derekl79•28d agoProlific Poster

In my area, DIY drywall jobs are piling up on my repair list

I see cracked seams every day from people rushing the drying time. What's the hurry when a proper job lasts so much longer?

3 comments

3 Comments

kim37324d ago

Just wait for that first coat to dry completely before you even think about the next one.

the_cole28d ago

Honestly the cracked seams aren't always from rushing the drying. A lot of times it's from putting the mud on way too thick in the first place. That stuff needs to go on in thin coats, it's not filler. See it all the time where the tape gets wrinkled under a glob of mud, then it cracks for sure. Trying to fix it all in one go just screws up the whole timeline.

vera_murphy28d ago

Yeah, @the_cole nailed it with the thick mud thing. You see that ridge under the tape and you know it's doomed. I tell people to skim it on like they're frosting a cake with a really thin layer of icing. If you glob it, it shrinks and pulls different ways as it dries. Then you sand that mountain flat and surprise, a crack opens right down the seam a month later. Why put in all that work just to have to redo it?

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