20 Replies to “8 Different Ways to Skim Coat Drywall!”
I just did a ceiling skim and I actually really like doing popcorn removal, skimming for painted finish. My method is slightly different, and maybe not for a beginner. I use hawk and trowel, and using stilts. I will do my first coat with half 90 minute half finish mud. A bit on the thicker side. I will lay the mud thick and I won't clear it off til the whole room ceiling is mudded. Then I will go back to the start and use a feather edge (or skimming blade when I finally buy one) and take the excess mud off. The theory is that when you put the mud to a surface, the surface mud will start to wick the moisture out of the mud. The mud that is directly next to the existing surface will dry first. This way it leaves a mm or two on and you can more easily take off the excess. When you put the mud on and take it off on the next swipe, the moisture doesn't have time to wick out and you can more easily take off too much. The reason we texture ceiling is because gravity and floor joices and truss are so not uniform that you can see the drywall sag. This first coat needs to fill those sagged areas, not just cover the former texture. My second coat is similar but with just lite finish mud, again slightly on the thicker side. I want spread this time going perpendicular from the first spread, again spreading out the whole ceiling and coming back with my feather edge to flatten, and then maybe trowel to really flatten. I let this all dry and then come back and one last finish coat, going the same direction as my first coat. This will be a thinner consistency mud. I will spread out the whole ceiling with my regular trowel, but I will wipe it all off with my flexi-trowel, which does an amazing job. It really reduces the sanding process, I highly recommend a flexi trowel for all finish coats.
Big what’s up from Oklahoma. Been watching your videos for quite a while now and gotta say you are for real a talented carpenter but probably even a better teacher! You seem like a cool guy jus to have a beer with too lol.
Do you ever caulk corners after skimming? I find it hard to get the corners exactly right with joint compound alone
I hired a company to skim a couple of my apartments and they used 8" boxes, they did an 8" swath floor to ceiling (or wall to wall in the ceiling) skipped about 7", did another swath, did that everywhere, then after those stripes dried they came back and boxed the in-betweens. It all went pretty fast, but of course not everyone has professional mud tools to be able to do it that way
Are the skimming blades less hard on your shoulders and neck? Would you still use them if time was not a factor?
I was thinking about this when I was skimming walls the day before yesterday ????
For a bathroom with lots of tile, and a crack forming at the top wall to ceiling. 20 year old house, remodel. Then the crack started a few months after. Would you guess not enough drywall screws with the heavy tile pulling the wall down? Or just bad tape job. It was a brute contractor they've used lots but it very coarse in his work. He's a great sturdy framer but not finesse/dry waller or tiler. I'm skimming my bathroom now and need all the good tips. I'm pretty sloppy. Time to try the hawk trowel. Pan and knife is not my jam. The edge slop is way too messy. My hands and arms get covered.
You should try a skimblade on a handle .I prefer L5 24 to 32 inch. 18 inch roller to roll on. I don't drop much mud.. maybe you are over loading it or rolling too fast.
Knife and hawk is a good combo. Get a larger 14" knife on a 13" hawk and you have very little spills and no need to remove any mud from edges. Trowels are best, but difficult to get the right touch and messy if you aren't proficient at cleaning it off…. I always drop mud when I miss the edge as I scrape off the trowel on the hawk. Skim coating along heavy textured walls is such a real pain because of chatter marks when you try to smooth the edges along the wall. Thanks for all the videos. It's helped a ton! BTW Are you using hot mud on that ceiling? I also find getting the surface damp after the first coat with a sponge helps keep the bubbles and pin holes down on the 2nd coat.
Getting the consistency just right is key to not making a mess when rolling the mud on a ceiling. It's also necessary to knock the excess mud off the roller by banging it on the edge of the bucket before rolling it on the ceiling. Then wipe it down with a skimming blade attached to an extension handle.
You forgot the 9th way to skim a ceiling… a crew of guys
possible video idea, how to skim coat or mud in general without bubbles? ive been skim coating but keep getting bubbles
Very timely video. I have tried the knife and pan but I am about to try the hawk and trowel for the first time. You make mudding look easy but I swear a lot while doing it.
I can't believe how quickly you emptied the hawk at the end of the video.
Nice to see you again Ben. Been awhile since the last video. Glad to know you’re doing well.!
Hawk and trowel is my preferred, but I do have skimming blades and use them for this type of job. The bubbles as you note are the greatest issue, it would be nice to have a roller one could use after troweling out the mud, to roll and reduce air. e.g. the foam rollers etc Thanks for posting,, you nailed it !
Luv u master
My preferred way would to have you do it. You make it look so easy!
My favorite method is plasticing off the walls and shooting the mud up there with a texture gun, then wiping it with a 32" skimming blade. Great for large ceilings.
I do think within a decade or so there might be competition coming from general purpose robots (rented with not much more fanfare than renting a truck) that can “learn” with (rented) software to do some kinds of jobs like skim coating using cheap, not-robot-specific tools.
Imagine something like the Boston Robotics “Spot” with longer legs—there’s no reason that couldn’t use a trowel and probably control it at least as well as a person, if not better (in some ways).
This is all speculation but I suspect the role for people is going to become more foreman-like. Stuff like looking at a preview on a phone of what it’s going to do and making sure it’s not planning on filling in the fancy shadow bead detail or whatever… stuff like that.
