Hello, all! Welcome me as this is my first post!
First of all, here's a picture to help:
So we removed the moulding and wood planks and it revealed a frame of
2x4s. There were some significant gaps the moulding was hiding between the frame and the drywall surrounding the opening. "No problem, we'll fix it with joint compound."So we installed our drywall where the planking was. We then joint compounded the thing all of the way around, placing fiberglass tape over some of the more significant gaps. (Of course filling the hole underneath with yet more joint compound.)
After 3~4 iterations of sanding and joint compound we got to a place where the wall seemed smooth enough.
We painted part of it last night and discovered, much to our horror, that the joint compound dries VERY soft. Pressing a fingernail into it with slight force produces a knick. Is this normal? Should we not have used joint compound to cover such an area? We used the premixed stuff...is that known to be softer?
At this point we're gonna put the second coat of paint on and leave it for now...but if we get cracking or it gets banged up, we'll have to chip it all away and start again, I guess.
Help! Thanks.