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BostonUH t1_izc3pwa wrote

One piece of advice, especially if you haven’t done a patch before - you’re better off doing 3-4 thin coats of mud (making sure you allow enough time for it to dry in between) than trying to get it perfect with just 1 coat. Each coat can go a little wider than the previous so that you taper any bump that might appear.

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sdfree0172 t1_izc6ie1 wrote

To add on to this, mudding done right should only require a light sanding on the very last coat and none on each of the initial passes. it took 10 years for me to get this right as a DIYer. Some tricks: As said above, do thin passes between drying. Better to add to little than too much. As the mud is drying, when it’s firm but not hard, you can hit it with a wet sponge to to level out a mistake. Also, it’s okay to leave little ridges in the mud. You can scrape these off pretty easy with the putty knife. Anyway, no big deal if you need to sand a lot, but it’s good to know that done right, there’s almost no sanding involved.

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spinswizzle t1_izc7v5k wrote

As a professional drywaller…you always sand in between coats. Always

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Dewthedru t1_izcvq09 wrote

Nah. We just scraped the seams down between coats.

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spinswizzle t1_izcw3ol wrote

We always sand. There and in th e towers

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Dewthedru t1_izcwbw4 wrote

Yours. probably turned out better than ours. We also textured the ceilings which I found to be ugly.

Had that job for about a year between college and high school. The sanding days were what convinced me to go to college. Lol

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spinswizzle t1_izcwflw wrote

Yep. That’s why my son won’t do it. I do high end work. I also specialize in texture and making ceilings dead flat from texture

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Dewthedru t1_izcwph0 wrote

I wouldn’t say I miss it but I do appreciate knowing the trade as it’s made every bathroom remodel and basement improvement much easier and cheaper in the years since I had that job.

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spinswizzle t1_izd08wd wrote

I’d say it’s the most difficult to master or at least make look serviceable

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SchwiftyMpls t1_izd8zjx wrote

Working Hourly?

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spinswizzle t1_izf2pvt wrote

Never. I own the company. It’s all quotes. Or a value per unit

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SchwiftyMpls t1_izf6l11 wrote

I see. it's just an image thing. So people aren't getting more than one estimate.

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spinswizzle t1_izf8nyx wrote

Uh no it’s competive bidding

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SchwiftyMpls t1_izf8rkg wrote

Lol. Sure.

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spinswizzle t1_izf9utb wrote

I’m dealing with 150 million dollar developments. My portion might only be 400000 or less. Trust me it takes days of pouring over blueprints on the computer to calculate installable items or linear footage of something like parapets. Only to find out some other larger company is throwing in your items for cost so they go with them. It’s a real pain in the ass

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SchwiftyMpls t1_izfc1sb wrote

Why do you subscribe to DIY?

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spinswizzle t1_izfc6uq wrote

So I could let people have the benefit of my extensive experience and knowledge. I figured I might be able to help people avoid costly mistakes

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SchwiftyMpls t1_izfcah2 wrote

Expensive DIY drywall mistakes? Lol

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spinswizzle t1_izfdu1i wrote

Let’s say your a tenant and your trying to repair a hole you’ve made. Let’s say it’s a party wall. So you need 5/8 drywall. That’s $50 a sheet here in van. Then you need a knife to cut it with. $16. Pan, 3 taping knives. $100.00. Tape $2.00. Bucket of mud $30.00. That’s around $200.00. Only to pump out a crappy job that the landlord is gonna take your whole damage deposit for. Rent here is minimum $1500 for a bachelor. A whole house in the burbs might be $3800 or more. $200 is a chunk when Your paying these rates here

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SchwiftyMpls t1_izfnsey wrote

This shows you haven't been a renter in a while. At best they are going to grab a 4-8" metal drywall patch, a 4" plastic putty knife and a pint of Drydex. They are out for $25 at this point and still have to either match paint or if they are lucky there is paint in the rental. The paint will still flash. There is little to no chance they will be able to repair a spot bigger than 8" without it looking like crap.

