How many of you have done it? Hanging it is piece of cake, but taping and mudding? Bought a small fixer upper, with plaster cracking on several walls. Was thinking of just throwing drywall over top of the plaster. Want to put asmuch work into it as I can to save labor costs. Talked to a drywall guy I know and he said if I want it to look good, don't be cheap and hire it done. That true? I'm sure there's tricks and artistry that come with time, but is it really THAT hard?

You could spend 2-3 weeks trying to do what a skilled guy can do in 3 days

Many things to consider. Are you removing trim. Does the ceiling sag. Are the outlets in the baseboard or the walls. Are the corners blumb
Should I go on?

Many things to consider. Are you removing trim. Does the ceiling sag. Are the outlets in the baseboard or the walls. Are the corners blumb
Should I go on?

Hang it yourself but hire someone to mud and tape.

If you don't wanna blow your brains out by the end of the job ..................you will make a good drywall finisher

x2++++++

I charge more if Joe homeowner hangs it
Because its never done right

Removing trim, yes, ceiling sag, no, outlets in both baseboard and wall. Time is no object, if I can make it look okay. How much would it cost to hire someone to tape and mud? Say, 1 floor, 800 square feet, 10 foot ceilings? How about to do it all?

X 2

It takes a lil practice. More So to be fast and efficient, but to just have a decent looking job you can pull it off. Also it takes tools, knives,pans, tape, sanding blocks. In the end you may want to hire it but it can be done yourself.

If you remove trim then you have to make 1/2" extension jambs for all windows and doors.
45$ a board
And that's because your a tman member

And I want to clarify, I mean no disrespect to drywallers. I just have more time than money, and have grown up fixing anything that needed to be fixed, minor electrical, minor plumbing, building sheds, building fence, so it's only natural for me to want to try to do it myself.

Does any of your friends do drywall?
Ask for help,feed them. And beer will help to have them hang around.

Acid Rock , max volume ...........go for it

BINGO.!!!

"IF" you are going to do it, use full sheets on the ceiling first (eliminating butt joints), and keep the bevel TIGHT. Then "if" possible, stand the walls up, and same, same, keep.the bevels.tight. if you for some reason cannot run them vertical..., well in small rooms, run them horizontal and push your first sheets upntight against the ceillings. Run the bottom course bevel to bevel up ahainst the top sheet. But only do it that way "IF" the rooms are small enough too do one wall with one length, 14' or whatever.

Then, for you, buy the self stick mesh tape. And tape the bevels and wall to ceiling joint. Keep the wall to ceiling tape tucked into the 90° ceiling to wall joint.

Next, skim, and I mean "SKIM" your first coat of mud ovet the taped joint. Do NOT go heavy with that coat (or any other).
Then once dry, knock the buggars off with sand paper, or sand sponge.
Apply next coat. Again,Do NOT go heavy with the mud. And sand again.
Repeat.

By the end, you should be able to run a wide 10" knife over the final coats (you are looking at 4-5 thin coats.)
Take your knife, once final coat is done, and place the edge at 90° to the wall, spanning the joint. Look to see that you don't have a bump, tetter totter, or a valley.

Prime, and paint.

Thanks for all the tips guys! Hopefully I can figure it out if I go for it!

I would have a professional look at it to see if it would be easier to stabilize what you have and repair it. Then you can decide if you can tackle it yourself. I would not even think of going over it with sheet rock if it cannot be stabilized. If it cannot, you are looking at tearing out the old and start from scratch with sheet rock.

Depends on what you're idea of looking good means to you. I am a builder and I have done a lot of drywall. It is that hard. If it wasn't there would be no need for it to be a professional occupation. Sure you can slap up some board, put mesh tape on (which in my opinion is worthless) then slather some mud over it and sand your happy behind off. You might end up with a mediocre job and be happy with it. Are you looking in there or selling? If selling hire it out

+1

Get a pro in there if you want it done right.

