Corner jointing

Dan, Get a video showing the process, or read a book about it. To do a corner should take a few minutes, not two hours. Apply the mud properly and sanding takes but a few passes with a sanding block. You can do the entire room in less time than you are spending on one corner.

I'm no professonal, but I do know one thing: It shouldn't take anyone three whole weeks to mud and tape anything on the scale you're working on. There are stone amateurs who could mud, tape and sand the Statue of Liberty in three weeks.

I don't know you, but I'm inclined to think that one of the reasons it's taking you forever is that perhaps you might be a little too persnickety about the job for your own good. A little over-engineering is never a bad idea, but overkill will do you in every time. There are some people who think mud should be laid and sanded so every sub-atomic particle of it is of of equally uniform height, mass, and weight.

Another thing that occurs to me is that maybe your mud is far too thick and going on at far too heavy a consistency, thereby naturally adding a lot of time onto your laying and sanding process. If the mud is going on at a consistency of cake frosting, it's way too thick ... and you need to get yourself an old kitchen mixer beater thingamajig and stick it on a good high-speed drill to get your mud nice and whippy (but not too whippy, because over-whipped mud results in cratering) so it glides on nice and smooth and fast. Matter of fact, professional mudder-taper guys have a trick of squirting in some Dove dish soap to smake the mud REALLY glide on nice and smooth and fast.

You might also be over-mudding. A little tiny bit of over-mudding never hurts, but all in all, you should be able to mud and sand a whole basic room (both corners AND panel joints) from beginning to end within the space of a few hours.

Methinks you'd benefit from some semi-professional help to see where you've been going way too wrong.

AJS

I share your frustration. It takes me forever to do any drywall job. The good thing is that I have discovered that dry wall is the most affordable task that one can contract for. Don't do it. It will probably be less expensive (and definitely less aggravation) to have it done by someone in the business. Just be sure to check his references.

RB

DS wrote:

Whatever the heck is wrong with you? Don't you know that the mantra of this newsgroup is to nickle and dime your money and time down to the nth degree as long as it saves you a half-penny on a dollar?

How you haven't already been summarily shot and your lifeless corpse dumped into the French drain out back is beyond me.

AJS

It is likely to take you much longer than a pro. For speed, experience counts here. The pro knows just where the problems may show up and can fix little things like nail dimples, early on and save a lot of time later. They also have the feel of just how much mud to use and how much pressure to use and how smooth each step needs to be finished to. They also have all the right tools.

You are learning as you go and you don't have an experienced professional there to tell you things like (let that go it will work out later, or that's too thick it will never dry and may crack. etc.)

The good think is drywalling is forgiving .... well it is forgiving of most things, which means you get to go back and fix almost any errors so a newbie can usually do a drywall job, it just may take him a month to do what the pros will do in three part days.

between the

you are probably sanding off the mud you are putting on. do NOT sand in-between coats. only sand the final coat. use a 6" wide putty knife to scrape off the nibs in-between coats.

as for applying the mud. start with a 6" knife for the 1st coat. use a 6" wide putty knife to scrape off the nibs in-between coats.

final coat - use a 12" knife. lightly sand the final coat with 220 grit sand paper.

between the

it is all in the wrist... Can not imagine what your using a sponge for I do all my rough taping. I start out with a 8 inch knife and then on the second coat use a 12 inch. then I sand all the joints.

Then I hire someone to finish. I finally figured out it is better for me to pay someone to do the final coats as I am never satisfied with my work.

First use 20 minute set if your doing one area at a time, If not use your normal set compound. Turn your wrist a bit to get the joint compound to cover the whole length of the knife. Once dry use the knife to knock down any high spots and then go on with each succession of steps using the same methods as above. Remember practice makes perfect and the experts have had plenty of practice.

Rich

I think Happy Homeowner has the appropriate answer for you. Go out and purchase $30 for these puddy knives. You will see the difference immediately. I also think the regular dry wall compound is best. Don't bother with the "lightweight" variety. And lastly, do some yoga or meditate and be one with the drywall compound. :-)

I don't know where you're coming from but, even though I haven't used it since college, I still have my embalmer's licence. So... bring it on. I can deal with your corpse. ;-)

RB

AJScott wrote:

Seems that levity is wasted on some folks ...

AJS

One of the best ways that I have found to get an even 12", 10" or 8" wide coat is to make sure your knive, or trowel, has the material evenly spread across the blade. Then holding the knive at a 45 or so degree angle, using even pressure, cover your joint your working on with the compond. Next: Feather the edges of your joint. If you are feathering the top of the joint, for example, then you would put the top of your knive approx 1/2" above the edge of your joint. Angle your knive 45 degrees or so and using greater pressure on the top of your knive, feather the top edge. Use the bottom of your knive to feather the bottom edge of the joint. When the top and bottom egdes are feathered, lightly run your knive down the center of your joint. On your first coat, this last step may leave some small edges in the joint. This will be okay.

In most cases if you are carefull when appling the tape, you do not need to sand the first coat. You must sand in between the 2nd and final coat. If you feather your edges and do not apply your material to thick, this will take no time at all. Using a pole sander and 100 grit paper, a room like yours should take less then 5 min. Not much effort,BUT, plenty of dust. Sanding ensures that your final coat has a fairly smooth surface to be applied on. It will save you time in finishing and the final sanding will be easier and faster with less dust.

Hope this helps

Larry