Used to paint first, then fix the drywall - what a mess that was

For years I'd just slap paint on any wall that looked rough, thinking I could cover up the bad spots with a thick enough coat. Then last month I was repainting my hallway in Austin and noticed these huge bubbles forming after the second coat, which was super frustrating. My neighbor Bob, who's been flipping houses since the 90s, came over and pointed out I never bothered to patch the holes or sand down the bumps. He told me to strip all that paint off, fix the drywall proper, and then start fresh - which took like 4 extra days but holy cow the finish is smooth as glass. Now I spend 80% of my time on prep work instead of painting, and I actually look for dents and dings before I even open a gallon. What drove it home was him saying 'paint ain't drywall mud' and showing me how a $5 tub of joint compound saves hours of painting headaches. Has anyone else had to learn this lesson the hard way, or am I the only one who went years painting over cracks?

2 comments

2 Comments

jasons633h ago

Yeah but that "paint ain't drywall mud" thing isn't totally right though. Joint compound can actually work great as a texture for certain looks if you thin it down right and roll it on with a thick nap. Bob probably knows his stuff with flipping houses but there's more than one way to skin a cat when it comes to prepping walls. You spent 4 extra days stripping paint off when you could have just sanded the bad spots and skim coated over them with a 12 inch knife, saving yourself half that time. And finding dents and dings before opening the can is smart, but you don't have to go full drywall perfectionist either. A little imperfection gives a wall character, especially in older Austin houses where nothing is perfectly square anyway.

the_spencer1h ago

Man I gotta push back hard on that. I've tried the joint compound as texture trick and it ended up cracking in about six months because the mud just doesn't bind the same way as real texture compound. Bob's been flipping since '98 and he's seen enough callbacks to know better. That "character" in old Austin houses just means you're gonna be painting over the same crooked lines every few years when the humidity shifts. Plus you said it yourself, you spent four extra days stripping paint, which means your method actually took longer not shorter. A 12 inch knife skim coat on badly painted old drywall will just peel right off if the original paint wasn't bonded tight.