USG is all that is available to me so that is what I use. Cant say too much about the others you mentioned as I have not used them.

One brand I always liked was Hamiltons. Always very smooth but I never felt it cured like USG. What I mean is if you got a 5 min bag the mix always took a little longer then if you were to get a 5 minute bag of USG. I was always willing to put up with it because of how smooth the mix was.

 

USG is all that is available to me so that is what I use. Cant say too much about the others you mentioned as I have not used them.

One brand I always liked was Hamiltons. Always very smooth but I never felt it cured like USG. What I mean is if you got a 5 min bag the mix always took a little longer then if you were to get a 5 minute bag of USG. I was always willing to put up with it because of how smooth the mix was.

Proform 5 minute with clean cool tap water is really a 15 minute mud. With hot water....about 5-10.

 

I use plaster of Paris mixed with hot water and bondo, over and under both paper and mesh tape, on not just the seams but the flats too. Anything else is shear hackery..

 

Not sure if you're kidding or serious. How quick does the Plaster mix set up for you? What's your top coat?

I mostly use 5 and 20 easysand, green lid for top (or top with 5 or 20 for small stuff).

 

My supplier carrys pro form. My homedepot has sheetrock brand. I feel the pro form sets quicker than sheetrock brand. But it's comparing apples to apples.

I noticed home depot stocks a product called rapid set 20. What's the advantages .. I noticed it was mold resistaint ..

 

I noticed home depot stocks a product called rapid set 20. What's the advantages .. I noticed it was mold resistaint ..

The Rapid Set Onepass is sold at Home Depot by the drywall stuff, but it's actually hydraulic cement. You can do repairs on drywall but it also works outside. It doesn't shrink, so you can fill deep holes with it in one pass. Cleanup is tough. You really don't want to be chipping hydraulic cement off your good knives. And you don't want to put it down the drain!

 

I go with the Pro-form quick set lite. I used the sheetrock/USG 20 for years. Both are good. But the Pro-form is cheaper, Smoother and not only finishes and sands better, but it receives the ready mix compounds better. I like topping with the lite and mid-weight compounds. The quick set is a better option. I was a USG die-hard. Today they are just over priced. Though I do like their ultra light.

 

Hamilton is the best brand I have come across. Its a west coast mud.

 

I use the Hamilton , all minutes up to 90. Great Products:thumbsup:

 

Never heard of them Ben / Chris. I will Google them later.

 

Bondo, plaster of paris, with hot water sounds like a good mix.do you use the blue hardener or the red stuff? Actually, all kidding aside.......... I have used Bondo in a pinch for filling medium sized holes in walls from old toggle bolts and molly bolts when I needed really fast drying time. Next time I get to Lowes I'm gonna pick up a bag of ProForm and try it.

 

Proform 5 & 20 minute for smaller texture repairs. (knockdown, popcorn, and plaster). ProForm does not setup hard and brittle like USG and it loves to be tooled down with a wet sponge and 5" or 6" knife. It all gets done with a single coat. All you have to do it keep lathering the setup mud and tool the lather into the edges and low spots. You can immediatly apply any texture you like over the mud as soon as it sets again and they can dry in together. I have been doing this for about 12 years. I am surprised that most drywallers dont use this technique. I hear all the time from other finishers that 5 & 20 minute is mud useless. I make a nice portion of my income by using it.

 

I won't knock USG as they make a lot of great products. But the ProForm hot mud is much more forgiving to use, and you can really play with it as it sets........even afterwards.

 

Easysand 210, cause ya get like 3.5 hours to work with it, ha. Not really, but I did buy it on accident once, then I saw the bag and was like wtf?

 

I did that once too. 10 yrs. ago. Just saw the 2 on the bag, thought it was 20. :laughing: Have never seen it since.

I use all National Gypsum products 99% of the time. (Pro Form)

 

Durabond on tape coatmixed with a dab of glue. Durabond on first coat on beads. Proform is much better to woek with compared to easysand. Proform mixes up much smoother and sands much easier then easysand.

 

Just ran a bag of Easy Sand yesterday. I'll have to say it worked real nice. Was out of stock on my normal brand and nearby big box store saved a lot of driving time.

We all get used to one brand and using another can be challenging at times but they are all good.

 

Just used my second bag of RapidSet 20 on my last repair job. Wasnt close to any Lowes to get the ProForm20, so i decided to try the RapidSet again. Getting used to the way it mixes and works and I kinda like the feel of it. Its not a lightweight compound, but has a good smooth texture and sets hard and fast, and sands fairly easily(alot easier than Durabond in the brown bags, but not quite as easily as lightweight USG)

 

We have always used Durabond for everything except topping.Have good luck as long as it's not old.It ,ixes smooth and creamy with these:

 

good point.......I have been using a cordless drill with an all metal mixer blade for years. Its the only way to go when mixing the stuff, compared to trying to mix by hand it in a mud pan with a small taping knife.

 

We have the big paddle blades for thinning buckets of premix mud but found these work great for the smaller batches of hot mud.

 

I've used Hamilton & USG brands of hot mud. Hamilton is smoother, there's no doubt about it. Though one brand is smoother than the other, as long as I skim it with regular mud before texturing it turns out great. Besides, the hot mud will harden a small amount of regular mud anyway (harden not dry) so you can texture and get over with the patch.

 

I have always used Durabond 90, 45, 20 brown bag for major repairs to just skimming a wall or ceiling patch to get it smooth then I'll use easy sand top coat or I'll use topping compound to skim larger areas over Durabond. When it comes to repairing crown cornice molding I like USG's moulding plaster.