You can do it yourself if you just research the steps involved it's not Rocket science, I spent 18 years in the construction trade doing remodel and new construction if we hired out drywalling it was to hang not finish most finishers around us where hacks and got tired of calling them back to fix joints. when I got done with a room you could not find a flaw in the room .I will tell you one thing to do is remove all plaster from walls and ceiling if you try to hang drywall over plaster it usually crumbels between the two and causes blow outs or a lumpy wall,you can leave the lathe on the walls just scrape the lathe after removing the plaster then hang over the lathe.

Remember you will need to move all your electrical out by the thickness of your GWB.

One tip..........if you do it yourself, paint it with FLAT paint. Otherwise it will look like heck no matter how good you thought it was.

Drywall and mudding is so cheap. Hire a crew that does both. They will be done in less than a week. If you’ve never done it before, you’re gonna have a ton of lines showing once it’s painted.
If you don’t care about tape lines and missed dents in the drywall then do it yourself.

One trick for a beginner shadow the joint with a work light it will show all flaws before you paint the wall.

How soon are you thinking of getting started? I hung/finished rock for a few years and have most of the tools you would need, but some are still back in NE. My shoulders are shot now, but I'm sure I could explain how to do it well enough. PM me if I can help you out.

Ditto

Done it, hate it! But could never afford to pay someone to do what I could do myself.

^^^^^^^^^^this ^^^^^^^

If you are very picky, let a pro do it.

If you have lots of time- Take your time. Be sure the screws or nails are the right depth. Hang it as neatly as you can and don't take shortcuts, hoping to fill it with mud.
Go light on the first coats. I think first timers use too much mud most of the time. It will take you more sanding and filling than guys who have done lots of it.
And, as said above, use lots of light to show imperfections that need filled or high spots that need sanded.
Done be surprised at how long it takes you.

I think your better of stripping the old plaster rather than trying to go over it.

BTW, I'm no pro but I've done lots of dry wall and I still hate finishing it.

I have had over 30 years in the trade, but my advice may be worthless. Standing sheetrock vertically is not a good idea. The studs would have to be laid out on 16 inch centers and be plumb or you will wind up with strips without a factory edge.
Mesh tape may be OK for flat taping smalll areas but if there are a lot of seams paper tape is much better. If you try mesh tape on ANY corner you are going to wind up with wrinkles. Additionally, you will cut mesh tape with your taping knife when wiping it down.
Plaster walls & ceiling? I have repaired a lot of that by taping the cracks and skim coating the whole shebang, then texturing it.
And no, don't try hanging sheetrock over the plaster.You would be letting yourself in for a lot of unexpected problems.
One last piece of advice. As others have said, "hire a professional."

If you want the best job pull off the old stuff even a pro will have a hard time hanging over it and making it look good. You can do it your self get on youtube for some tips or buy a book to help you get it done right. Take your time making sure things are square and hang it right get a screw gun to make it go faster and set the torque so the screws are sunk and not ripping the paper or you will have to do it over and it is better to get it done the first time. As far as the finishing you can do that also the biggest secret I can tell you is to take your time speed comes with practice. Have good light and don't try to get it done with two coats, with practice, time good light you can get a good job without much sanding. More thin coats and wider will get you a good job and without tons of dust. Don't mess with the mud going over and over trying to get it super smooth it will make a mess its all about the angle of your trowel and texture of the mud a lot like fleshing a coon, muscle memory when you get that it goes a lot better. Like cement there is a period of time when you can work it and when you need to let it set. If you have good air circulation it will set up faster as the more your doing the higher the humidity. In short you can do it have some confidence and take some time I think you will be happy with the job. No way would I lay it over old drywall or plaster board it will not work well.

