Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Slinging Mud

Time to start slinging mud. I need to have the kitchen ready for cabinet and flooring install this weekend, and time during the week will be short. In the past I have always used standard drywall joint compound.

This time around I'm using the compound with dust control. I wanted to buy one gallon, but the local Menards only sells it in the 3-1/2 gallon containers. I'm hoping it keeps until I get to the other side of the kitchen. Worst case scenario is that I'm out $12.00.

I've read from a couple of people that this dust control version is well worth the extra few bucks. I'll find out for myself.




It's been a couple of years since I've done any drywall work, so I got back into the swing of it by doing the easy sections first - the areas I cut out to run the cable through the studs.

It went on easily, and I gave it a going-over with a sponge after it set up a bit. If I'm lucky (and careful) I should have very little to sand.




Only about 1/3 of the joints will be visible once the cabinets are in place, which I'm really happy about. That means that I can do a semi-half-ass job on about 2/3 of the joints.

Even though most of them won't be visible I still hit 'em with the sponge, but I won't bother final sanding them. Only the visible parts will get the extra effort.

Now that the first layer of mud is on, I'll let it sit until Friday, which should be the next time I get time to work on it. There will be some shrinkage to deal with and I'll need to feather the edges a bit.

Overall I'm happy with how it's looking so far.