The one thing everyone gets wrong with sanding drywall compound

I see so many people going straight to 120 grit or even 80 grit on their first pass and it drives me crazy. I learned the hard way after ruining a whole corner in my bathroom last month. You gotta knock down the high spots with a 6 inch drywall knife while it's still wet, then do a light pass with 150 grit once it's fully dry. Going too rough too early just digs grooves into the mud that take forever to fix. I use a cheap LED work light from Harbor Freight angled across the wall to catch every shadow before I even touch sandpaper. Anyone else notice how much smoother the finish is when you skip the low grit altogether?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_gray7d ago

...wait hold up, you're saying people actually use 80 grit on drywall mud? Like on purpose? That's basically sandpaper for stripping paint off a car, not smoothing out joint compound. I've seen guys do that and then spend like an hour trying to hide the scratches with more mud, it's so ridiculous. Your trick with the Harbor Freight light is genius too, I do the same thing with a cheap clamp light from Lowe's and it's saved me so much rework. I swear people think more grit means faster work but it just makes a mess you gotta fix later.

ben8276d ago

Holy cow, 80 grit on drywall mud? That's just asking for a world of hurt.