Here's a product that I like for inside/outside and obtuse/acute corners.

https://www.all-wall.com/Categories/Drywall-Corner-Tape/No-Coat-Ultraflex-325.html

It sounds like you want to give it a try and that is not a big job. Take this for what it is worth no one that has responded thinks you should try to go over the mess you have now. That is good advice, also you might want to redo wiring or plumbing or insulate when you have it off. If your wanting to save money who doesn't strip it and higher some one to hang and tape it. The removal is the hardest part of it and it just take a couple tools and strong back but no way try to hang over what you have. How picky are you as far as the job is it where your living, are you flipping the house or renting it. If you want a top notch job hire it 800 square feet is a really small job , if you do it your self hang it right and if the finish job does not come out great you can texture it to cover some of the flaws. If you what a smooth finish really nice and have good lighting best have someone hang it and finish it.

Same here, usually they say things like "hanging it is a piece of cake ".

If the home owner hangs it, I have to fix it by the hour. If I hang it, or line up a hanger I'm willing to follow with mud, then, we all work by the square foot . It just that simple.

Did drywall for years and hanging it makes a big difference in how hard or easy it finishes. Putting drywall over plaster doesn’t sound like a good idea to me. If u have the time you say do it right tear everything off, hang it tight, 3 or 4 light coats of feathered out and sanded well between each coat. There’s definitely an art to getting it done fast and efficient BUT if time and care is taken you can come away with a beautiful finished product. Goodluck to you

As far as finishing look at doing knockdown on the walls. Wish I had of had it done when I hired out my drywall. Cost the same as a regular finish job. Looks great too.

Thanks for all the tips guys! I'll be living there for a few years, then looking to sell. I'll plan on pulling out the old plaster, as some of you have suggested. May get a quote on it at that point and see just how expensive it would be to have it done, and go from there. Thanks!

sounds like you have read what everyone has said an have a good plan take off blaster an go from there

This. I've always hung sheetrock on walls horizontally, never vertically. That way you have one horizontal seam at waist level as opposed to multiple floor to ceiling vertical seams to finish.

If your going to take the time to pull the plaster might as well pull the lathes too. My guess is if that is plaster lathe you got little or nothing for insulation in the walls. Unless there was some blown in from outside at some point?? Them Old homes can be a money pit once you start pulling things apart. I know if I was going remove plaster down to the lath the big mess is made so lath is nothing at that time.
Are you really thinking just dry wall? or room by room remodel? something to think about.


Mac

I did the drywall when I finished our basement. I wasn’t on a time schedule and had gotten a “short course” from a friend that has done a lot of remodel projects. It turned out good but I do have a couple ceiling butt joint f-ups, but so far I’m the only one that has noticed them....other than my teacher.

In the end, I would agree with the others. Hire it done. Mine turned out ok, but it was a 3 week ordeal between working at paying job and working on nonpaying drywall job. My wife found me standing in the corner of our bedroom one night "sleep mudding". Sleep mudding is when you are so sick of mudding drywall you act out your worst nightmare in your sleep. My hats off to drywallers.

That's for sure. It is much easier to tape your own drywall than from someone who hung it and then ran with the money.

One thing on taping, make sure there is 100% coverage of spackle under your paper tape or it will blister up.

Eric save those laths.
They are great for 110s. Fit inside the spring very nicely. And sorry if I was a little short with you. When tearing out the plaster. Fans blowing out windows,and a mask at all times. You never know what might be in that plaster. Good luck

Order a dumpster.

My opinion is get someone in there who really knows what they’re doing that’s willing to help you with one room, like a friend or relative. The hardest part is taping and knowing how to fan out the mud at each joint. Once you know how it’s suppose to be done, the only way you get better is by doing it. The better taper you are, the less sanding you have to do....... I hate sanding.

You may be ready to hire out the drywall and taping after doing the tear out it's a slow messy job. Good luck with your project sometimes it's not bad sometimes it can be a Pandora's box after you open things up. You will a better idea once you get the plaster and lath tore off how deep you want to go ( or may need to) wiring, insulation etc. it may be ok as is but now is the time to do it right if it's not.

If your short on money and have lots of time repair the plaster, unless it in too bad of shape! Good place to hone your skills.

