Advice for Finishing a Drywall Ceiling in Garage

The builder of my house taped the joints and put on one thin coat of drywall over them in my garage. I have time, and I am thinking of finishing the ceiling and walls. Any place where I can get some good advice on finishing the ceiling and do an easy texture? Right now it is bare drywall with joints taped. On the ceiling some of the tape is coming lose from the joints.

I have done a (very) little drywalling...just enough to know it is work. Plus, my garage has probably about 10 foot ceilings, but I do have access to scaffolding. It is also a three car garage, so pretty good size. I figure it is my project for a week or so.

Local drywallers are not particularly interested in doing a finished garage. Last fellow wanted $25 just to look and give and estimate and still did not show up.

Walls probably just need some mud touch up here and there and then painting, which I can do. Ceiling is the challenge. I need to do retaping, more mud over them, and figure out texture and paint.

Any help and point in the right direction appreciated. Maybe it is something I should not even try.

Bookman

Mudding is not hard. Sounds like you may need to strip some of the old tape off or all of it. Measure and cut your tape lenghts and soak in a 5 gallon bucket of water for a minute or two (trick I learned from an old italian guy). Put a thin coat along your joint and take the tape (shake excess water off) and apply to joint. Then take your putty knife and go over the tape to smooth it out so excess mud is pushed out. Then apply another thin coat over tape. Let dry and repeat.

If the local boarders arent interested, how about one of those hanyman companies ?

Had not thought about soaking the tape. Nice tip.

Bookman

have a 1,4 and 8 inch knives
fill joint, apply tape with one inch knife
use 4 inch to apply another coat on to p of tape
always always always be scraping you knife clean on your mud tray after every application
let dry and scrap the heavy dry lumps off with your knife
apply aliberal amount of mud and press your 8 inch blade hard and steady for the entire pass
do not worry about the excess that drips
this is a messy job but weel worth doing right the first time

when i did mine i finshed with a 12 in blade and sanding was no more than using a sponge to feather the edges

will posy more tips as iremember them.........

I just finished my drywall last week....

Sounds like the builder did a hack job. Is it still under warranty? If so, call his *** back out there to do it right.

On the tape....I don't use the paper....I use the plastic mesh....I think it sticks better...the stuff is sticky on one side so it's easy to put in place and then mud over.

You will need a few things....

1. Mud bucket (or what ever it's called)....it's a plastic retangular tub with metal edges for scraping the tools clean.

2. Mud trowle...professionals will have 3 of them....one larger than the other....I get by with one about 10" wide.

3. Drywall sander

First thing to remember....your not going to get it done in one evening....it typically takes 3 coats to get it decent....the builder has done one....you have two more to go.

Fix the taped joints first...let dry for a day.
Sand
Mud over a second time being sure to feather the edges...let it dry another day.
Sand
Mud again feathering even more. You know you have it about right when the mud edges blend in with the drywall....if you see a defined edge...it will show up. Let it dry for a day.

Sand....then primer....I would recomend Killz II. Some guys have been talking about the Behr paint and primer in one...but I think that is more for going over old paint. Drywall really needs a good coat of primer on it.

One suggestion on the primer coat is to use a heavy knap roller....it will give you some texture....kinda like an orange peel...

If you need more texture to hid those minor 'defects' that were not obvious when you did the mud then you can use a ceiling 'texture' paint. They have two kinds...one is a popcorn texture...(not suggested) and the other is a ceiling texture paint...basically thick primer with a little bit of sand in it. I apply it using the heavy knap roller....if you use the loop roller they suggest then you will need to knock it down with a trowel....

I like the way it looks...hides the defects and it breaks up the light for more even light distribution. I painted over mine with a high gloss bright white.

This is one view...



This view shows how the walls look....I used the same roller but no texture...you see a few more defects....but it is after all 'just a garage' and most of the wall space is going to be covered anyway with junk.

BTW...I used simi-gloss exterior paint...




One last thing....in know, it's only a garage.....but I'll be looking at those walls for several years.....if it bothers me just a little now, it's going to bother me a lot later on....so I might as well do it the way I want now....

Just do what I do, put 1 box of mud on... and sand 2 boxes off !!!

ok, here is some help. get buckets [plastic 5 gal buckets] of drywall topping. invest in a mixing paddle, about 10 bucks, and add water to the topping and mix with the paddle in a 1/2 in drill. mix , add water until it is the thickness of mayo. use a LONG nap paint roller, dip in the bucket, roll on ceiling. its alot messy, but it cleans off the floor easy, after it dries. roll on in the same direction, overlapping your joints a little. it will take a little practice but you will get. you can leave the texture as is or knock down the little **** with a wide blade. try practicing on a scrap piece of drywall until you get the hang of it. the roller will want to slide instead of roll every time you fill it, just keep rolling , it will start rolling in a minute. oh, by the way you will be a mess also, but nothing a shower wont fix. hope this helps. good luck

My advice is to get a 5 gal bucket of blue lid (light weight) joint compound. It's easier to sand.

