1st Batten Strip Removed!

marriednamobile · Fri Apr 10, 2009 1:53 am

a very wise woman once said "may all your seams be narrow"
and...
the 1st strip is off... my seam is narrow!
narrow!

now I'm going to traipse through the rest of the rooms, swinging my prier-thingy with glee, pressing my palms together and paying homage to the mobile home gods, so that the REST of my seams be this

Trudi · Sat Apr 11, 2009 8:05 am

Keep us updated. I hope the seams continue to be narrow AND even

marriednamobile · Tue Apr 28, 2009 12:38 am

OMG Trudi you're a lucky charm! I've removed all the seams from 2 bedrooms, the hallway, the livingroom and the livingroom hallway and there are only 2, 2!!!! gaps that I need to fill! Seriously the rest are so thin, I don't even think I can squeeze my pinky nail in between, yay!
So for looks sake I bought some extra thin adhesive mesh tape and plan on finishing the seams with this technique courtesy of Magic Trowel

(Roll on thinned spackling compound like paint, wipe smooth)
Then prime and paint paint paint away!
I'll have to borrow my mom's digital camera again and take pictures of these purely for shock value, because when I started removing strips I was prepared for the worst and couldn't believe my eyes!

Trudi · Tue Apr 28, 2009 3:04 pm

That's great.

Yes, we want to see pics of your progress the whole journey.

middysmom · Tue Apr 28, 2009 4:26 pm

where can you get the trowel thanks dorothy from tenn

peachlizzard · Wed Apr 29, 2009 12:53 pm

I don't want to rain on your parade, but...how are you going to make the spackling compound stick to the vinyl wallboard? I have heard many times that it will just peel off or can be picked off cause it doesn't stick well to the vinyl? Are you worried about that happening?

marriednamobile · Wed Apr 29, 2009 4:35 pm

middysmom wrote:where can you get the trowel thanks dorothy from tenn

you can order it online, google magic trowel, they have video demonstrations as well, but I got mine from a local Sherwin Williams

marriednamobile · Wed Apr 29, 2009 4:37 pm

Rhonda wrote:I don't want to rain on your parade, but...how are you going to make the spackling compound stick to the vinyl wallboard? I have heard many times that it will just peel off or can be picked off cause it doesn't stick well to the vinyl? Are you worried about that happening?

what I'm doing is basically a small scale skim coat, I found a great compound, and based on the advice of others who have sucessfully skim coated/taped and mudded their walls, I plan on making it stick by thoroughly cleaning my walls, and spackling over drywall mesh tape, which will also give the compound something to adhere to

Trudi · Fri May 01, 2009 3:19 pm

I'll have to google the magic trowel and thinned spackling. I'm not familiar with these. Thanks for the info.

marriednamobile · Sat May 02, 2009 3:22 pm

Trudi the magic trowel website and package tell you to thin 5 gallons of compound with 8 oz of water, I've found forums where other people have used this method and they said they needed to thin it a little further so it would roll easier.
I plan on thinning one quart at a time with 0.4 oz of water (8oz divided by 5 = 1.6oz water per gallon, 1.6 divided by 4 quarts per gallon= 0.4oz water per quart) and working my way up if I need it to be thinner.
I found a great compound that was highly recommended, in fact it's made my Zinsser (the primer people) it's called "MH Ready Patch... Professional formula spackling and patching compound"
"Interior/Exterior, shrink and crack resistant, fast dry, easy to sand, easy to apply, outperforms vinyl spackling compounds"
I found it in 1 quart sizes at HD and bought 4 to = 1 gallon, since buying 16 quarts would have been a little excessive for the size of my projects.
Hope that helped!

lefties · Sun May 03, 2009 6:34 am

My brother in law used this method to straighten walls in old houses(skimming) I wondered if it would work in mobiles with the wallboard used. The bad part is the wallboard has the print like vinyl covering,,so u have to primer or paint the whole rooms. If yours works maybe Ill do mine,,plz let us know

Yanita · Sun May 03, 2009 9:37 am

Hey Lefties!

Your right about the embedded design on the wall board panels. Once you skim coat, caulk or any other method of filling the seams, IMO, you just have a different looking "seam."

Yanita

lefties · Sun May 03, 2009 12:59 pm

Helloooooo Yanita!!!!!!!

marriednamobile · Tue May 12, 2009 12:14 am

I know a lot of people on the forum have concerns about the texture matching whenever you remove the batten seams and use a smooth compound, but the texture on my wallboards, well, isn't really texture, it's already very very smooth, my father in law who built houses for the majority of his life came over when he heard what we were planning for the walls, looked at them, ran his hand over them and said we'd never be able to tell it wasn't drywall after primering and painting because of the condition of our walls now, so thankfully I'm very fortunate with the wall texture issue

Trudi · Tue May 12, 2009 5:57 pm

Let me see if I've got this straight. You took off batten strips and your seams were narrow, your gaps were even, and now you're tellin' us you don't have textured imprints on the wallboard? WHERE DID YOU FIND THIS JEWEL?!!!!! Girl, you really got a prize, and if I weren't so happy for you, I'd be jealous.