I am in a project where I tore out the plaster and lathe in a "turn of the last century" house. As it turns out, the wall studs aren't very uniform and a lot of shimming occurred under the lathe here and there, leaving an uneven wall to sheetrock. My plan is to fir out the wall horisontally with 16' x 1" x 4"s to get it flat, shimming them as necessary , and then hang my sheetrock vertically, standing it up. That way the not standard stud layout wont matter. I'll do the same thing with the ceiling. As I do this, I am bat proofing the whole works.

A little gal from CO bought this cheap old house, for a fixerupper dream home/nightmare. She has "some" buyer's remorse, lol. I tore out the lathe, burned it in the yard and through the plaster under the new deck.

Have done a few like that myself les, a new nightmare around every corner lol Last one I did had some walls with wood shavings as insulation, other walls had shredded newspaper and some had none at all still. The upstairs ceilings were lathe/plaster and wood shavings packed tight in between rafters and roof deck made up of random width 1" pine,popple,tamarack and maple boards. Roof had been leaking so all the upstairs got redone, as well as a new roof deck and fixing about half of the rafters! Turned out pretty nice though, guy bought it under $40,000 2 years ago and sold it this fall at $119,000.

This gal bought it from the bank for $15,000. It had the insulation/stud bays filled with cellulose, and then sided with that old 12" Masonite. I can see the blow in holes in the exterior sheating boards. I ditched all the cellulose and will replace with fiberglass.

Ugh!! You did get into a mess you must have a little dust cloud around you when you go home at night lol

Messy for sure. I wore a mask and did it in stages. The lathe and plaster came off easily enough leaving the "settled" cellulose standing in the bays, for the most part. First thing I did was get most of the plaster off, then the lathe, and finally the cellulose got shoveled and swept up and bagged.

The ones like that here, if two story or story and a half, are balloon framed and need fire breaks. I just did one. I advertised for a "free weight loss program" (to help me).
No takers there.

Plaster went to drainage ditch fill and lathe went through the stove.

I'd hang the board horizontal even if 10 foot high walls but that's me, you do whatever you want cause you are going to anyways lol.

I would go horizontal if the dimensional lumber had been uniform....lol. But it's not, and pieces missing, jogged and filled in here and there, and not on layout. The last thing I want to do is hang sheetrock vertically. It is a balloon framed, story and a half affair, And it's getting fire blocks throughout. It's a nightmare in progress .

Hang It vertically then nail a batten board over the joints and forget the mudding and taping.
Take some 1X3s cut 45 degree angles on the edges then nail them In the Inside corners.

Or do a half azzed job of taping and then hire some one to come In and spray on a orange peel finish. That will cover up just about all your mistakes.

I can sell a knock down textured finish cheaper than a smooth wall, or at least it's easier to do. She wants smooth, flat, and perfect.

She's my little Sugar Momma from Colorado, lol.

I have hung it myself with no real guidance. The basement came out good, and the garage ok (but I was not as picky about the garage. I would hire the ceiling done personally. I did not do a good job taping and mudding the ceiling in the garage. If I would have had it orange peeled it would have looked very professional. LOL

Yep those spray on textured finishes make the do It yourselfer look good.

I did drywall hang, tape and texture for a living for about 13 years. Towards the end, all I did was match existing after damage such as repipes, flood, etc... I can usually tell when a DIY has unleashed his talent against the world. Some folks who do it for a living don’t do such a good job at times. There’s quite a bit to it although it doesn’t seem so

Hard to texture an igloo, for you outsiders. LOL

It's called Frost texturing. LOL

Installing dry wall, and taping or mudding is not an easy skill set to master. As a carpenter, over the years, I did a fair amount of sheet rock work when things were extremely slow or on small jobs. I got fairly competent at doing a decent job but I could never ever match the speed of a good professional.
Is it truly hard? In my opinion yes it is. If you are looking to turn this house to make some money there is something to keep in mind. There are professionals in all the trades for a reason. Each trade requires a lot of time to learn and master.

10 ft ceilings??

Tall ceilings are common in older homes.

Not really. Still have to do a fairly decent job at mudding and sanding the joints. Not to mention waviness in the wall- spraying on a lumpy finish coat on top of problem areas just makes it stand out 10x more!