Get yourself the tools:

mud tray, and a couple of knives (The wide ones are nice, but only after you get the hang of things.) I typically use about a 6" knife. If you are doing corners, get a corner tool.

Like ddawg16 said, this process takes time, and like overkill 19 said, you will end up sanding off a bunch.

One of the biggest mistakes I used to make is trying to use too stiff of mud. I now thin mine down to the consistency of yogurt. It is drippy and you must be careful not to drop too much, but it's easier to spread out with a nice smooth (no air bubble) surface. Do a fairly thin coat and let it dry for a day or 2. (I'm having to let mine dry 2 days because it's humid.)

Get a long flat sanding block to knock down the high spots and then apply a second thin coat. Let that dry for a day or two and again knock down the high spots. The third application should also be thin and after the third sanding, it should be close to being ready for primer.

If you are wanting texture, you can find those tools at the same store you are buying your joint compound at. They should have the texture guns or deep nap rollers and instructions on how to use them. I would start with a finished ceiling. If you are trying to hide too much, it will show anyway. My experience is that spraying a ceiling makes a huge mess all over everything so be sure to cover everything well.

I prefer getting the ceiling and walls done fairly well and simply painting them. It is a real PITA to paint a textured ceiling and make it look good.

Good luck with it.

Builder long gone. Went bankrupt. Bank forclosed on the house and had another builder finish it. I bought the house from the bank, as is, five years ago. Thanks for all the tips.

Bookman

You may want to consider texturing the whole ceiling with drywall mud: Fix or replace your bad tape ( I prefer the fiberglass self-adhesive mesh tape). Then texture the whole surface. Bucket mud works fine for this. Develop a technique on scrap drywall till you get the hang of it. You basically start by applying the mud right out of the bucket and then working it around with a flat plastering trowel, not a taping knife, keeping some light pressure on the trowel. Work with your wrist too to randomize the trowel movement. You will get a nice skip-trowel finish. This type of texture will not use a tremendous amount of mud and will bury nearly any imperfection in the original work without looking like stalactites.

i'd say get a new roll of paper tape, a bucket or two of compound, and a four, six and 8 in trowel. you def need to thin the mud before you use it, it will go on better and thinner. a few thin coats is all you need but if the tape is two in wide the final width of the mud line should be atleast ten inches wide.

i have alot of practice at mud work, and i use a 4, then 8, then 12, then 14in knife. but i also dont worry so much about getting it perfectly smooth(you'd never know by looking at my hallway now, its all smooth as glass. but i use a 20in concrete float and skim coat the whole wall. that way it looks and feels like the rest of the house's plaster and lathe walls

Hire it out- right now you can go from bare studs to taped/texture/primed for a little more than buck a square foot. I had an addition done this winter and they knocked out about 3500sf of board in a couple of days.

I asked about ceiling in my shop (14-18' high) and would hang board and fire tape for same price/sf but would be more because that height slows them down a fair amount.

They will do a better job faster and you don't have to deal with the majority of the dusty mess.

I just had a quote done today by email through Craigslist, Eastern Carolina, on an 8 X 20 room with only a door in it, and the guy wanted $1.37 a square foot to hang and finish sand, averaging his total against the square footage of board, coming out to $800, labor only. The board will cost about $85, screws a few bucks more, so I think I'll hire a couple of guys from work, (manufacturing), since they are on short weeks, and let them make a few bucks hanging it, and either finish it myself, or teach them how. I did this using them to form and pour some concrete, and saved $400, even after renting a Georgia buggy. This way, I provide direct supervision and quality control. Why let a stranger get the money when I can help out myself and our own employees?

I thought the ceiling already had drywall on it and it was just having some issues with the joint tape peeling? If so, that's a pretty easy fix, even on a ceiling. If you're going to texture the ceiling you don't need to put a ton of effort into the sanding process because the texture will hide most of the issues on the joint. It's not very difficult to do, but it might not be worth your time if you have guys that can do it relatively cheap.

Okay I am not a pro drywaller but I have done it quite a few times. Some things.

1. If you have to sand between coats - you put on to much mud.
2. Take your time.
3. Before you apply the next coat - use your putty knife to knock down the ridges.
4. Corners are the bane of all things. Do one side of the corner at a time.
5. Mix the mud well before you start, you might want to add a touch of water as the bucket stuff is usually a bit dry.

Thats about all I can think of now.

Thanks guys. Yes, it is just mudding and texturing the ceiling. The ceiling heightis 12 feet 6 inches or so. I am hoping to get an estimate from a general handyman to do it.

If that does not workout, I will give it a shot. It is a garage, so just a pretty simple texture is fine. Do not look forward to working over head and its a three-car garage so probably about 40 by 25 area.

Bookman