I just did a ceiling skim and I actually really like doing popcorn removal, skimming for painted finish. My method is slightly different, and maybe not for a beginner. I use hawk and trowel, and using stilts. I will do my first coat with half 90 minute half finish mud. A bit on the thicker side. I will lay the mud thick and I won't clear it off til the whole room ceiling is mudded. Then I will go back to the start and use a feather edge (or skimming blade when I finally buy one) and take the excess mud off. The theory is that when you put the mud to a surface, the surface mud will start to wick the moisture out of the mud. The mud that is directly next to the existing surface will dry first. This way it leaves a mm or two on and you can more easily take off the excess. When you put the mud on and take it off on the next swipe, the moisture doesn't have time to wick out and you can more easily take off too much. The reason we texture ceiling is because gravity and floor joices and truss are so not uniform that you can see the drywall sag. This first coat needs to fill those sagged areas, not just cover the former texture. My second coat is similar but with just lite finish mud, again slightly on the thicker side. I want spread this time going perpendicular from the first spread, again spreading out the whole ceiling and coming back with my feather edge to flatten, and then maybe trowel to really flatten. I let this all dry and then come back and one last finish coat, going the same direction as my first coat. This will be a thinner consistency mud. I will spread out the whole ceiling with my regular trowel, but I will wipe it all off with my flexi-trowel, which does an amazing job. It really reduces the sanding process, I highly recommend a flexi trowel for all finish coats.
Big what’s up from Oklahoma. Been watching your videos for quite a while now and gotta say you are for real a talented carpenter but probably even a better teacher! You seem like a cool guy jus to have a beer with too lol.
Do you ever caulk corners after skimming? I find it hard to get the corners exactly right with joint compound alone
I hired a company to skim a couple of my apartments and they used 8" boxes, they did an 8" swath floor to ceiling (or wall to wall in the ceiling) skipped about 7", did another swath, did that everywhere, then after those stripes dried they came back and boxed the in-betweens. It all went pretty fast, but of course not everyone has professional mud tools to be able to do it that way
Are the skimming blades less hard on your shoulders and neck? Would you still use them if time was not a factor?
I was thinking about this when I was skimming walls the day before yesterday ????
For a bathroom with lots of tile, and a crack forming at the top wall to ceiling. 20 year old house, remodel. Then the crack started a few months after. Would you guess not enough drywall screws with the heavy tile pulling the wall down? Or just bad tape job. It was a brute contractor they've used lots but it very coarse in his work. He's a great sturdy framer but not finesse/dry waller or tiler.
I'm skimming my bathroom now and need all the good tips. I'm pretty sloppy. Time to try the hawk trowel. Pan and knife is not my jam. The edge slop is way too messy. My hands and arms get covered.
You should try a skimblade on a handle .I prefer L5 24 to 32 inch. 18 inch roller to roll on. I don't drop much mud.. maybe you are over loading it or rolling too fast.
Knife and hawk is a good combo. Get a larger 14" knife on a 13" hawk and you have very little spills and no need to remove any mud from edges. Trowels are best, but difficult to get the right touch and messy if you aren't proficient at cleaning it off…. I always drop mud when I miss the edge as I scrape off the trowel on the hawk. Skim coating along heavy textured walls is such a real pain because of chatter marks when you try to smooth the edges along the wall. Thanks for all the videos. It's helped a ton! BTW Are you using hot mud on that ceiling? I also find getting the surface damp after the first coat with a sponge helps keep the bubbles and pin holes down on the 2nd coat.
Getting the consistency just right is key to not making a mess when rolling the mud on a ceiling. It's also necessary to knock the excess mud off the roller by banging it on the edge of the bucket before rolling it on the ceiling. Then wipe it down with a skimming blade attached to an extension handle.
You forgot the 9th way to skim a ceiling… a crew of guys
possible video idea, how to skim coat or mud in general without bubbles? ive been skim coating but keep getting bubbles
Very timely video. I have tried the knife and pan but I am about to try the hawk and trowel for the first time. You make mudding look easy but I swear a lot while doing it.
I can't believe how quickly you emptied the hawk at the end of the video.
Nice to see you again Ben. Been awhile since the last video. Glad to know you’re doing well.!
Hawk and trowel is my preferred, but I do have skimming blades and use them for this type of job.
The bubbles as you note are the greatest issue, it would be nice to have a roller one could use after troweling out the mud, to roll and reduce air.
e.g. the foam rollers etc
Thanks for posting,, you nailed it !
Luv u master
My preferred way would to have you do it. You make it look so easy!
My favorite method is plasticing off the walls and shooting the mud up there with a texture gun, then wiping it with a 32" skimming blade. Great for large ceilings.
I do think within a decade or so there might be competition coming from general purpose robots (rented with not much more fanfare than renting a truck) that can “learn” with (rented) software to do some kinds of jobs like skim coating using cheap, not-robot-specific tools.
Imagine something like the Boston Robotics “Spot” with longer legs—there’s no reason that couldn’t use a trowel and probably control it at least as well as a person, if not better (in some ways).
This is all speculation but I suspect the role for people is going to become more foreman-like. Stuff like looking at a preview on a phone of what it’s going to do and making sure it’s not planning on filling in the fancy shadow bead detail or whatever… stuff like that.