Drywall Questions

I am finishing up insulation in my remodeled house and am about to get prices for drywall. I am confused on the finishing of drywall. I am looking towards no texture but I'm concerned with the extra cost of a smooth finish. How many types of a smooth finish are there? I've seen two types so far. One where a skim coat is applied over the entire (I see this as very labor intensive and expensive) and another where the joints are feathered into the drywall paper, apply a roll on primer over the entire area, then ready for paint on the walls (I see this as not nearly as expensive). Is my mind thinking in the right direction? I would like to understand a little more before I start talking to drywallers so I can follow along a little better.

Thanks for the help.

Texture is the tried and true method to 'hide' all the tape seams. You can do as good a job as possible with the tape, but it is hard to make that invisible. Texture, and low sheen paint help. SO if you want a smooth finish, I believe the proper technique is the skim coat, which probably takes more skill to apply than texture.

finish

IF you have, or will have, any lighting next to the wall which will "wash" it, then the taped joints will be apparent and floating the surface will produce the smoothest wall.

tysbol584 said:

I am finishing up insulation in my remodeled house and am about to get prices for drywall. I am confused on the finishing of drywall. I am looking towards no texture but I'm concerned with the extra cost of a smooth finish. How many types of a smooth finish are there? I've seen two types so far. One where a skim coat is applied over the entire (I see this as very labor intensive and expensive) and another where the joints are feathered into the drywall paper, apply a roll on primer over the entire area, then ready for paint on the walls (I see this as not nearly as expensive). Is my mind thinking in the right direction? I would like to understand a little more before I start talking to drywallers so I can follow along a little better.

Thanks for the help.

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Taping 'tapered to tapered' joints of drywall, to the point where they are unseen, is a very 'doable' thing, provided you have a good selection of wide spackle knives.

Taping butt ends, or cut to cut, or tapered to butt? Now that's another story altogether.

Basically you want taped and 3 coats.

When I used to build bathrooms and do other renovations for those customers, I had a gentleman who could do tape and 3 coats with no drop cloths, on stilts (for ceilings) and I would have to do a minimal amount of damp sponging prior to paint.

Sandpaper? Never needed it.

No texturing was ever needed.

Sal Alicastro...............Old school of the very best kind............

HE

Yes, they don't make them like that anymore!

My father, who never worked in the trade ( he was a bookeeper ) but he learned wall paper hanging from his father. He could put up paper and you couldn't find the seam with a magnifying glass! I tried wall paper once and gave up!

tysbol584 said:

I am finishing up insulation in my remodeled house and am about to get prices for drywall. I am confused on the finishing of drywall. I am looking towards no texture but I'm concerned with the extra cost of a smooth finish. How many types of a smooth finish are there? I've seen two types so far. One where a skim coat is applied over the entire (I see this as very labor intensive and expensive) and another where the joints are feathered into the drywall paper, apply a roll on primer over the entire area, then ready for paint on the walls (I see this as not nearly as expensive). Is my mind thinking in the right direction? I would like to understand a little more before I start talking to drywallers so I can follow along a little better.

Thanks for the help.

Click to expand...

There's actually 3 different systems.

- plaster, or "blueboard" isn't drywall, it's slightly different. The board is not the finished surface, it's just there to act as a backer for 2-3 coats of plaster. It is very labor-intensive, and very expensive, yes, but it's also the only way to make a perfectly flat wall.

- drywall level 3/4 finish. Joints feathered into the drywall. This is the most common sort of wall nowadays. Butt joints will leave a slight hump, that might be visible when cross-lit, but a good taper will feather them out wide enough to pretty much be invisible.

- drywall level 5 finish. Start off same as above, with an extra coat of compound over the whole wall. It makes the wall a bit more flat @ the seams, it also evens out the texture between the drywall paper and the seams, fills in any small imperfections, dings, scratches... That final coat is very thin, hence the name "skimcoat". Not a lot of extra labour, compared to what a difference it makes, if the guy knows what he's doing.


Howard - I learned from one of those old-school guys. I've got the no-sanding part down, but still very much need a dropcloth. And I always end up, kinda covered in compound... the guy I learned from, would show up in his street clothes, and go directly from work to taking his wife out to dinner.

I guess when you started out using lime plaster, the first thing you learned was to not get any on yourself.