Had a drywaller tell me to stop sanding so much and it saved me 2 hours per room

I was sanding every single joint until it was glass smooth before even thinking about primer. A buddy who's been hanging board for 20 years watched me for 5 minutes and said 'you're chasing perfection nobody will see.' He showed me how to knock down the high spots with a 6 inch taping knife and just dust off the rest. Now I spend maybe 10 minutes per room sanding instead of 45. The texture on the finished walls looks exactly the same. Anyone else waste time overdoing prep work that doesn't matter?

3 comments

3 Comments

nancy4753d ago

Learned that lesson with paint prep, took me years to figure out.

fiona_young3d ago

Yeah I totally thought paint prep was overrated until I actually did it right one time.

hugoh553d ago

Read something the other day about how skipping sanding on old trim basically guarantees peeling within six months. I used to just slap paint over whatever was there and wonder why it looked like garbage after a year. Took me a solid day to prep my bathroom cabinets last weekend, sanding, cleaning, priming every single piece. But man, the finish came out so smooth and glossy, totally worth the extra elbow grease. Feels good to not have to redo it every few months for once.