Hot take: I had a customer in Phoenix insist I skip the power stretcher on a big room

He said it was a waste of time and the pad would hold it, but I showed him the ripples forming after just the first pass with a knee kicker. Anyone else run into people who don't get why we use certain tools?

4 comments

4 Comments

robert_ross951mo agoTop Commenter

My uncle in Tucson tried that once and his whole living room looked like a washboard by noon.

emma_baker611mo ago

Was your uncle mixing that stuff in a blender? Sounds like he got the mud way too thin, robert_ross95. That's a recipe for a wall that looks like a bad road.

quinnm771mo ago

Actually my cousin in Phoenix had great luck with the same method last summer. Robert_ross95, maybe your uncle's living room had old drywall or the mix was too wet. Proper prep and a slow drying time can avoid those texture problems completely.

iris_schmidt4d ago

Wait, I'm wondering about that - was he using a roller or a sprayer? Because I've seen people try to skim coat with a roller and end up pulling all the mud right back off the wall. And did he let each coat dry completely before going over it again? Tucson's so dry that if he was trying to rush it, the top layer would crust over while the bottom was still wet, and that's exactly how you get those washboard lines. I'm just trying to figure out if it was a technique issue or if the humidity there really does mess with drywall mud that bad.