mike Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 Anyone do any finishing of drywall themselves? I am a caontractor and do almost everything on the smaller jobs myself. Anyways, the place I am working on right now, the lady wants a smooth finish. Thats right no texture. Quiet possibly the biggest pain in the rump there is when it come to construction. Just wondering if anyone loves this process as much as I do! (that had a touch of sarcasm to it... yes) Time to go do some more sanding and yet another skim coat of mud:angry::D:D And yes this could be inturepted as whinnnig lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TennesseeTurkey Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 Smooth on the ceiling? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redkneck Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 I did my bathroom walls a few years ago. Man what a mess I made! Wasn't too ugly though, I patted myself on the back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebohio Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 lol i dont like it either but from the sounds of it it doesn't bother me near as much as you. your sanding between coats? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeramie Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 We did our room smooth... I greatly regret it. Mud is a pretty important job. If you leave a single line it looks rough. We are going to change our carpet probably in the next year and I plan on texturing while I have the carpet pulled out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adjam5 Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 Taping and drywall finishing is a art for sure. You can lay it on heavy, but that only means more sanding and more dust. My Pop taught me to make sure you use a knife/trowel that covers both tapered seams on the drywall to get the best spread of the mud as possible. Pop used a 14" knife. I don't think they make them anymore as wide. We have a USG factory in our town that runs 24/7. Have fun and wear a mask when sanding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michiganbowhunter_SQ2 Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 Have done a few drywall jobs before Did it for around 10 years after high school. We hung, taped, put the first coat of mud, finish coat and then sanded. We never sanded in between coats. if your experienced enough, you won't have to. Kind of curious what you mean by a smooth finish...doesn't everyone want that?? or are you talking about the imperfections in the way a wall was built causing it to bow in and out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddyboman Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 Some and yes it SUCKS!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddyboman Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 . Kind of curious what you mean by a smooth finish...doesn't everyone want that?? I would assume he is talking the orange peel texture/look.... http://www.house-painting-info.com/apply-orange-peel-drywall-texture.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike Posted January 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 Have done a few drywall jobs before Did it for around 10 years after high school. We hung, taped, put the first coat of mud, finish coat and then sanded. We never sanded in between coats. if your experienced enough, you won't have to. Kind of curious what you mean by a smooth finish...doesn't everyone want that?? or are you talking about the imperfections in the way a wall was built causing it to bow in and out? I have been doing this along time and am quite good at it actually. lol smooth finish, no texture at all, glass smooth wall. It is very hard to do that way. Most walls and ceilings are textured, whether it be and orange peel or knock down, even the old acoustical they called popcorn texture. Not many people actually do a smooth finish. I already have three coats on and was sanding before a touch up coat. Then I will have the homeowners prime it. The last stage will be to go back over it after priming with a 100 watt light bulb in a clamp light to find any last imperfections that need touched up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michiganbowhunter_SQ2 Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 I have been doing this along time and am quite good at it actually. lol smooth finish, no texture at all, glass smooth wall. It is very hard to do that way. Most walls and ceilings are textured, whether it be and orange peel or knock down, even the old acoustical they called popcorn texture. Not many people actually do a smooth finish. I already have three coats on and was sanding before a touch up coat. Then I will have the homeowners prime it. The last stage will be to go back over it after priming with a 100 watt light bulb in a clamp light to find any last imperfections that need touched up. Guess we never had anyone that picky when doing jobs. Most of the ones we did from start to finish were just the average size single family homes. Did a lot of work on some high dollar houses down south on the outskirts of the Detroit area, but most of those were hanging jobs. If we stuck around those long enough we probably would have ran into someone who wanted a smooth finish, but those were usually jobs that had different crews come in for the different stages. The hanging taping and finishing never bothered me. The sanding however was the day we all hated. The good thing was we had at least 4 guys doing it so most of the jobs took less than a day to do a house. If it was a more stable industry around here I would probably still be doing it, but not knowing if there was a job waiting after the one you were working on was to much for me. That's with working both privately, and doing sub-contract work for a company down south. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 Our new house I am finishing all the interior, I hung all the drywall in the kids rooms, ceilings and walls. Textured the ceilings, smooth finish on the walls. Definitely an art to getting it right. Spent waaaaay more time sanding and mudding than I planned on. The low dust mud for the few cents more is probably not a bad choice if you had not already been using it, actually seemed to make a bit of difference as it does not float nearly as bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike Posted January 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 Our new house I am finishing all the interior, I hung all the drywall in the kids rooms, ceilings and walls. Textured the ceilings, smooth finish on the walls. Definitely an art to getting it right. Spent waaaaay more time sanding and mudding than I planned on. The low dust mud for the few cents more is probably not a bad choice if you had not already been using it, actually seemed to make a bit of difference as it does not float nearly as bad. I tried it on this job too William. It definately doesn't float in the air as bad as the old stuff does, seems to pretty much drop right to the floor. Like you said it isn't much more money either, $1 a bucket a think was all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowtechTurkeyHunter Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 When we had our house redone we had the drywallers put a smooth finish on the walls no texture to mimic the look of the plaster that we had before ... we have even had ppl comment on if we put plaster back in ... you can tell in some places its drywall but for the most part it looks really good ... you cant find a seem anywhere in the house ... they used a spray mixture with primer and mud sprayed on just like paint and they had like 24" trowels that they skimmed it with right after he sprayed it took them about 2 days to do the whole house ... sanded too of course but over all it looks pretty good it takes a bit more work but its worth it. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckee Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 (edited) I hear ya Mike. As a painter, I know how hard it is to get a perfect looking paint job on a smooth ceiling. Especially a very large smooth ceiling. The larger it is, the more you will notice any imperfections. Textured ceilings are so much easier to work with, and the finished product always looks better. The old textured ceilings (stucco type) were a disaster...LOL, but the newer textured ceilings of today are beautiful. Edited January 12, 2011 by buckee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike Posted January 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 I hear ya Mike. As a painter, I know how hard it is to get a perfect looking paint job on a smooth ceiling. Especially a very large smooth ceiling. The larger it is, the more you will notice any imperfections. Thats no joke there Steve. The more shadowing the natural light can do the worse it will look. Big rooms are notorious for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NS whitetail Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 That is one job that I do NOT like :hammer1: , I bought a sander rig that hooks up to the vacum cleaner, it does work really well and cuts down on the dust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griz Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 I was a Paint and Drywall contractor for years. Never did like doing anything smooth. It can be a nightmare when you have to bust the but joints out 3 foot or so to get it to lay right... Alot of mud and sanding for sure... But...Just like I use to tell my crew...If it was easy...We wouldn't be doing it... Had to give it up due to back and shoulder problems... I still do some Drywall and Painting from time to time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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