Debate: Does pre-sanding drywall before mudding save time or waste effort?

I tried skipping the sanding step on a 12x12 room before applying the first coat of mud and it actually took me way longer to scrape off bumps later. My buddy in Denver swears by a quick 80-grit pass first to knock down any dust nibs, but I feel like that just creates more mess to clean. Which camp are you in - sand before or just mud it raw and fix it later?

3 comments

3 Comments

harperp247d ago

Oh man, I gotta weigh in on this one because nobody's talking about the humidity factor. If you're mudding in a damp basement or a room with crappy ventilation, skipping that pre-sand can mean the moisture from the mud lifts dust nibs and turns them into little craters. Done a couple basements where I thought I was smart skipping it, ended up with a surface that looked like a golf ball. Plus, half the time those bumps are just static electricity holding drywall dust in place anyway, so a quick pass with a tack cloth instead of sandpaper might save you the mess. Just something to think about before you commit to either camp.

susan817d ago

Lifted dust nibs turned into little craters"?? That's wild, I never even considered that!

phoenixk647d ago

Blew right past this advice on a closet job last spring and regretted it hard. My buddy Mike was helping me out and he kept nagging me to hit the joints with 100-grit first but I was stubborn. Ended up with these little dust mountains under the mud that looked like a topographical map when we hit it with the light. Took us an extra hour just scraping and patching those stupid bumps, plus a whole bucket of hot mud we didn't plan on using. He still brings it up every time I grab a trowel.

-1