Remodel Update - Mud And Tape With Sanding!

I'm sorry about the dearth of interesting posts. I'm just not feeling it these days. OPSEC has something to do with it but mostly I'm just burned out a bit. The remodel is taking up so much if my time that Lu and I are too tired to do much more than watch a little TV and sleep until 10. Speaking of the remodel we've got the taping and mudding done in the kids rooms and have one sanded.

I'm not going to go into a lot of detail on mud and tape other than to say how we do it. There are a lot of ways to complete the task, this is just ours. To start you will need some supplies, starting with drywall joint compound. We have two brands available locally, Sheetrock and Westpac, but they aren't exactly the same.

The Sheetrock brand is thicker while the Westpac is thinner. Both do basically the same job but go on differently. The thicker compound is best used to fill in large cracks and screw/nail hones while the thinner is easier to use for taping. Different styles and needs based on who's doing what work but do be aware that not every bucket will be exactly the same in all regards. I love the one pound buckets. They clean up well and the lids seal almost air tight. Great for putting small stuff in like ammunition and range brass. You'll also need tape/putty knives in a variety of styles and widths. More is better here. Some like wide and some narrow but the job may require more than a few.

Lu is the general contractor for this phase. Neither of us has done a lot of drywall finish work but she's done the most as well as the most research so she got to call the shots. She had me doing the window trim and screw hole filling while she did the bulk of the seam taping. Oh, and I did the sanding. You'll see why a little later.

The concept is pretty simple. Apply compound (mud) over the seam, put on the tape, press it in and even it out with a knife and then go back over it and apply a second coat of mud over the tape. Let it dry and sand to desired finish. You may have to go back and touch up spots or even apply another coat depending on your final finish. We're going with a heavy coating of texture so our final sanding doesn't need top be as perfect as it would if we were just sanding and painting.

Drywall tape comes in long rolls. You do have to be careful while slinging mud around. If you get globs on the tape rolls you may be down at the hardware store buying more.

Here's where we started. Bare drywall covered walls ready for finishing.

 Here's the boss, primed and ready for the day. You can see she's got a seam started. She's short so she did a section and then moved on until she had a run completed. Then she went back and final mudded the tape. We're slap and dash finishers. We probably used a lot more compound than we needed but sanding is easy if messy. Slap it on and move along is our motto.

She's using the knife to flatten the tape, press it into the mud, get out air bubbles and squeeze out the excess mud. I caught her in mid command mode in this picture. "Put down that @#%@ing camera and get back to work you lazy slacker!"

She's using a 4 inch knife. Why? Because she's the boss and the boss said so that's why. I get to use a 2 inch knife. I think that's sexist. Help, I'm being oppressed!

When the taping is done it's time for sanding. That's my job. There's a variety of useful tools I use including this one. That's my DeWalt random orbit sander. It's a great tool but please use it carefully. It can tear through drywall compound like stink but it can also sand down through the paper surface and into the interior of the drywall board faster than you can imagine. It can also tear up stuff your wife just did and, trust me on this, that is no fun at all. If you do that she's liable to make you do the repair so word to the wise here. I generally only use it on rough patches and screw holes where I can't do a lot of damage.

Mostly I rely on the old standbys, cheese graters, sandpaper and sanding blocks.That big one is for corners. I like them because there are an awful lot of corners in a room. The pole is a sanding device used to more easily get to the ceiling. It's great for us old guys and the sand paper attaches with hook and loop so they're easy to change out. As I said we're going with texture on the walls and ceiling so I only used 80 and 150 grit sandpaper.

I really love the sanding blocks. They're basically sandpaper on a foam block. Either big for corners or smaller and flatter for everything else.

Of course sanding does produce a byproduct. Drywall joint compound dust. That's why it's my job. Dust masks and good ventilation will help but sooner or later you will end up looking like this.

I opened windows and used a fan to blow out a window but to no avail. Anyone else thinking of Procol Harum's Whiter Shade Of Pale? No? Well then you're in luck. Here ya go.


In the end it was done. We still have to go back over and correct any mistakes and The Boy's room still needs some sanding but we're nearly ready for the next step.

On Thursday I anticipate applying texture. Think about 5 gallons of thin joint compound applied with a spray gun to walls and ceiling. It'll be a blast!

Six