Total Remodel - Project 3: Drywall & Insulation

[Greg S]

Having completed 3 total home renos in the past two years, including all drywall, I would recommend you put up all your drywall in the home and then hire a professional taper to complete the work. The tape/mud job to do a complete home should only take about three days and ultimately will save you both time and money (time is money) at a price well worth the cost. It will also eliminate the need to have to go the route of spraying the 1980s style popcorn ceilings. Low mobile home ceilings with popcorn are easily damaged and not repairable.

Proper attention to such details will almost totally eliminate the "mobile home" feel of the place when completed.

[JeffInFL]

We're trying to do the taping and mudding in the living room by ourselves. Based on how that goes, we may look into hiring someone to do the other rooms It all depends on the budget!

[ponch37300]

Taping isn't horrible once you get the hang of it and you can save yourself some good money doing it. Might take longer then hiring someone so guess it's a choice if you have more time or money. Lots of videos on youtube to help. Just take your time and if it takes a bunch of coats that's fine. One tip it took me a while to learn is you want to put thin layers on. You put the mud on and spread it out and then pretty much wipe most of it off to smooth things out. You don't sand between coats, just run your drywall knife to scrape off the bumps. The only sanding if done right should be at the very end and if you keep the layers smooth while mudding there won't be much sanding. Use the right mud also for what you are doing. For taping I like the green lid pail mud and paper tape, I'm not a fan of the fiberglass tape. If you do use the fiberglass tape make sure you use "hot mud" or the stuff you mix. The premixed pails need to be thinned down a little also with water, using a good paddle mixer and 1/2" low speed drill or a good 18volt cordless will do. For taping I like about a sour cream consistency. Lay a 1/8" to 1/4" bed of mud and put the tape in it. Then smooth it out. Let it sit to dry, I usually just do one coat a day. I tape my factory seams first, then butts, then corners. Once taped then you can feather out the edges. When doing corners only do one side at a time, otherwise it wipes the side you just did off if you do both sides at the same time. For the final coat I like the easysand blue lid, it shrinks less and is easier to sand. Still thin it a little. Just realize it will take time, especially since it takes a while to dry between coats. But when you try to rush it is when it comes out bad. For me I just grab a case of beer and take my time and not worry about how long it takes.

I also go to the local library a lot. They have so many DIY books that are great to read and get some tips from, for free. When I do a project I stop by and pick up a half dozen or so books on whatever I'm doing. Really comes in handy. Between that and the internet you can learn pretty much anything!

[JeffInFL]

The taping and mudding has been going OK so far .. the only trouble spot is by the front door, where I used 1 scrap piece of drywall to go over the top of the door, and another scrap along the right hand side that created a horizontal butt seam a few inches away from a vertical tapered seam. Hopefully enough layers of mud feathered out will make it seem smooth. Got 1 more layer of mud to put on the seams with a 10" taping knife. I also have a 12" in case I need it. Should be able to finish it this week, and get some primer up on the walls this weekend.

Additionally, we moved all of our stuff in this weekend .. keeping almost everything in a spare bedroom for now, and got some tarps (free from Harbor Freight on Memorial Day!) to throw over the living room furniture while we're working.

[KLBoldon]

Would definately second Lornes opinion on the wagner spray tex. Found here;

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Wagner-Power ... a06buuZZiw

I am currently using the wagner spray tex to apply an orange peel to my walls, still quite a bit of hide. The gun is great and has worked a lot better than i anticipated (3 rooms down so far ). Pluses are you don't need to buy a compressor (even though it sounds like you really want one, budget wise this could be a big plus), you don't have to worry about losing pressure with a compressor, and IMO an electrical cord is a lot easier to maneuver around than an air hose.

Love the pictorial progress! Wish I had taken as many in-progress pictures for sharing

[eflyersteve]

We've been (well, my wonderful girlfriend) has been applying a knock-down texture and it is surprisingly easy to do. It's a heavier texture and it really lets you cover things up that might otherwise be noticed or time consuming to get perfect. It also looks pretty good. I didn't think I would like it but am quite fond of it after completing one room so far.

We use a 90 minute mix and thin it to the consistency of a thick milkshake. Use a plastic grocery bag wrapped loosely around a square of cardboard with a wooden block for a handle screwed to it. Just dab the bag contraption into the mix and dab it over the walls. Use a 10" blade to 'knock-down' the peaks and you are done. Once you get good there is no sanding required. Let dry, apply a good primer and then a decent paint. Only downside is that you have to go back over it with a brush to dab paint into some of the recesses created.

All personal tastes really, but easy, cheap and relatively mess free to do.

[JeffInFL]

sounds interesting, guys. i'll talk to the gf about it tonight!

[ponch37300]

Sounds nice. Post some pictures of the texture when you get a chance please. Would like to see what it looks like. Also a picture of your special "tool"!

[JeffInFL]

We ended up applying texture using a texture roller and some dry mix texture stuff. It's coming out like a very fine popcorn ceiling texture .. we're not even bothering to knock it down since the peaks aren't very tall.

I'm planning on picking up an airless sprayer this weekend so we can lay down the primer and whatever color we finally decide on.

[ponch37300]

We ended up applying texture using a texture roller and some dry mix texture stuff. It's coming out like a very fine popcorn ceiling texture .. we're not even bothering to knock it down since the peaks aren't very tall.

I'm planning on picking up an airless sprayer this weekend so we can lay down the primer and whatever color we finally decide on.

