Anyway, everyone has just been telling me “oh yeah, once you get the wallpaper down you can texture it and you’re good to go!” I kept thinking to myself, “but I want smooth walls, not texture – does the word mean something else in this context?” So I finally googled it last night and sure enough, everyone has apparently been telling me that I should do some sort of faux finish which will hide imperfections, but unfortunately that’s not what I want. Hot mud (20 min is what I prefer) works well for patching. I thought that the 90 min. And the times are optimistic. It seems to fill in imperfections to where I don’t notice them at all when applying paint. Glad I could help! Using a paddle mixer can be extremely helpful if you’re doing a lot of application in a single day. Bubbling (or sometimes called “blistering”) happens when the paper layers in the drywall become separated. Tag me on Instagram @uglyducklingDIY or use the hashtag #uglyducklinghouse to show off your projects! It sucks up the dust so well that I don’t feel like I’m putting myself in harm’s way when I can’t find my dust mask (PSA: you should probably always wear them. Protect furniture and entryways from dust and splatter. If you have too many peaks and valleys, hit … I still didn’t even know most of the lingo. It took me many tries before figuring out what worked best for my walls. My dining room wallpaper became “symbiant” with the wall, so I primed & painted right over the top of it! Use a clean roller to apply the top coat in an upward motion over the mist coat. Thanks for your blog! Then simple texturing. Only trouble was, it didn’t seem to be available except to order online. It’s entirely defeating to see it happen, because it means a new problem to fix. i agree and thats what i was trying to avoid was the bubbles. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a single tutorial that had all of my answers. Love ya work and not even sure how I ended up here but glad I did :-). Bubbling still happened for me, even after checking the wall numerous times. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. I guess at this point I’ll bookmark you haha. and one of 90 min. Over time, the walls in a house see some major wear and tear. . I’m going to try it on the whole surface and cross my fingers, pray, throw some salt (probably not, that’s messy). But I could not see any tear and there was never any wallpaper on the wall – at least that I’m not aware of. I’ve found that switching this up did help me to get a better finish on later projects, but it’s more prone to scratching (so prime that wall asap when you’re done!). THANK YOU! You can easily scrape down dried ridges with your taping knife, and the last sanding job gets rid of just about everything else. Haha, I’m glad to hear my lessons are helpful so you can avoid the same mistakes! I haven’t been in your same situation, so just hypothesizing here. Thanks! Yes, prior to skim coating, I began by sealing off the old paper. I am soooooo not looking forward to this process but at least I feel a little better about starting it. It appears to have several coats of high gloss paint over the top and the paint doesn’t reach all the way into the “valleys” of the texture. And then there was something good on TV. Normally, when dealing with fresh drywall, you still want to prime separately, as it not only primes, but seals the joint compound (I’ve tried using some formulas in the past that scared me off for a while… fresh paint coming off the wall & back onto your roller is gross). For heavily cracked or severely uneven walls, people attach a thin sheet of fiberglass mesh to the wall and apply a skim coat over that. Trying to get my ducks in a row for the next step, even though it might be a year in the future ? It definitely sounds important to make sure you give yourself enough time to do this and to do it right. This material is porous, which means it soaks up a lot of paint. Green Dot or topping mud is exactly that ,top coat and easy sand . All tutorials and demonstrations are not intended to be professional advice (nor substitute as such), and I make no guarantees as to the procedures and information here. I'm Sarah. However, if the surface has been damaged, exposed to water or if you have a very shiny paint to cover, some preparation will be necessary to ensure no bubbling develops in the finish when you're done. The amount of dust you can accumulate when sanding drywall is a beast. i've heard sanding the paint with 80grit works (but haven't tried it), and I'm curious if running over the surface with one of those round topped red zinnser wallpaper scorer things would help (since its the paint's refusal to let moisture into the board that bubbles the mud). Thanks for your feedback! Most paint products (especially paint/primer combos) are formulated to work on walls that have already been painted. What I’ve found is that the minutes only refers to the time available to use it, NOT the time it takes to cure for a subsequent coat and/or sanding. Just skim coating projects popcorn ceiling is also an older ceiling (pre 1978) which could have as asbestos or lead paint. If you’re just starting out with skim coating, you should still read my first tutorial here. on the web about the need to get to the root cause by digging down and removing any tear in the paper. I think they would be fun to try out, but I’m also pretty sure my small frame means I’d look somewhat like a garden gnome using a snow shovel. Would you want to continue to get emails the day (or day after) they are published, or would you prefer to get a single email each week that contains all of my latest updates? We have been using it for years with consistent results. Read my complete disclosure here. If you’re not adverse to the greater cost and heavier labor associated with demo’ing and hanging new drywall, I tend to think that’s the better way to go–especially for larger areas of damage. First started with patching vent holes in plastered homes getting remodeled. It’s not perfect, and I’ve heard Gardz is even better, but the convenience of finding the right product is often just as important as knowing what it is in the first place. I’ve