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spinswizzle t1_izfoqsb wrote

…hence me being able to explain to them what’s required and what they will actually have to do for positive outcome to occur and how much money that will cost. No. I haven’t rented in about 30 years. I’m a hustler when it comes to making money and have always invested in a variety of things including properties

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SchwiftyMpls t1_izfoy1h wrote

Guessing you haven't picked up a taping knife in a decade either.

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spinswizzle t1_izfpwte wrote

Nope. I work on the tools all the time. Always working. Our whole discourse this morning I was helping one of my installers reset about 30 washer/dryer stackers after the sprinkler guy replaced the heads that the painter managed to hit. $50 bucks a pop. Later this afternoon I’m heading over to a hotel that I’m redoing myself (drywall on this one) one unit at a time (it’s a Ministry funded place where they place addicts for housing). Then tomorrow I’m doing a bunch of appliance installs at another job…then I gotta work on a quote for a 15 story- rough carpentry on that one. I have a big 35 story rough carpentry and closet organizer install starting in august. I do all the measuring and material cutting for my installers

I like doing these appliance installs. I charge $500 a unit…so can be worthwhile To do some of this myself when you get into a 200 unit situation

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spinswizzle t1_izf8s4f wrote

I don’t understand the image thing your talking about

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spinswizzle t1_izf8vmo wrote

I am asked to do a quote. If it’s accepted it’s accepted. Then 8 months Later I start t he job

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spinswizzle t1_izcvsk5 wrote

For a whole house?

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Dewthedru t1_izcw1yt wrote

Sure. Just talk a quick walk around the place with your 6" knife and scrape off any ridges you see between coats. Not a lot found when using boxes tbh. Always some in the corners but most of the seams were already good.

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sdfree0172 t1_izccy4b wrote

Certainly not inline with what the pros I’ve spoken to say. whats Your reason? It isn’t needed to get a flat finish. Is there another reason?

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spinswizzle t1_izcg99e wrote

Where are these pros operating? What part of the world. Couple reasons why you sand. There is always going to be slight imperfections in the mud…these will break off as your adding your next coat

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spinswizzle t1_izcgqyz wrote

Hit send by accident. The bits of dried mud will then cause difficulty in skimming the coat. Your also going to contaminate your pail. The next reason is really an extension of the first. Any kind of fast setting compound is naturally going to be tougher than your top coat…again A quick buff sand to take any bits of grit off is going to go miles in providing a super slick top coat. I’m 51…and I own a construction company. It’s literally what I do for a living. Every drywaller I know sands in between coats. If you don’t…you do not make money at it. Amateur.

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spinswizzle t1_izcguox wrote

For reference I work out of the lower mainland in British Columbia, canada

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sdfree0172 t1_izcin83 wrote

Alright. You convinced me. Appreciate the knowledge dump. As an example of a source of my expressed opinion,, the Vancouver Carpenter on YouTube talks about not needing to sand. But again, you convinced me.

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spinswizzle t1_izckuer wrote

I haven’t checked him ouT. But a carpenter isn’t a drywaller. HavIng said all I have said….I suppose it’s possible to not sand a very small patch and recoat it. Not a great idea but possible if under duress. I do whole houses or hundreds of feet of cutouts at a time. The sanding between coats isn’t meant to be a grind down…just a buff. To make things easier. Bear in mind I’m only doing 1-2 coats after tape coat.

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SchwiftyMpls t1_izd96s7 wrote

Old tradesmen Fucking hate change or doing things differently then they were taught.

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SnowyNW t1_izdbinj wrote

Do you know how many people out there are trying to differentiate themselves by deviating their approach ever so slightly, usually adopting older parallel abandoned but slightly less effective methods? This is called ego and marketing and humans are sick with that stuff. There’s a reason things are done a certain way, and it’s a good reason. But this reason only holds if your source of knowledge isn’t a complete block head and is focused on doing things the right way for the sake of doing it the right way, rather than other reasons. Then there is also incompetence.

