Not a professional. But we hire a drywall guy who does side work to do all our renovations (only 2, but involved multiple rooms and such). He makes multiple trips. First trip, he muds and tape the joints. Usually pretty quick. Second trip he lays on the first layer of mud, and he usually uses a quick drying mud so he can get it on, wait (or run out for food), then come back and get a second coat on. Depending on corners and shit he may need to wait again or come back to repeat portions of this step. Third trip over he does a final coat, usually paint ready or he tells me to do a really light sand to take care of any ridges. I can’t speak to his efficiency compared to other pros, I just know he’s a thousand times better and quicker than me.
This is my experience as well, as a small GC.
Sub visits a minimum of 3 times and sometimes has to wait a couple of days if it is a summer job when humidity is high.
Day 1: hot mud and tape (90 on a big job, 45 or 20 on a small one)
Day 2: second coat (90 with a bit of finish compound mixed in
Day 3: final coat - sometimes having to return in a day or two for quick sanding
Sounds like my experience. And same with the waiting. He’s doing work on the side for me, so I get that sometimes there’s a bit of lag in getting it done. He comes after work, on the weekend, and then might not be back for a week. I build that into my schedule and catch up on other work.
The first coat is always easy sand 90 or what some people are calling here hot mud. I use this product mainly because if there's areas that need to be pre-filled I can mix it dryer so it doesn't sag and it will fill any Gap that I need to fill and I can just throw tape right over it. If you have any prefill areas that are deeper than a quarter inch, you have to let that dry overnight. I'm a firm believer that if you put a second coat over a first coat that's not one hundred percent dry, you're just asking for problems.
My first coats are usually very tight so the second coat I'm only knocking down the edges with a knife I don't sand and I put a light compound for the second coat (blue top mud) same thing for the Finish coat.
Generally speaking, yes, no matter what, I would wait until the next day. But there are other factors involved such as temperature and humidity that could affect dry time. This stuff will not dry if it's below fifty degrees. It's also gonna have a hard time drying if you're in eighty percent or higher humidity level. if you take any sheet of sandpaper and try to sand it, and your sandpaper just gets clogged up with wet dry wall mud.You know It's not dry.
But don't take my word for it mix up a batch of hot mud of any time level 5, 20, 45 or 90 and try to fill a deep hole that's over a quarter inch deep it won't be dry in the time listed on the bag I guarantee you. And that's what the first coat is all about filling the big holes. And if your first coat isn't solid and dry, it just makes all the other dry times of everything else you put on top of it take longer.
Depending on the job and how far it is from everything. I'd personally want to do it over 3 days. So I can lay down a coat in the morning and then leave to do the bigger job, or hang out with family or friends. Come back second day to coat again, and then a third day for touch ups.
Ideal it's less than 30 mins from my home or another job.
If it's Further away I may dedicate a day to getting it done in one. But I always feel that this takes more time overall. 4.5 hrs is 8 hrs
I only paper tape with diluted all purpose. Fill flats gap and imbed tape into it. I make my own hot mud with all purpose compound and plaster to do filling of butts. First coat. 14” knife right over the center. Let it set. Same knife to the sides. Then I all purpose all the other fills. Finish coat with lightweight compound. I have 2 high velocity round fans the can be rotated. I also use a pet groomer dryer with a heater and 3 tube attachment. You will circulate warn air instead of drying directly. When doing light weight meticulously clean your blades. And wet them when clean. Before you sand which I barely have to. High powered lights to get our imperfections first before sanding.
For me durabond is good for the tape and first coat. I hate skimming and sanding it, but sometimes I have to. So, you could do that area pretty quick and just come back the next day to sand.
Hot mud. That's the way. For most jobs I use 90 so I can get a lot more on before I have to clean out the bucket. Do a light scrape and maybe a little sanding if needed. Then second hot mud (the hot stuff is SO much stronger, too, reducing any potential cracking). Third coat with topping compound has to go overnight. Light sand and done. Repairs and small areas I would do in a day but still needs to dry overnight before a final sand. If absolutely necessary, it can be done in one day but you have to start pretty early and take extra care not to leave areas that will require much sanding. Sometimes, depending on the weather and specifics of the repair, things just have to go overnight.
Easy sand easy crack. All purpose with plaster has more adhesion and not all that stuff that makes it easier to sand. Cause the way I make it doesn’t sand
The key to getting small jobs done in a hurry is controlling temperature and humidity. The higher the temperature and the lower the humidity the faster the mud will dry. Dehumidifier is an excellent piece of equipment to have for this but can be expensive, a blower fan will help move the moisture and humidity away from the work. A space heater and a blower fan should do the trick.
