AUTX90,
I'm curious where in SC are you? I'm up in Asheville and travel every so often to the upstate for work on the lakes and golf courses.
I'm going to offer my two cents here and apologize in advance for stepping on any toes in the process. I'm here to help out and help AUTx from getting into something he may be sorry for later on. I've been finishing drywall for 22 years with tools. I whole heartedly disagree with the nobody notices drywall comment. So will your realtor later on when/if you go to sell.
Buy the banjo and a 10" Comumbia "fat boy" flat box. 2 handles, (one extended for the ceiling and a shorty for the walls) and a blue line angle roller....google "All Wall tools" they have the best deals...........YOU WILL NOT REGRET SPENDING THE MONEY!!! and DO NOT go to Ames to get them.
1)water is your best friend...and so is the little black hose that hooks to the back of your washer and dryer. Get the hose and cut off the male end...this is your cleaning tool. when hooked to your faucet outside it will be equivalent to a pressure washer and will save you a lot of head aches.
2) go to Tucker Materials if you're near to Greenville or Columbia. If not find your local drywall distributor and buy your mud there. Buy...2 types of mud. Black Lid Goldbond for your taping only...you will need 5 cans.....buy 8 more cans of a light weight mud..I prefer Ruco..but any light weight will do. DO NOT buy hot mud (bag mud) this is the biggest mistake you could ever make. stay away from USG plus3 .as well, it is for texturing and will crack later on. you will need 4 500' rolls of tape as well.
FYI home depot and lowes do not sell professional grade corner bead. Buy your corner beads from the distributor as well. You will regret buying the cheap stuff, it will cause cracks later on and will be a pain in the butt to nail on correctly.
About the tool purchases.
before you even start taping walk through and check for any loose spots and blown out corners. Cut them out with a razor knife and pack with straight black lid mud.
get to know your banjo and how it functions. Walk through and tape all those cut outs you just filled up. You can tell the sign of a professional by the size of knife he carries. Your primary knife should be a 5" knife not a six. it is more ridgid and will cut the tape smoother. buy an 8inch to wipe your tape down.
Start on your ceiling butt joints. tape them first and wipe them down. Tape your ceiling seems second. DO NOT tape your angles yet. run through the entire house taping everything but the angles. ceilings and walls. when you are finished clean up your tools and walk back though the house cleaning off any mud that spilled onto the walls , especially in your angles.
Time to break out that angle roller.....oil it up with wd 40
start on the walls this time, you will need to kick an empty bucket around with you.. This is where it gets tricky for me to describe the the technique. Your objective is to leave as much mud on the backside of the tape without smearing it all over or pressing it too tight into the angle. supposing you are right handed. pulling the tape from the banjo reach as high as you can from the floor stick the tape with your left hand but only at that high spot. as you work your way to the ground press the tape gently into the angle every ft or so....do not press it tight. Cut the tape at the bottom and reap in other angles, 4 or 5 .
Grab the roller and dip the head into the mud you are taping with. Shake off the dripping stuff. PLace the roller squarely into the midway point of the angle. roll it up and then roll it down. Do this pressing harder and harder for about four times then move to the rest of the angles you taped. After you've rolled them out put the roller into a bucket of water. Grab the empty bucket and get on it in the angle. this will give you more leverage to wipe the tape cleanly. step down and wipe the bottom half then move on, keep repeating until the house is taped.
You will fall deeply in love with your angle roller making it the best purchase of the drywall job.
Bed coat with the flat box. I say this in confidence. Learn how to use you break on your handle, "which is not hard", and you've past you biggest hurdle. On your box you have settings and adjustment screws on each end of the blade. Columbia's boxes are easy to adjust. Start your setting on the second level. and the ends of the blades shoe be flush with the shoes(metal skids) on each end. FYI....my wheels on my boxes rarely touch the surface of the drywall. I use the brake to hold the wheel just off the wall. This is where most new tool finishers fail. Using your break will make the job simple.
three rules to follow
always keep your blade clean. always walk through before boxing and check for unlevel seems for they will need to be ran by hand, same with the butt joint, DO NOT use flat boxes on butt joints. Do your ceilings first.
I can not stress enough how much simpler your life will be if you purchase the tools and use them...not to mention how nice the job will turn out.
