Low dust drywall compound

I prefer just to use the standard compound and sandpaper. I never tried the low dust version, but I think they water it down and it spreads thin. If you want to keep dust down, cocoon yourself inside the work area with 1 mil or lower plastic tarps and blue masking tape. And use no fans. Its better for the dust to just fall to the floor rather than try to move it outside with a fan.

Or don't sand. I hate drywall dust with a raw and unbridled passion. There's no benefit to it for almost anyone on this newsgroup. Plasterers don't sand, so apply compound like it's plaster with the idea that you won't be sanding. Don't put too much on the wall - it'll dry more quickly as an added benefit. I'd rather do a quick extra polish coat and a small amount of wet sanding, than do the sanding mesh on a pole schtick. Nice pun, eh? ;)

Unless someone is doing a boatload of drywall, the sanding and cleanup takes just as much time if not longer. Unless, that is, someone is the type that doesn't sweat drywall dust floating through the house for weeks to come, and their cleanup effort reflects that. It drives me crazy, and funnily enough, customers don't much like it either.

As far as just letting the dust drop, I don't care how careful you are with the plastic, drywall dust will escape. Rule one in remodeling is keep the dust down, and rule one in keeping the dust down is to create negative pressure. Without negative pressure the dust will find its way through the tiniest gaps and wherever there's an air flow, no matter how slight.

The 1 (amazing) professional drywaller I know says modern drywall manufacturing tolerances precludes the need for sanding and a 3rd coat. -----

- gpsman

It's not dry yet.

You can smooth still-wet drywall compound with a damp cloth to prevent the need for sanding. If the compound is still water soluble when dry, it should also work dry. A contractor taught me this trick.

I was amused that some compounds have lime instead of gypsum. Gypsum is essentially sulfated lime. I think pure lime tends to crack less than pure gyspum. In the Mediterrnean, lime is used instead of gypsum.

- = - Vasos Panagiotopoulos, Columbia'81+, Reagan, Mozart, Pindus, BioStrategist