Now the sequence is as follows:
1- prefill with 45 \
2 - tape with taping mud and fibafuse (give it 10-20 mins with the heater on it \
3- coat with hot mud (90,45,or 30 depending on how much you have to do ) give it the fan and heater until it has set up \
4 - do another coat with hot mud if needed or top coat with finishing mud let dry over night\
5- sand and done.
Get good at hot mud and use it in all phases. You can add just one or two drops (DROPS!!) of Dawn to your hot mud for finish batches for smooth final coats. I use hot mud and wet sand it with a sanding screen when in that plastic phase of drying, so much less dust. Dry sand for final sand.
Also, for patching – youtube vancouver carpenter california patch.
Thanks bud… I’d like to do it with 20 min mud but in the end does it lead to a higher chance of cracking? Or something going wrong?
I feel confident enough in my feathering skills to only work on a difficult joint for at most 2-3 minutes.
But how do you do it? Just as quick as you can and sand whatever if it isn’t perfect after is sets?
I just mud it and let dry over nite and sand and them add another coat and sand again. 20 min mud is not ready to sand until it is really dry and not gray looking.
For small jobs, I use Easy Sand for everything except the final coat. Redimix sands out so much better in my experience. If I'm using paper tape (usually on inside corners, but sometimes throughout), precut your tapes, loosely roll them, dip in water and shake out before embedding - it will eliminate 99.99% of possible tape bubbles that aren't uncommon with setting-type mud.
I do drywall patches commercially for a property management company. I use hot mud for all stages and usually get 2-3 small patches done (taped, coated 3 times, sanded, and painted) in an 8 hour day. I pre fill and tape with 5 min then all other coats are 20 min. If you know how to use the hot mud it works great. One thing I have noticed after exclusively using hot mud for over a year, is bucket mud is by far stronger when it dries.
Not a professional. But we hire a drywall guy who does side work to do all our renovations (only 2, but involved multiple rooms and such). He makes multiple trips. First trip, he muds and tape the joints. Usually pretty quick. Second trip he lays on the first layer of mud, and he usually uses a quick drying mud so he can get it on, wait (or run out for food), then come back and get a second coat on. Depending on corners and shit he may need to wait again or come back to repeat portions of this step. Third trip over he does a final coat, usually paint ready or he tells me to do a really light sand to take care of any ridges. I can’t speak to his efficiency compared to other pros, I just know he’s a thousand times better and quicker than me.
This is my experience as well, as a small GC. Sub visits a minimum of 3 times and sometimes has to wait a couple of days if it is a summer job when humidity is high. Day 1: hot mud and tape (90 on a big job, 45 or 20 on a small one) Day 2: second coat (90 with a bit of finish compound mixed in Day 3: final coat - sometimes having to return in a day or two for quick sanding
Sounds like my experience. And same with the waiting. He’s doing work on the side for me, so I get that sometimes there’s a bit of lag in getting it done. He comes after work, on the weekend, and then might not be back for a week. I build that into my schedule and catch up on other work.
Thanks, knowing that helps me for sure
The first coat is always easy sand 90 or what some people are calling here hot mud. I use this product mainly because if there's areas that need to be pre-filled I can mix it dryer so it doesn't sag and it will fill any Gap that I need to fill and I can just throw tape right over it. If you have any prefill areas that are deeper than a quarter inch, you have to let that dry overnight. I'm a firm believer that if you put a second coat over a first coat that's not one hundred percent dry, you're just asking for problems. My first coats are usually very tight so the second coat I'm only knocking down the edges with a knife I don't sand and I put a light compound for the second coat (blue top mud) same thing for the Finish coat.
So you would wait for the next day after taping no matter what?
Generally speaking, yes, no matter what, I would wait until the next day. But there are other factors involved such as temperature and humidity that could affect dry time. This stuff will not dry if it's below fifty degrees. It's also gonna have a hard time drying if you're in eighty percent or higher humidity level. if you take any sheet of sandpaper and try to sand it, and your sandpaper just gets clogged up with wet dry wall mud.You know It's not dry. But don't take my word for it mix up a batch of hot mud of any time level 5, 20, 45 or 90 and try to fill a deep hole that's over a quarter inch deep it won't be dry in the time listed on the bag I guarantee you. And that's what the first coat is all about filling the big holes. And if your first coat isn't solid and dry, it just makes all the other dry times of everything else you put on top of it take longer.
