Sheetrock Mud

jakester

Good day all,
I just found a supplier who brings sheetrock mud in from the U.S. he has the green lid, blue lid, and purple lid can anyone please explain to me the differances and uses, up here we really only use one type of ready mix, I am always looking to try better things to improve my taping, any help or comments would be appreciated,
thanks

dryrocker27

Hey jakester-
I use all national gypsum compounds and the lid color tells you what is inside as well as the wording. Go to your supplier and read the label on each bucket of compound that has a different color. you will soon see that one will be good for everything, one will not be good for taping but will be good to coat the seams with. one will be good for the finish coat and will sand better. One is not good for texturing, so on and so on.
Compound also comes in wieght classes: heavy, mid, and lightweight compounds. each one works different and you will feel the differance as you work them.

__________________
Robert

drywallet

Green lid for taping and textures/ blue for coating,boxing,and bead

dryrocker27

Drywallet and jakester- Who makes the mud you are using? National Gypsum has Black, red, and burgandy lids in my area

__________________
Robert

drywallet

All We (I) use is USG Sheetrock Green all Purpose for taping and texturing(dryes whiter and does'nt need to be painted, and Blue light weight Plus 3 for Boxing joints and bead. Sands real nice. USG 20 or 45 minute durabond. Thats here in the Omaha NE area.

jakester

dryrocker27
Up here we got a few companies CGC (canadian gypsum co 100% crap nothing but fish eyes, I changed over to a co: called Georgia Paciffic (toughrock) fantastic product all purpose light, spreads like pennut butter, no need to add dish soap, they also make a good setting compound, I have also tried machine mud, good with the boxes. I did manage to try the sheetrock plus 3 blue lid for a small patch job, not a bad product do you recomend putting some soap in it, I have asked my supplier to get me some of the purple lid look forward to trying that as well. A little bit about what we do, we mainly do custom taping we are not geared up for production taping, we use boxes, corner machines, and the super taper, but all 3rd coats are done with a 15" finish trowel my joints are about 2 feet wide and my butts are 3' wide, all my taping jobs are followed by a coat of primer we include it in our price, I find that it reduces alot of call backs and generally we end up doing the painting as well. I think you guys in the U.S. have a wide option of products availiable to you, including primer and paint and I'm always looking for good products to give us the upper edge, I can honestly say that so far all of the stuff I tried from the states has proven very good for me, so if anyone can recommend other stuff I'm all ears.
Thanks
Jake

dryrocker27

Hey guys - great to hear from you hope you had a great christmas.

here in central virginia, we have access to all of the products made by USG and National Gypsum. I prefer the National Gypsum redi-mix Compounds and USG 20 and 45 Easy Sand.

Hey jakester - why the great width on your seams? the bevel on most boards when hung is only 4 - 5 inches wide. We cover the tape with a 7 inch flat box and then follow that with a 10 inch flat box. Then sand.
Our butt joints are only 20 inches wide. we tape and then come up each side with a 10 inch box and when dry, come up the middle with the 10 inch to cover the tape. We also use alot of 16 foot boards to eliminate as many butt joints as possible

__________________
Robert

jakester

Hey dryrocker
I only do large joints when I do custom residential, then I prime it with SW. high build primer it really covers them well and stops any flashing, when we do commercial jobs we use a 10" box then follow with a 12" to finish, all my butt joints are done by hand I never tried to use a box on them, do you mainly do production work or are you involved in custom, and do you use a trowell or taping knife.

Tim0282

I'm not Dryrocker, but I have a question about SW high build. It sounds like you like it. I have used USG Tuff hide. It is supposed to be the same as High Build. But was hoping High Build is better. USG does not stop the flashing when using an eggshell sheen. By the way we use all knives anymore. Used to use trowels, I don't feel like you can compress the mud enough with a trowel. We use 7, 10, 12 boxes on smooth finish. And run the butts with them also. Makes a flatter butt than by hand. Takes some practice,but sure saves time on them.

Tim0282

Do any of you guys use Magnum Drywall mud? Used to be called Ruco back in the "old days". And how about Freeman mud?

jakester

Hi Tim0282
I just started using SW. high build primer and I am very happy with the reults, up here we don't get that good stuff like you guys have so I get SW. to bring it up as well as some of the mud and setting compounds, I will try the boxes on the butt runs, there is another product from SW. call builders solution you spray it on and it gives you a level 5 finish, I have rolled it on with nap 13mm nap roller it works really good I use it alot on ceilings, covers the joints real well, I don't if you do alot of level 5 but I heard of a product call level coat I have never seen it or tried it but I would like to get my hands on some and just see what it's like I'm always looking for new things or ideas to give us that better edge. Thanks for your advise Tim
Jake

dryrocker27

Jakester-we only work with contract builders,no spec builders, so all of our work is custom. We are fully equipped with 2 complete sets of Tape-Tech tools. We do very little hand taping, Bazookas, Flat boxes, Angle Heads, and Porter-Cable Sanders. We use alot of Trim-tex 5/8 Lbead and layerd drywall on the ceilings and walls

Tim0282-we can still get Ruco muds here in Virginia, I prefer the machine grade mud in boxes.

__________________
Robert

drywallet

magnum in the brown box! dries like durabond. Freeman, junk. our supplier got rid of all that and went to usg. Freeman wasn't selling.

Tim0282

Good info to know. THANK YOU!!

Tim0282

Good to know. Is it called Ruco or Magnum? They are the same aren't they or am I mistaken.

dryrocker27

Tim- not sure if Ruco and Magnum is the same or not. Have not seen Magnum mud here for about 8 years now. just the Ruco, USG, and National Gypsum brands of mud here.

__________________
Robert

Tim0282

Thanks, Dryrocker
That might be why I've had trouble finding it. The suppliers get a bit confused when asking for the wrong stuff.

Muddauber

I've been using Magnum for about 15 years or more.I remember using Ruco in the mid 70's.Dont know if it's the same co.

Tim0282

I assume since you have used it for 15 years you like it. Do you prefer it over USG or Gold Bond?

Muddauber

YES.
I like to tape,1st coat & texture with Magnum.But I do use USG midweight for 2nd & 3rd coats.I would'nt use Gold Bond if it was $2.00 a bucket.