiling when the lift just dropped. The foot pedal went loose and the whole thing came down. Lucky nobody was under it, but I cracked three sheets and had to start over. Has anyone else had trouble with those old Werner lifts losing pressure?

Rant: Old timer in Pittsburgh showed me up on a tape measure trick

I was on a job in Pittsburgh last spring, hanging 12-foot boards in a hallway with a bunch of angles. This guy, must have been 60 years old, comes over and watches me measure, mark, and cut each piece one at a time. He just shook his head and said 'son, you're wasting half your day.' Then he showed me how to mark multiple studs at once with a chalk line and a speed square, cutting all the boards in one stack. I felt like an idiot but honestly it saved me about 45 minutes on that room alone. He didn't even say much else, just walked off to his own work. Has anyone else had a random stranger on site teach you something that simple but game-changing?

The time a client's cat turned my mud pan into a litter box

I was working on a basement in Akron, left my pan of mud on the floor for maybe 10 minutes while I went to grab a new blade. Came back to find the homeowner's fluffy white cat, Mittens, doing her business right in the middle of my fresh batch of 90-minute mud. The homeowner just laughed and said, "She thinks it's sand." Had to scrap the whole pan and start over. Anyone else had a pet completely wreck your setup?

Floating corners on butt joints, do you tape them or just mud them?

I keep seeing guys on job sites near Detroit just mudding over their butt joints without any tape, claiming it saves time. But I had a ceiling in a warehouse come back with cracks after 6 months because I tried it their way once. Idk, maybe it's just me but I've always taped those corners for strength. Has anyone else run into this debate on their crews?

Talked to a guy at the supply house about using a hawk and trowel

Ran into an older installer at the yard in Boise last Thursday. He saw me loading up boxes of mud and asked why I never use a hawk. I told him it's slower and messier than a pan. He just shook his head and said, 'Kid, you're working harder, not smarter. A 14 inch trowel and a good hawk lets you move three times the mud in one trip up the ladder.' He showed me his setup, a Marshalltown hawk with a worn wooden handle. Said he's used the same one for 22 years. It got me thinking maybe I've been too quick to write off the old ways. Anyone here still use a hawk for taping and coating big ceilings?

Question about the old manual taping tools versus the automatic ones now

I spent about $1,200 on a used automatic taper from a guy in Tacoma six years ago. It felt like a crazy amount at the time, but it saved my shoulder and let me finish a big apartment job in half the time. Anyone still using the old hand tools, or has everyone switched over?

Showerthought: a ceiling job in a Denver condo building changed how I check for pipes

I was cutting a hole for a new light in a kitchen, and my blade hit a water line I didn't know was there because it was run outside the normal stud bay. The whole unit below got soaked, and the fix cost over two grand. What's the weirdest place you've found a pipe or wire that the plans didn't show?

Just spent $400 on a cordless drywall screw gun and it saved my shoulder on a big ceiling job

Am I the only one who spent 4 hours on a stupid corner bead?

Had a job in a 1920s house in Chicago where the old plaster walls were so out of square, my metal corner bead just would not sit flush. I tried shimming, bending, everything, and it still looked wavy. What's your go-to fix for a corner that's just plain wrong?

I finally saw a crew skip the back blocking on a long ceiling run last week.

They were doing a 24-foot span in a new build out in Tempe, just slapping up the sheets and calling it good. I know it adds a day, but that joint is going to crack by next winter, guaranteed. The framers never get it perfectly flat, and without that extra support, the tape just can't hold. Has anyone else had to go back and fix a job where the previous guys cut this corner?

I know everyone loves the 4 foot lift for ceilings, but I switched back to a 6 foot and my shoulders are thanking me.

Shoutout to the guy who argued with me about using a 6-inch knife for finishing, because hitting 500 linear feet of flawless seams with it last Tuesday proved him wrong.

Everyone says you need a 10 or 12-inch knife for a smooth finish, but I find the smaller blade gives me way more control on tricky corners and curves, so what's your go-to knife size for final coats?

I started using a cheap paint roller grid instead of a hawk for small patches and it saved my back on a kitchen ceiling job last month.

Just counted and I've patched over 500 nail pops in my career

I was cleaning out my truck and found a stack of old job notes from years back. Started adding up the little repair notes and hit 512 nail pops fixed. That's a lot of tiny holes filled and sanded. The weird part is I remember almost every single one because they're such a pain, especially in old houses where the framing moves. It feels like a weird badge of honor for dealing with other people's rush jobs. Anyone else keep a mental tally of the most annoying small fixes?