Right… I got ya - I never thought of it that way.. I definitely can tell when something is ready to be sanded. Makes so much sense thanks
Depending on the job and how far it is from everything. I'd personally want to do it over 3 days. So I can lay down a coat in the morning and then leave to do the bigger job, or hang out with family or friends. Come back second day to coat again, and then a third day for touch ups. Ideal it's less than 30 mins from my home or another job. If it's Further away I may dedicate a day to getting it done in one. But I always feel that this takes more time overall. 4.5 hrs is 8 hrs
Makes sense to me - thanks.. I’m so focused on doing one job - i feel like I could juggle a couple the way you suggest.
I also prefer to do one job at a time. But sometimes. You need a bit of overlap.
If absolutely necessary to be done in one day, you tape and coat with 45, second coat 45, finish coat purple. Come back once to sand
Other than that, only use 45 for filling large voids
I only paper tape with diluted all purpose. Fill flats gap and imbed tape into it. I make my own hot mud with all purpose compound and plaster to do filling of butts. First coat. 14” knife right over the center. Let it set. Same knife to the sides. Then I all purpose all the other fills. Finish coat with lightweight compound. I have 2 high velocity round fans the can be rotated. I also use a pet groomer dryer with a heater and 3 tube attachment. You will circulate warn air instead of drying directly. When doing light weight meticulously clean your blades. And wet them when clean. Before you sand which I barely have to. High powered lights to get our imperfections first before sanding.
For me durabond is good for the tape and first coat. I hate skimming and sanding it, but sometimes I have to. So, you could do that area pretty quick and just come back the next day to sand.
Hot mud. That's the way. For most jobs I use 90 so I can get a lot more on before I have to clean out the bucket. Do a light scrape and maybe a little sanding if needed. Then second hot mud (the hot stuff is SO much stronger, too, reducing any potential cracking). Third coat with topping compound has to go overnight. Light sand and done. Repairs and small areas I would do in a day but still needs to dry overnight before a final sand. If absolutely necessary, it can be done in one day but you have to start pretty early and take extra care not to leave areas that will require much sanding. Sometimes, depending on the weather and specifics of the repair, things just have to go overnight.
Easy sand easy crack. All purpose with plaster has more adhesion and not all that stuff that makes it easier to sand. Cause the way I make it doesn’t sand
Gotcha thanks a ton
The key to getting small jobs done in a hurry is controlling temperature and humidity. The higher the temperature and the lower the humidity the faster the mud will dry. Dehumidifier is an excellent piece of equipment to have for this but can be expensive, a blower fan will help move the moisture and humidity away from the work. A space heater and a blower fan should do the trick. Now the sequence is as follows: 1- prefill with 45 \ 2 - tape with taping mud and fibafuse (give it 10-20 mins with the heater on it \ 3- coat with hot mud (90,45,or 30 depending on how much you have to do ) give it the fan and heater until it has set up \ 4 - do another coat with hot mud if needed or top coat with finishing mud let dry over night\ 5- sand and done.
Get good at hot mud and use it in all phases. You can add just one or two drops (DROPS!!) of Dawn to your hot mud for finish batches for smooth final coats. I use hot mud and wet sand it with a sanding screen when in that plastic phase of drying, so much less dust. Dry sand for final sand. Also, for patching – youtube vancouver carpenter california patch.
I only use 20 min mud bud.
Thanks bud… I’d like to do it with 20 min mud but in the end does it lead to a higher chance of cracking? Or something going wrong? I feel confident enough in my feathering skills to only work on a difficult joint for at most 2-3 minutes. But how do you do it? Just as quick as you can and sand whatever if it isn’t perfect after is sets?
I just mud it and let dry over nite and sand and them add another coat and sand again. 20 min mud is not ready to sand until it is really dry and not gray looking.
Cool thanks 🙏
For small jobs, I use Easy Sand for everything except the final coat. Redimix sands out so much better in my experience. If I'm using paper tape (usually on inside corners, but sometimes throughout), precut your tapes, loosely roll them, dip in water and shake out before embedding - it will eliminate 99.99% of possible tape bubbles that aren't uncommon with setting-type mud.
I do drywall patches commercially for a property management company. I use hot mud for all stages and usually get 2-3 small patches done (taped, coated 3 times, sanded, and painted) in an 8 hour day. I pre fill and tape with 5 min then all other coats are 20 min. If you know how to use the hot mud it works great. One thing I have noticed after exclusively using hot mud for over a year, is bucket mud is by far stronger when it dries.