Drywall Work
Drywall work is dusty, messy and sometimes frustrating. It seems no matter how many coats of mud that is dragged across certain areas or how many times it is sanded, it still does not look right. Ceilings are especially tricky because there will be no furniture to cover up any imperfections. There are some helpful tips tricks that will make a drywall job easy and fast.
Taping
Taping the drywall with mesh tape is a lot easier for those who have not had much experience with drywall finishing work. The tape has an adhesive backing that easily is adhered to the surface of the drywall. Make sure that the tape is in the center of the joints of the drywall. For edges, the mesh tape is folded in half length ways to form a crease and adhered to the corners. Outside corners are not taped but have a metal edge to protect the corner from chips, cracks or dents.
Nail and Screw Holes
One of the most common methods of applying mud over nail and screw holes in drywall is to swipe across it with a small amount of mud on the edge of a 3-inch knife in a crisscross pattern. This method often times leaves much more sanding and is easy to over look without proper lighting if the surface does not appear smooth. A better method is to crisscross, but then run the trowel with a small amount of mud on the knife down the entire nail/screw length. This makes for easier sanding and blending as lines are easier to work with when sanding.
Sanding
Sanding drywall is very messy, but the dust can be cut down. Set a shop vacuum in the middle of the room with a HEPA filter in it and let it run while you are sanding. This will act as a dust collector and cut down on the amount of dust in the air. Also, take a damp cloth, put it on the end of your pole with your sanding pad on it and run it along the areas you are going to immediately sand. This will clump the dust together and keep it out of the air. It is important to sand in random circular patterns to avoid sanding one area too much. There are power sanders available for rent for drywall that can also be used to cut sanding time in half.
Texturing
Knock down texture is a style of texture where orange peel or splatter texture is applied with a pneumatic sprayer, then "knocked down" with a large trowel. The thicker the sprayed texture, the more projected the texture will appear. The biggest key to making the knock down texture appear random is run the trowel in different directions and in straight swipes, keeping the trowel as flat as possible and troweling as light as possible.
Tags: down texture, Knock Down, mesh tape, nail screw, small amount