From my experience I don't know if I would buy an airless. I have one and thought it would be great for painting since I'm not a huge fan of painting. I did a lot of reading and found that the cheaper ones weren't that good and were more of a one time use thing and from what I read no matter how good you cleaned them if they sat on the shelf for a long period of time they would be garbage. So I bought a nice professional titan airless sprayer. The first time I used it was for a finished basement with nothing in it, so I could just spray and go, didn't matter if it got on the concrete or the floor joists above since both were getting finished afterwards. Worked great. Tried it in a house with windows and floors and stuff and it was more work then it's worth. Spent a very long time to tape everything off and other prep. The spraying went very fast, but the extra prep work negated any time saved over rolling, plus the cleanup on a sprayer takes a lot of work. The sprayer has sat in the garage for about 3 years now. I've painted several more times and just easier to use a roller and brush. Just my experience I thought I would share since I wish someone would have told me this before I spent several hundred dollars on my sprayer that just sits in the basement now. If you want to buy one they are nice to use but they aren't any less work then just rolling things. I've gotten pretty good cutting in trim that I don't have to tape anymore. A GOOD brush and a GOOD roller are my choice over a sprayer unless you have a totally open area with nothing in to tape off. But maybe that's just me.

[opinion free]

My trailer is surrounded by an 8 foot high, heavily stuccoed wall. I tried, to no avail, painting it the traditional way. It took an hour, to paint a square foot section. I went online to find a paint sprayer. I found a company that buys the floor models from HD and Lowes. Mind you the floor models are never used in these stores. They are just for display. I bought the 7 series graco magnum painter, brand new with the gun and more extra accessories than you could imagine for $169. All accessories, the gun and spray tips, were in sealed original packages and the sprayer itself was never even plugged in. It was an incredible buy, considering the costs versus one of those hand held wagner painters.
The down side, is the cleaning of the sprayer. It has an auto wash, for cleaning the guts of it, which is wonderful. The gun and tips are a simple soak and toothbrush. The exterior if the unit, the cart, hoses and wheels of the cart took hours to clean.
The actual painting results were amazing. The simplicity and quality of the paint, on the stucco walls, was outstanding. Mind you prep was easy.
However when I painted the exterior of my trailer, a few months back, I went with the traditional roller/ paint brush and it took 3 long weeks of daily painting to finish.
Good luck.

[JeffInFL]

Tried it in a house with windows and floors and stuff and it was more work then it's worth. Spent a very long time to tape everything off and other prep. The spraying went very fast, but the extra prep work negated any time saved over rolling, plus the cleanup on a sprayer takes a lot of work.

What if we used a brush and/or roller to get the edges, then a sprayer to do the bulk of the walls? Would we still need to do that much taping? I'm not sure how messy a sprayer is with regards to overspray, etc. We don't have anything on the floors yet (bare plywood painted with Kilz) so we won't have to protect the floor .. just the ceiling and around the doors/windows.

[ponch37300]

Overspray is everywhere. The room will be a big cloud of overspray. In my opinion it's just not worth, easier and quicker to roll it. The one time I found the sprayer was good was for a finished basement I did that only had two little windows and one door and it didn't matter about the floor or ceiling because I was putting in a suspended ceiling and carpet/laminate after I painted. Airless is also good for outdoor work as long as the wind is down.

Do you have trim that will be going on between the wall and ceiling after you paint? Is your window and door trim on already or are you putting that on after paint? If no trim is on you can just roll everything really quick, no cutting in. Even if you have to cut in, with a good quality brush it will go faster then tapping all windows and doors and ceiling and then spraying. Also when you spray you have to back roll it after you spray to get even coverage.

If you're set on a sprayer go ahead and give it a shot. I was also, thought a sprayer would be the greatest thing on earth. Bought a really nice one and used it a couple of times. It was really nice because once you start painting it goes really fast. But the prep time and cleanup time negated any time savings. They have their uses but in my opinion home interiors is not a good use for sprayers. Another thing I've learned over the years is to use a good quality paint and good quality rollers and brushes. Personally I use Sherwin Williams paint and Purdy rollers and brushes. Just got an email from them for 30% off Aug 1-5. I used to just buy the cheap rollers and brushes and throw them away. But found that the better quality tools make the job a lot easier. The rollers I still throw away because they are a pain to clean. But I clean my brushes. Like I said my paint sprayer sits in a corner in the basement for the last couple years and I've done about a dozen painting jobs in that time and just grabbed my rollers and brushes. These are just my experiences.

[JeffInFL]

I think I'm convinced .. thanks! I spoke the Mrs and we're just gonna use brushes and rollers

[JeffInFL]

Got the texture rolled on to the living room walls .. It took 3 or 4 boxes of Homex wall texture that they sell at Home Depot. Used a roller specifically for texture that we found in the paint section. It came out pretty good .. very close to popcorn ceiling texture but not as rough. Using Glidden eggshell paint-and-primer-in-one with a 1/2" nap roller. Really gotta go over it in several directions to get good coverage but not too bad.

The brown area right above the wall is the original paneling-look drywall. I just painted right over it and it looks flawless. Same with the thick beam that runs down the middle. The smaller beams are actually wood, and I painted right over them as well.

I'll try to get a better pic of the texture itself.



Here's the original paneling color. Oh .. I took down the ceiling fan. It was hung with A HOOK! No wonder it wobbled like crazy even at the lowest speed. I'm going to replace it with a ceiling light, but there's no junction box up there. It's basically just the 4 2x6's or whatever size they are that run the length of the trailer. Any ideas on getting a light up there? Is there some kind of slim junction box that can be installed and hidden? Or a light fixture that can be installed without a j-box?

Here's the before pic: