I officially hate drywall/mudding!!!

[Jem]

For the past three days I've been working on the next step of putting my basement back together from the flood we had. Mudding, taping and sanding...and it sucks!
My walls are not even at all so the drywall patches aren't perfect...so that means the mudding and taping isn't perfect and will take several coats to fill in the uneven joints, dips and crevasses in an attempt to create a gentle tapered slope where the new and old drywall doesn't meet exactly, so it doesn't stand out as much when it comes time to paint.
I got the first layer of mud and the taping done, and just finished sanding this first coat this morning. I then took a damp sponge to wipe off excess dust and smooth out the edges to see what I'm left with. In some areas I did a pretty good job and they will only need a thin skim layer, but other areas....wow! You just don't realize how wavy walls get after a few decades until you try to put a perfectly straight drywall patch on. Some parts the edge is sunken in, others it sticks out...my guess would be that only 25% of the drywall actually meets up nicely. And you don't realize how noticeable those differences are until you get the mud on. My corners are really good though...I'm quite proud of them.
I hope I only need to put a second coat on and not have to do a third.
I'm going to use my wide 10 inch trowel/spatula thing for the second coat...hopefully that will work to give me a feathered even spread...
I had to get a second bucket of mud for the last 4-5 feet for the first coat...so I have a feeling that I may have to get a third bucket...I guess I should have bought the bigger one right off the hop...I didn't realize how much I would end up using.
Wish me luck!

Any tips on how to make it look as nice as possible would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Margot Lane]

From the sound of things you’ll probably need a third -very light- coat, maybe even only here & there, depending. You can drive yourself nuts with this, even seeing things that aren’t there, after awhile. Sandpaper is definitely your friend (as is that sponge!) both will lightly take off any invisible bumps and tiny ridges that show up later when you come to paint. Good on you with the corners— if you can master that, you’re definitely making progress. What brand paint you choose can definitely help…Aura is nice, b/c it does a good job w saturation, and is less toxic. Also if you do sand w a palm sander, there are ways of attaching it to a vacuum that make cleanup a lot easier. Also, hopefully all your drywall screws were sunk properly.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Oh gosh. Why do home projects always seem to take more than you'd expect? Even when you are experienced. My parents house has an addition on the back but it's at ground level and used to be awful for keeping the temperature comfortable. My mom wanted the room repainted and it has high ceilings; so she hired a friend of ours that was between jobs but had done painting professionally. He was ready to pull his hair out trying to fix the drywall seams. Those temperature fluctuations were probably most of the problem. (Come to think of it; he IS bald now. )

I hope the next coat or two go more quickly!! I'd love to see how it turns out when you are done!

We bought light fixtures a while back that had motion and dusk to dawn sensors in them. 3 of them had failed so we are replacing those now. We started with the 2 on the back of the house to be sure we liked them. And yeah; now DH has to replace the mounting thing they are on because the new fixtures have a much larger back. It's just another "something!"

 

[Jem]

I just finished the second coat on one half of the basement....it looks pretty figgin' good if I do say so myself!!!!
There are a few little spots that will need a bit more filling in but I'm happy with the outcome so far!
I may do the other half tonight but I'm thinking I might just do it tomorrow...my hip's acting all wonky and I'm afraid if I do too much in a day it'll get worse. Sitting on the concrete floor and getting up and down so much is no picnic. Besides, the other side of the basement still has a few spots that I noticed weren't completely dry when I did the sanding so it would probably be good to let it dry another night.

We bought light fixtures a while back that had motion and dusk to dawn sensors in them.

We did that 2 years ago...well...my Step-dad did.

What brand paint you choose can definitely help

I'm kinda working on a small budget and a client of mine offered to give me all the left over primer and paint he used when he finished his garage. A pale of primer and 3 cans of paint! It's just a simple grey color, and the primer is also tinted grey. Half the basement is already grey so I think it'll be fine...I'll be sure to put the primer to good use and get a really good base going. I'm a really good painter and work fast so even if I put 2-3 coats of primer and a good 2 coats of paint, it won't take me very long.

 

[susanm9006]

You are a rock star for taking on such a big and yucky job. I have only patched drywall when I took out an old built in medicine cabinet and I hated every bit of it. Sanding is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.