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SchwiftyMpls t1_izdboum wrote

Lol keep telling yourself this. It is stopping us from saving the earth.

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SnowyNW t1_izdg418 wrote

Are you kidding me? That’s the exact point that I’m trying to make is that all this needless deviation from historically proven traditions is causing terrible calamities such as the extinction of the entire biosphere! Plastic instead of glass and wood? Giving up millennia old forestry practices and causing historic and unnecessary wildfires? The earth is dead because we want to do things new and different instead of tried and true. You beat me to the punchline but somehow have the opposite point of view, I’m completely baffled to be honest. Traditional farming, building and social practices could have stopped a lot of this.

On the other hand humans are the most effective natural iterative design network the universe has ever seen.

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SchwiftyMpls t1_izdutw2 wrote

So you don't want to feed 8 Billion people.

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SnowyNW t1_izdwh9n wrote

Why don’t you want to feed people?

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SchwiftyMpls t1_izdwod3 wrote

I'm done here. I won't argue with Idealists. it's a waste of time.

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SnowyNW t1_izdwwqh wrote

You’re not saying anything coherent anyways

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spinswizzle t1_izezid2 wrote

It’s to prevent debris and floaters when you skim. It’s not about being stuck in old ways it’s about production and high end workmanship that dOesnt need a ton of filling afterwards. Scraping a joint might work on small patches. Try that on a whole townhouse complex and watch yourself get kicked off site. Plus….I’m only 51. That’s not old. I’m still learning all the time And I’m the first one to do something new…if it makes sense.

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Sunflowerslaughter t1_izd5s93 wrote

I find, at least personally, a lot of carpenters over estimate their work and underestimate how bad it can look. I'm biased, but carpenters are the bane of my existence

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Sunflowerslaughter t1_izd5nuc wrote

I do it professionally, doing work for the union in cleveland for a multi-million dollar company. You don't "finish sand" on bed coats, you do what we call a brush down. The goal is any lap marks or edges will be buffed out, which means it's easier to box over. Then at the end you finish sand, using lights and hand sponges to make sure it's smooth. Some guys don't sand and just cut edges with a knife but personally i think their work looks worse than just brushing it down.

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spinswizzle t1_izf8kym wrote

I think the problem is that we are in a diy forum. What one homeowner or tenant may find acceptable won’t fly by industry standards. My company does a variety of different types of jobs. I used to do a bunch of restoration work but now I concentrate on larger jobs like rough carpentry for a new tower complex or installing appliances for same towers. When I do restoration work it’s larger jobs like dealing with the drywall issues in a hotel after mold remediation. None of the scrape down with a 6” knife would fly on any new tower project or townhouse develoment

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Sunflowerslaughter t1_izfa8qc wrote

Yea, i tell people to brush down in diy work because it can be a pain to sand down a lap mark you coated over, and i expect lower quality work from diy home owners. Scraping down with a 6 definitely works okay for diy though.

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spinswizzle t1_izfb9ug wrote

Yeah. What kind of houses are people living in. Here in Vancouver that wouldn’t fly at all. Our housing market is probably the hottest in North America right now. Cheapest most rundown house in Vancouver proper is over 2 million. People are always looking to flip their house and make a quick 100k. Everything has to be spot on all the time. And the homeowners know this so workmanship has to be top notch

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Sunflowerslaughter t1_izfcfn9 wrote

Here in ohio when the housing market got wild we saw a lot of very poorly done quick buy and flips which looked awful, but still sold. One such house had globs of paint that they never bothered to sand down. It was a shit show. Some of the best finishers I've worked with come from doing houses, but also all the worst finishers I've worked with come from doing homes too haha.

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spinswizzle t1_izff44x wrote

It’s mostly wealthy asians and Indocanadians that run the market here. Very particular. Sometimes they’ll change the wall color as soon as your finished the whole job and ask you to re do the whole thing They always expect the world

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