No they don't.

Do it yourself sheetrock installers tend to leave too big of a gap between the sheets, or don't square things up , measure and cut to the non plumbness of a corner, leaving gaps that need filling with durabond (90 minute or less). Too many of these cause a little bit too much prefill time, and that affects a fella's bid on the project. The fella that's been hanging rock ahead of me will have only a couple screws in the whole house that aren't seated perfectly. That insures I don't have to carry a hand screwdriver around in my pocket while pulling tape seams with my banjo, and having to stop to fix something , further slowing down the operation exponentially , which is what happens when that "7th" tape seam gets itself in trouble from setting there too long because things didn't go smoothly.

I might tack on $500 bucks if I have to take me and my partner a half day to prefill, because we just lost a whole day, Which is a lot more money than that. $500 bucks will hang a lot of sheetrock correctly at 20 cents a square ft.

Rim joists, joist hangers, joists and a new ceiling to hang rock on, say, at 8 or 9' high. That's what I'de do.

I definitely didn't realize how hot of a topic drywall is! Starting to wonder what I've gotten myself into. But, no going back now. I guess if nothing else, I'll learn how not to renovate a house and make some money. I appreciate all the tips. I'll be living in it for a few years, while I get started in my career and get some experience, so I can go back where I'm from. So I figured I'd do a lot of tinkering. I'm not used to living in town, so I'll need something to keep me busy while I am in town. I appreciate all of the tips from everyone! I will have to think about this a little before I do anything too drastic. I got it very cheap (for sale by owner) and some similar houses that weren't fully updated were selling for 50-80k more in the same area over the last 2 years. So hopefully I can figure something out to make a little.

Are you required to get a permit? It will add another level of trouble!

Forgot about permits. And insulation inspection, electric, plumbing, drywall hanging. And depending on the area your in it could be more. Contractor takes care of that,so most home owners don't even how it ever happened.

Well, I've got good friends and family who are plumbers and electricians who said they'd help for for. And I have done enough with both of them to know some of what I'm doing, so I can do grunt work on both of them. Permits I thought were only required when renovating the outside, so that is unforeseen for sure.

Not trying to discourage you Eric.
When you renovate the house the value will go up. Most people can't afford to pay cash for that much of a house. You might do some leg work and find out what will be required to have the bank finance the house. If its older the electric and plumbing may need to be upgraded. Sheetrock may be the least important!
Just Saying!

Electric and plumbing will need upgrading, but I was planning on that, and have experience and connections in both and believe I can do them Diy. We'll see how she goes. Worst case scenario, I should break even, and essentially have a place to live for 3-5 years free of charge (besides property taxes)

I had to finish a small bathroom because a fly-by-night jack leg skipped town on me in a stolen truck. My truck!
This was 15 years ago. I got over the loss of the truck pretty quick since it was a Ford, but I still have to fight the urge to pound on a random person on the street because of the near-PTSD symptoms I have suffered from being forced to do drywall.

Sorry to hear about your bad luck, but being a Chevy guy, I gotta admit that made me laugh!

3rd generation drywaller here and before that my people were plaster experts. I didn't choose the drywall profession I was born into it, but I don't make a living hanging or finishing. To be honest its just dang hard arse work, its an honest living but I choose to do easier work, lol. I also passed the skill onto my sons so that even with education they possess a trade, you never know when you need a fall back or can use it yourself. I think most people can handle drywalling if hey are decent with their hands and most trappers fit the bill. Heck, now days with youtube a fellow can bout do any chore with proper instruction. Im no mechanic but have done plenty of my own mechanical work. Go for it Eric, worse case is extra sanding.

Its not hard. Takes time to get it right though. I do my own drywall work on it, I dont have the extra funds to pay a pro for the work. I got better room by room. The first room I will eventually have to fix because I can see the seams in places, but thats because I know where they are. Unless you are standing right under them they are not noticable. If I were to sell my house right now I wouldnt give someone who nit-picked about the drywall the time of day to voice thier concerns. At the price range my house is in it is much better than it was, and there are many other more obvious flaws that would need updating. None of which are gonna change the value of my home anyway, or its functionality. I have done an ok job and my wife is happy. We even saved enough to go on a vacation this spring.

