| Drywall Tips | | | | Smoothing and priming drywall |
| Planning your installation | | | | There's a knack to the wrist action needed to |
| | | | smoothly lay on joint compound. Until you master it, you |
| Careful! | | | | can expect your first few tries to come out on the |
| A 4x8-foot sheet of 5/8-inch-thick drywall weighs 58 | | | | rough side. Lightly sand away imperfections with |
| pounds, and drywall panels often arrive taped together | | | | fine-grit sandpaper clamped in a sanding block or |
| into bundles of two. Spare your back by ripping off | | | | wrapped around a block of wood. Avoid roughening |
| these tapes and moving the panels one at a time. Also | | | | the surface paper when you sand. If you do |
| bear in mind that sanding drywall and cutting it with | | | | accidentally roughen the paper, repair the damage by |
| power tools raises a chalky dust that's harmful to | | | | applying a small amount of the compound with the |
| breathe and very difficult to clean up. Wear a face | | | | broad knife. |
| mask when sanding and avoid using power tools with | | | | After your taping skills improve, try wet sanding minor |
| drywall. | | | | blemishes with a sponge. This eliminates dust and does |
| Finishing corners | | | | not scuff the surface paper. Use a small-celled sponge |
| Protect outside corners with L-shaped, perforated | | | | that looks like carpet padding. Saturate the sponge and |
| metal corner bead. Trim corner bead to length with tin | | | | wring it to prevent dripping. Remove high spots with as |
| snips, cutting through one flange at a time. Hold the | | | | few strokes as possible. Clean the sponge frequently. |
| bead firmly against the corner and drive nails - not | | | | Look at some walls at an angle or under certain lighting |
| screws - spaced 9 inches apart through holes in the | | | | conditions and you can see pots where joint |
| flanges. Coat the flanges with joint compound. Hold the | | | | compound appears to be bleeding through the finish |
| knife at a 45-degree angle, with one side of the blade | | | | coat of paint. This phenomenon, known as joint |
| riding the metal corner edge, the other on the surface | | | | banding happens because of differences in porosity |
| of the panel. After you've filled the first flange, you | | | | and texture between the panel's face paper and the |
| may notice lumps of joint compound on the corner | | | | compound at joints and fasteners. To eliminate joint |
| edge. Remove these with an upward stroke of the | | | | banding, prime drywall with a paint specially formulated |
| knife before spreading compound onto the other | | | | to equalize surface porosity and texture differences, |
| flange. | | | | such as USG's First Coat. |
| At inside corners, use ordinary paper joint tape, | | | | Time frame |
| creased lengthwise. Apply a thin layer of compound on | | | | Big drywall panels cover lots of territory fast. Two |
| both sides of the corner. Lightly press the tape into the | | | | people could probably drywall a medium-size room, |
| compound with your fingers or the edge of the broad | | | | including the ceiling, in a weekend - plus an evening or |
| knife. Embed the tape by drawing your broad knife | | | | two if you have lots of cutting and fitting to do. |
| down one wall and then the other. For the second and | | | | Mudding and taping adds at least three more days, |
| third coats, apply compound to one wall, let it dry, and | | | | because you must wait for each coat of compound to |
| then coat the other wall. Or use a corner knife to coat | | | | dry. |
| both walls at once. | | | | |