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drywall question about smooth walls and final coat

3K views 10 replies 8 participants last post by  coupe 
#1 · (Edited)
A guy did some drywall over a knock down texture in the final coat of smooth imperfection walls he has many tiny holes in various spots. What is the best way to get rid of them? Does he need to do another skim coat over the entire area? The tiny holes are like galaxies all over but some areas are perfect but other area's has many of these tiny holes the size of a pin head to pencil lead sizes.

I primed the ceilings and then he filled most of the holes, but there are still some and I think they will show through the primer. Do we need to just keep filling them and priming over the spots or skim coat the entire area?

I need to prime and paint the walls.
 
#9 ·
Let me re-phrase: everybody that knows what they're doing.

I'm just kidding.

But the mud can get stiff in your pan or on your hawk or in the box and water needs to be added to it.
And I leave a little layer of water sitting on the mud in the box when I'm done for the day to keep it fresh.

Sent from a Samsung Galaxy S2
 
#10 ·
I find adding a small amount of water to the final coat helpful. I always thought those bubbles were from not mixing it enough or putting it on too thick.

I'd go over it again lightly, make sure you have a good light source in the room, it's amazing what you can miss without one.
 
#11 · (Edited by Moderator)
as usual, I agree with Titanmen. a little water is needed to keep mud fresh. whenever I Was coating a textured surface from the 60's to mid 90's. the only drywall tools I used was my 6" knife, my stilts, my mixer and drill and my hawk

actually the holes are caused by a variety of things, beginning with mixing. for taping coat I always added about one cup of water to a 5 gallon bucket, mixing it thoroughly, until all the air is out. while mixing you can see bubbles coming up in the mud. I'd keep mixing until no bubbles came up for at least 3 minutes. it's much more profitable to spend an extra 5 minutes each bucket getting air out, than spending 5-6 hours re-coating a wall! after mixing well, I used my 6" knife to get in tight to all corners, constantly kneading the mud with knife on my hawk, making sure air didn't build up.

after going around all corners coating with knife, I'd start in one corner using a 16-18" fa concrete trowel, the corners would by then be dry enough to go over. using 16"-18" trowel, I always worked 32"-36" at a time, working from dry surface back into wet surface. once you get the hang of it, you can judge when to and how to angle your trowel in a way to leave little to no trowel marks, just like on concrete. it takes just the right pressure on trowel to push air bubbles out. you can see if bubbling? if see bubbles? when dry and sanding those bubbles cause the holes, you're simply sanding the mud off that air pocket.

after you've got 9-12 square feet coated, the air pockets will begin to show, the mud may be a bit set by now? I carried a spray bottle of water clipped in my pocket, a couple of squirts will keep it wet enough to go over and remove bubble, add a bit more pressure. if mud gets too dry? a damp sponge trowel working in a circular motion will remove air and smooth mud, then go back over with concrete trowel until it's like glass smooth and shiny.

when all done, if bubbles are seen? a quick spray and run over should get them all out. dawn your mask and sand with fine grit sandpaper and prime and paint.
 
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