been searching for help with wallpaper removal (now done — is it OK that I’m more proud and relieved by that than following childbirth?! I’ve had pretty good results with other Zinsser products before, so I went on the hunt to find it. Also, have you used the SHEETROCK brand of LIGHTWEIGHT All-Purpose Ready-mixed mudd which claims lower shrinkage & easier sanding? I just heard about how fabulous Zinsser Gardz is, and found it both on AMAZON (QTS & GALS) and also at my local PORTER PAINT STORE – in a 1-gallon can. Ouch . I’m in the middle of doing the first of a 4 room remodel. If I have this problem again, I will make sure to dig down below the bubble(s) and then put the Gardz on to address the underlying issue. Ultimately, DIY projects are about learning; you learn once, and then you learn again. I forget the name, but I know that details are here. I used SW Drywall Primer. Your comment made my day. ive been doing this over 15 years and havent seen a trick for this yet.. is there any way anyone knows how to keep mud from airbubbling when u mud over paint.. i always have to put a extra coat on to fill the pop marks. But your method is always the best way. I had no idea these even existed and they saved my life!!! Do you have any thoughts on this? Cue the sad trombone. Unless otherwise stated, all images owned by Sarah Fogle & the Ugly Duckling House. Now, I see so many dings, lines, scratches in the ceiling that need to be gone!!! If the paint is peeling from the wall then you definitely shouldn’t just skim over it. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy & effectiveness of the information displayed on this website, the Ugly Duckling House is for entertainment purposes only. Please ensure you are following proper guidelines with anything used, and seek professional advice if you don’t know how to do something! I’ll be right here when you get back. This is virtually unavoidable, so bust out the trowels, mudpans and sheetrock mud and prepare the walls (skimcoat) A little vino and music helps it go by quicker. Thanksgiving. If I have an entire wall to skim coat I use 90. Feel free to let your words of wisdom and humor fly (there's no swear jar on this blog), but if you're overly spammy, rude, or just plain boring, you're just going to have to accept that your comment may not see the light of day. Look at the walls after pulling paneling off. I get it. I think the primers you mentioned would have prevented this. There is an “easy-sand” joint compound product that also dries in 45 minutes. It doesn’t say anything on it about thinning it – should we be? Your blog and all the comments were nice to read. Their advertising blurb says, “Rx-35 Sealer/Primer repairs torn drywall to create a wall surface that can be floated, spackled, painted or hung with wallpaper,” so what I’m thinking is she believed I bought R-35, not RX-35 – two different things. The wet paint caused whatever glue I had missed to soften and lift. Plus, tinted primer as your first coat plus a single coat of paint is usually cheaper than two coats of paint. If I ever get the @! While I haven’t started the repair process, I am going to abandon my plan to used oil based primer and opt for the rx 35. It looks like the problem has been fixed. Actually, level 4 includes all steps taking of coating and coating again with the joint compound over the joints and angles to create an even level. Come join the discussion about the industry, safety, finishing, tools, machinery, projects, styles, scales, reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more! But unless you’re working with the chemical-hardening stuff (that has a much shorter curing window of 20, 45, or 90 minutes), you need to wait 24 hours before applying a second coat. Ok, this part sucks. The culprit is mainly sanding screens (recommended in my last tutorial), and the suction from the vacuum sticks the sander on the wall pretty closely. In the meantime, I’ve got to figure out how to smoothe/repair the plaster walls in the rest of my house. Regarding paint & primer combos; I hate them. So, I bumbled my way through a couple of walls, read various online forums, learned a few tricks, and combined all of that new knowledge into a lengthy skim coating tutorial of my own. Load up the area with mud, wait maybe 10 seconds, strike it all off, then reapply like normal. I was getting very light headed just thinking about doing that & didn’t trust myself going up the ladder while contemplating it. After removing all of the wallpaper, there were imperfections everywhere thanks to torn drywall paper. It refers to spreading a layer of joint compound over the walls to fill in the bumps and valleys in the texture, effectively creating a smooth surface. More often than not, DIY is a learning process where at least one fuckup is bound to happen. Glad it helped you! I don’t see why I wouldn’t use this technique for a piece of drywall that has some paper damage here and there, though. First time was right after my divorce and I made my kitchen my divorce project and fucked up my butcher block sink hole. In fact, some pros who commented were very insistent on this after they discovered my first tutorial. If you want a plain wall and you've tried in vain to strip off the old wallpaper, you may be able to mud over it. Sure! I don’t judge. Don’t set your expectations too high would be my advice; even after doing several rooms, I still have imperfections that I see but don’t have the patience anymore to fix (they are small ones, so the only person who would ever probably notice them is me). But once it’s down and your walls are smoother, you’ll be really happy you have the result you want. Skim coat it! Chris from Picardy Project recommends a knock down trowel, which is a lot wider than most of the other taping knives I’ve grown accustomed to using. This helps my lazy DY style, and I love it for that reason). You probably don’t need to use the RX-35… it’s meant to work as a sealer, which the paint did already (as long as it stuck), so you can probably just start filling in the dings like you would when you mark up your walls after moving a picture frame. 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