I did the drywall In my daughters house In Alaska. Most of It was Ok but there were some Iffy parts. The spray on texture made all those iffy parts go away.
The guy doing the spraying must have been very good at what he was doing.

Beav spray on texture died with disco. Lol

Eric
Good grief what a topic, 5 pages of advise! Everyone is a sheetrocker so go for it who needs youtube! Trapperman doesn't get this many replies on how to trap

My dad was a drywaller. Owned his own company. So I was involved in the biz from about age 10 cleaning out houses after the rockers.
I graduated to preping for my dad when he would spray the house.
I rocked for awhile and did some finishing.
I hated the work.

doing a very good drywall job is hard. takes talent.
Doing a mediocre job is easy, most of the professionals do it all the time.
Finding a good drywaller is hard, very few are left.

As mentioned sheets on walls go horizontally.
skilled tapers and finishers don't need to sand between coats.
Alot of the skill in finishing come in with the use of different trowels, flat trowels, curved trowels.
One light quick sanding of house before spraying should be all thats required.
And yes around here drywall finsh (usually a sand texture) is sprayed on.
It does not cover flaws, in many cases it makes them stick out.

I recently built a new house and the level of skill of the drywallers that did the place sucked.
4 guys rocking the house instead of the usual 2.
5-6 guys taping and finishing with massive amounts of sanding between coats instead of one guy taping and finishing with no sanding.
3 guys to spray instead of 1 and a helper.
I'll bet the new drywallers had 2-3 time the amount of man hours in the house that my Dad and his crew would of had.
But I'm sure they paid the workers less than my Dad paid his guys 40 years ago.

I mentioned to the contractor that the drywallers sucked, worst work I had ever seen, lots of areas had to be reworked. The rockers never checked or shimmed the joists/rafters. It took the drywallers over a month with all the reworking and the finished job still sucks, I can't turn on some ceiling lights as the joints are visible still.

HINT for DIYers, use a long straight edge and check the joists/rafters before rocking and shim. Also take the time to figure out where your butt joints are going to be and shim the joists one either side of the butt joint high so that the butt joint is low, gives you a better job in end.

I had my 84 year old Dad help me do some touch up work and he gave me some lessons. I wish I would of spent more effort when I was younger. He was really talented at the work, I could never find flaws in his houses. I went to alot of open houses before building mine and I would say 80-90% of the work nowdays is very poor. Anyone who knows what they are looking at can spot multiple flaws. Luckily most home owners don't know crap.

I e never done drywall but my wife watches a lot of HGTV. Drywall is out of style. Go find some old faded barn wood, call it 'reclaimed' and nail it on the wall. Seems easier.

What Dirty D said!!

DirtyD hit the nail on the head. I was taught drywall the old way with no bazooka, banjo or other gadgets designed to make the job easier and faster. I can taper and finish a house all by hand and sure it may take a little longer than a guy with all the gadgets but I gaurantee my work will be better than most. And I work solo. The key to drywall finish is using the proper type and amount of mud for each phase and application.

X 3

It took me longer to get good at finishing fur than drywall.

All people have natural talents for different things. Been a welder all my life, and taught welding for awhile, and seen this firsthand. Some people have five thumbs on both hands, and cannot work with their hands, so for those people, a desk job is good! That said, I did the drywall on my place when I built it. Don't like it, and wasn't happy with it, but my neighbors said they thought it was great. Matter of perception! Strike hit the nail on the types of mud and where to use them. That is info that is hard to come by, and like anything, the more you do, the better you get. You only have to please yourself, but be ready for a learning experience if you choose to do it yourself! There is alot of great info from guys that know in this thread!

The pudding pushers of tman has been an interesting read that's for sure.
The money making tool in drywall is,,,,,,,, stilts.

