It is also helpful to practice this motion as you will be repeating it a lot. When you have used most of the mud on the taping knife, clean the edge of the knife on the mud pan, and scoop more mud to start again. If this is your first time skim coating, practice on a less important wall first! I could feel myself improving a lot during the first 2-3 days working on a wall for about an hour each day. Go slow at first until you are more familiar with the motions of each stroke. Scoop the right amount of joint compound (about 2″ thick and wide) onto the taping knife, and apply it to the textured wall. The biggest secret for a smooth skim coat is to keep the taping knife at about 10 degree angle to the wall, and don’t use too much pressure. Step 2: apply the first coat of mud onto the textured wall It’s much easier for a beginner like me to use the slow setting kind, and wait longer to apply the second coat. Note: Professionals would use quick set joint compound as the first coat, and the premixed kind as the fine finish coat so they can get the work done in one day. ( If this makes you hungry, a snack break is allowed! ) Mix the mud to a consistency of somewhere between a soft creamy peanut butter and mayonnaise. Use the 6″ taping knife to scoop some joint compound into the mud pan. You can use this drywall mud as is, or mix in about 10% water to make it easier to spread, which I highly recommend. This type of drywall mud is finer, and takes longer to dry, which allows beginners plenty of time to get it right. Before continuing to next step you’ll want to mop or vacuum off the ceilings so paint doesn’t lock in any debris.If you are just learning to skim coat, use the Joint compound that is premixed in a box or bucket.Defects may show as shadows that need further sanding to get a flatter ceiling or wall. While sanding you’ll want to run a work light casting across the ceiling or wall to pick up any defects. In the corners of the room you can use a sanding block or we sometimes use a Festool DTS 400 hooked up to our Festool Vacuum. Use a pole sander with extension or mechanical sander such as the Porter Cable 7800 or Festool Planex attached to the CT 36 AC vacuum.They’re really thick and if spraying you’ll need a pump like the Mark V or Graco 1595. Alternatively, you can spray a primer/surfacer such as Tuff Hide or Sherwin Williams Builders Surfacer.Apply a thin 2nd coat of general purpose drywall compound using one of your preferred methods above.Knock off any raised bumps, lines or defects with a 6 inch knife.For textured ceilings you typically only need 1 skim coat and you can skip the sand but you will want to knock off any lines or debris with a 6 inch knife prior to applying new texture. NOTE – This typically only applies if the desired finish is smooth. Using a Graco Mark V, spray your texture with a LTX 529 to 535 tip and smooth out with a sheet rock smoothing blade.If using hawk and trowel method you thin joint compound very little if at all. Lay your mud onto the surface and pull the mud tight so a light skim coat is applied. Using a 14 inch flat bladed trowel, load up your hawk with all purpose joint compound.Without getting too far ahead smooth out the rolled on texture with a 14 inch taping knife or a squeegee trowel. Using a 1 1/4 inch nap roller screwed into an extension pole, roll 1st coat of mud.If you plan on applying with a hawk and trowel you’ll want to thin very little if any. If spraying or rolling mud, thin mud to the consistency of pancake batter.Before skimming you’ll want to mop or vacuum off the ceilings so your skimming mud doesn’t get flecks of debris in it.If applicable to this situation, please see our post on how to remove popcorn texture. If removing popcorn texture, please refer to our room preparation post on how to prepare a room for popcorn ceiling removal. Please refer to service standards post for instructions on how to communicate with a client and organize for a job. Below we list options for skim coating which require different tools. We’ve included links to our Amazon store, which helps support our how-to program. Many of these tools can be purchased from your local hardware store. We’ve created a material list, a step by step guide and a quiz to test your knowledge. Each project will vary but we’ve found this process provides amazing results. If skimming for a knockdown, orange peel or other textured finish you will likely be able to skip the 2nd skim coat and sanding process. The following describes our process for skim coating a ceiling for a smooth flat finish.
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