Only buy the one box. put the finish coat on by hand. friend me on facebook https://www.facebook.com/drywall.Asheville
good luck
I'm curious where in SC are you? I'm up in Asheville and travel every so often to the upstate for work on the lakes and golf courses.
I'm going to offer my two cents here and apologize in advance for stepping on any toes in the process. I'm here to help out and help AUTx from getting into something he may be sorry for later on. I've been finishing drywall for 22 years with tools. I whole heartedly disagree with the nobody notices drywall comment. So will your realtor later on when/if you go to sell.
Buy the banjo and a 10" Comumbia "fat boy" flat box. 2 handles, (one extended for the ceiling and a shorty for the walls) and a blue line angle roller....google "All Wall tools" they have the best deals...........YOU WILL NOT REGRET SPENDING THE MONEY!!! and DO NOT go to Ames to get them.
1)water is your best friend...and so is the little black hose that hooks to the back of your washer and dryer. Get the hose and cut off the male end...this is your cleaning tool. when hooked to your faucet outside it will be equivalent to a pressure washer and will save you a lot of head aches.
2) go to Tucker Materials if you're near to Greenville or Columbia. If not find your local drywall distributor and buy your mud there. Buy...2 types of mud. Black Lid Goldbond for your taping only...you will need 5 cans.....buy 8 more cans of a light weight mud..I prefer Ruco..but any light weight will do. DO NOT buy hot mud (bag mud) this is the biggest mistake you could ever make. stay away from USG plus3 .as well, it is for texturing and will crack later on. you will need 4 500' rolls of tape as well.
FYI home depot and lowes do not sell professional grade corner bead. Buy your corner beads from the distributor as well. You will regret buying the cheap stuff, it will cause cracks later on and will be a pain in the butt to nail on correctly.
About the tool purchases.
before you even start taping walk through and check for any loose spots and blown out corners. Cut them out with a razor knife and pack with straight black lid mud.
get to know your banjo and how it functions. Walk through and tape all those cut outs you just filled up. You can tell the sign of a professional by the size of knife he carries. Your primary knife should be a 5" knife not a six. it is more ridgid and will cut the tape smoother. buy an 8inch to wipe your tape down.
Start on your ceiling butt joints. tape them first and wipe them down. Tape your ceiling seems second. DO NOT tape your angles yet. run through the entire house taping everything but the angles. ceilings and walls. when you are finished clean up your tools and walk back though the house cleaning off any mud that spilled onto the walls , especially in your angles.
Time to break out that angle roller.....oil it up with wd 40
start on the walls this time, you will need to kick an empty bucket around with you.. This is where it gets tricky for me to describe the the technique. Your objective is to leave as much mud on the backside of the tape without smearing it all over or pressing it too tight into the angle. supposing you are right handed. pulling the tape from the banjo reach as high as you can from the floor stick the tape with your left hand but only at that high spot. as you work your way to the ground press the tape gently into the angle every ft or so....do not press it tight. Cut the tape at the bottom and reap in other angles, 4 or 5 .
Grab the roller and dip the head into the mud you are taping with. Shake off the dripping stuff. PLace the roller squarely into the midway point of the angle. roll it up and then roll it down. Do this pressing harder and harder for about four times then move to the rest of the angles you taped. After you've rolled them out put the roller into a bucket of water. Grab the empty bucket and get on it in the angle. this will give you more leverage to wipe the tape cleanly. step down and wipe the bottom half then move on, keep repeating until the house is taped.
You will fall deeply in love with your angle roller making it the best purchase of the drywall job.
Bed coat with the flat box. I say this in confidence. Learn how to use you break on your handle, "which is not hard", and you've past you biggest hurdle. On your box you have settings and adjustment screws on each end of the blade. Columbia's boxes are easy to adjust. Start your setting on the second level. and the ends of the blades shoe be flush with the shoes(metal skids) on each end. FYI....my wheels on my boxes rarely touch the surface of the drywall. I use the brake to hold the wheel just off the wall. This is where most new tool finishers fail. Using your break will make the job simple.
three rules to follow
always keep your blade clean. always walk through before boxing and check for unlevel seems for they will need to be ran by hand, same with the butt joint, DO NOT use flat boxes on butt joints. Do your ceilings first.
I can not stress enough how much simpler your life will be if you purchase the tools and use them...not to mention how nice the job will turn out.
Only buy the one box. put the finish coat on by hand. friend me on facebook https://www.facebook.com/drywall.Asheville
good luck