Did I read 20 cents a sq foot? Yikes.

You did read that...for hanging residential, 22 cents for remodel, 25 cents for commercial. Is that high ?

80 cents for finishing. I use stilts a lot .

Grew up doing it as we were constantly remodeling our house which went from 800 Sq ft to 2500 Sq ft. My dad did a stellar job and taught us. I need to redo most of the walls in my house and garage and have been putting it off. Throughout the years of the different owners there's tons of patch jobs that have been done, full sheets replaced and the seems pop out. I swear Ray Charles could do a better job than the several past owners. Oh add to the mix popcorn ceiling (which I hate for numerous reasons).

50-50 here, 8', so about the same depending how we slice this pie. More if cathedral or any other of that. Some of the palaces near the ritz can get real out of control.
I worked with the 2006 glazers and finishers for a few jobs, with all the modern tools. I thought I was good. After that, I was humbled. Their hangers were hacks and spent days chasing screws and blisters since we were not allowed. The one guy called me a pudding pusher. I told him he should follow me all day with his hands above his head, then tomorrow we'll put tools in your hands and afterwards see how you feel.
I learned "some" from old school hard coat guys but for the most part they guarded their skills and I don't blame them. I still learn from guys in other regions.

Adam, popcorn should be illegal.

Oh and Les, 60-60 is even better when you are in demand.
I am almost done, one more, mine, that's it.

I don't hang it unless I have to. But that rate is common up here , and that fella does nice work too.

I use the banjo, a 6", a 10" and a 12". No modern box tools, no bazooka here. I have compelled my helper to buy a pair of stilts, lol.

Locally, a gentleman advertised $1.50 a sqft , finished just for labor, and I chunckled as we were at nearly half that and I felt we were high. I don't advertise either.

The one guy here has an old school 20". He coats each side of butt with 10 then strikes with the 20. He IS the lid butt king.

When I worked with the pump, they made the mud so thin that it shrank too much. So I went 5-7-9 and had room to ten the hollows, unless they were 8 boxed, then 6-8-10. They even had a box for screws, it sat in the gang box nice clean and new. The inside corner tool was way fast, but not as nice as knifed. Speed was the rule on those jobs, and you could tell.

I always thought that inside corner tool was for amateurs to bed tape, not cover it. I hated that tool. So I'll do one side of a corner one day, and the other the following day, then a 10" knife to skim coat from there. I'll do a flat knock down after that if I can sell it...no sanding.

I wasn't referring to that hard coaters hand corner tool, but was speaking of a corner glazer. I like one side at a time too. On good days it can be one and done but two shifts, lid angles included.

Before you knock down, what do you apply with?
Group of us came up with a "unique" tool/pattern for that.
I like smooth but customer is always right and texture is easier.

How's the mudding going.?

A textured roller, rolled in compound and then rolled vertically every 9" or the width of your roller is a nice look too, and being you are the homeowner, gives you another option for coverage. Just roll it on (mix your paint in it first) and let it dry. Sand off the highs and then repaint the etire wall.

I agree. Wasn't the old school popcorn filed with asbestos?
When we moved in there were 2+ cans in attic. Pain to remove pain to cut painting pain to clean pain all the way around.

I am using a "Spraying Mantis" hopper and texture spray gun. Then I let it dry a little until the gleam is gone some, and knock it down with a 24" knock down knife. I have never applied that stucco look to a ceiling like the sea shell look with a notched trowel or any other knife applied finish.

I am interested in what you've come up with.

Les, mix sand with your mud, use a red sponge float over the entire surface and then skip trowel a lace texture over it. I will try to find some pics of some that we have done like this, it is a very impressive look on an interior wall. It is also pretty pricey.

I like most of the exterior finishes on the interior walls, just muted down a little by using drywall mud and sand instead of portland and sand.

Been there, done that. Now I hire it done. The professionals do a great job and 1/4 the time it takes me. Just remember, thick wall paper covers lots of mistakes and paneling of some sort does it even better.

I am going to stucco a building before I die, I might have to start with an outhouse.

