Took me 5 years to figure out I was overmudding my joints

I used to pile on the mud thick, thinking more meant fewer coats. Then a guy I subbed for in Denver watched me tape a room and said "you're making twice the work for yourself." He showed me how a thin, even pass with the 6-inch knife actually fills the tape way better. I cut my drying time by almost 40 percent after that. Anyone else have that "lightbulb" moment where a small change saved you hours?

2 comments

2 Comments

charliehill12d ago

...and that's when it hit me that I'd been basically fighting the mud instead of letting it work for me. But here's what I'm wondering after all that - what exactly were you using for your thin coat? Were you going with all-purpose or did you switch to a topping compound once you figured it out? I ask because I tried the thin pass trick and it worked great for flat areas but I kept getting little bubbles in the tape bed on butt joints until I changed my mix up. Just curious if the mud type mattered as much as the technique for you.

jana_ellis9512d ago

Yeah @charliehill, all-purpose worked best for me but I had to thin it way more than youd think.