I would like to see some pics of that CS .

I will see what I can find Les. As far as stuccoing a building before you die, I think you are smarter than that. It takes a pretty slow witted person to do stucco work.

I am aware of that, and I'm pretty sure nothing can stop me, lol.

"I am interested in what you've come up with."

Thanks for sharing your gig. I helped a guy ONE time that had one. After I bag mud touched up, he mixed the paint and mud and shot the whole house.
I didn't care for it but he sure did as he basically cranked that finish in one day.
It was a fire restoration.
Your sprayer sure beats building Popeye arms with a roller.

My method. (Not my original idea.) I prefer smooth, it shows the craft, you know there are customers that do not, and the need to blend at times, like after you flat shovel scrape Adams ceilings lol.

Take two bucket lids and two handles and make hawks.
Lay one on thick insulation, press down and cut around it.
Wrap heavy plastic around the insulation and the one hawk.
Duct tape plastic to handle where it meets the bucket lid.
Now you have a hawk and a dobber.
Whip mud wet, adding in all leftover, no bag mud or paint.
Load hawk, punch the dobber on the hawk a few times and get to dobbing the ceiling.
You can add a twist or slide, just don't make a pattern.
The stilt guy carries a pan and big knife to knock down.
Let dry and sand.
Prior that day, while coating lid angles, the ceiling side coat can be skipped, (or not) as the stilt guy can get that while knocking down -> lightly load knife and drag it out from wall while knocking down. There are more tricks but enough for now. Be nice to share a camp fire with Les.

Perhaps next month we can talk stone work. Talk is cheap, and easy lol.
Yesterday I got the truck back running, a real pro shade tree wrencher I am lol.

A drywaller friend of mine wants to stucco his home exterior.
I have no clue at all there.
Hang 9' staccato board, and get to it with 1 Portland to 3 sand?
What about seams? Batten?
I know we can do it after picking the right guys brain.
BIG TALL stilts lol, or NOT. I have staging.

Wright Brothers, felt paper, metal lath, scratch coat, brown coat, texture, paint. Scratch coat is a richer portland mix, brown coat has more sand to reduce shrinkage and cracking, texture coat is wetter depending on the type of finish. In your area I would not use a dye in hardcoat stucco, too much moisture and humidity, you need the paint to seal up the stucco. The dyes work well in drier climates but tend to fade unevenly in wetter areas. wait 3 days after scratch coat, seven days after brown and allow finished wall to cure 30 days before painting for best results and true color retention.

The easier and faster way is to use eifs, such as Dryvit or Sto. Foam board, basecoat and fiberglass mesh, finish coat with texture and color. Foam with mechanical fasteners, sand, basecoat one day, finish the next.

I've been certified to do Dryvit EIFS for a long time. I used to do a lot of residential but it fell out of favor about 10 years ago, now it's mostly commercial applications.

I even have the shirt with the penguin on to prove it!

A lot of good stuff here. Smooth is definitely more time consuming that what I try to sell. When I get done Knocking down, I breeze sand with a stick sander to eliminate any gremlins sticking out before painting, so they don't show up in the light.

I spray a mix of very loose, nearly 2 or 3 to one ration water and mud in order to flow through my hopper at about 30 lbs of air to do this. To guys can do a house in a day easily enough.

We'll find that campfire one day .

I'll refer him to this when I see him, he's a trapper but does not post that I know of. He knows about dryvit.
Foam board on there now, over old pine lap siding, over studding. We'll likely hit you with ?s this year. Your method seems straight forward enough. And cost effective.

You are correct about added dye. I did a chimney and added black powder dye.
(not a customer job). Two years after, above roof it's grey, below eave it's black.
Same with stone house and liquid dye from cheapodepo.

Type S Bag mortar that is pre-dyed holds up fine on log chinking and stone. 2.5 to 1
If can't get S, cut in Portland. 1800s log houses, not talking modern with that $$$ $$$$ bucket chink.

off topic enough yet folks?

Nice job...educational to say the least, lol.