HELP-drywall mudding problem

[AllMyFault]

Hello everyone. I'm new here and I think I will be here often. My girlfriend and I are finishing off our basement. We've drywalled the living area, however...Our mudding job was piled on thick and not smoothed out even with the wall. So we have lines of bubbled out mud, and worse yet she already primed the walls. We've tried sanding the joints to try to blend them in but the tape is starting to show through. We can't win with this. Should we just sand the paint off and apply a topping compound or more mud and just widen our lines? As you can tell we bit off more then we could chew. Thanks!!

[housedocs]

Hello and welcome to diyrepair.

If you're sanding to the point the tape is showing back thru you are definitely over sanding. Is the tape staying on the wall, not lifting along it's edges? If so sand the joints down smooth, then brush off any excess dust from the sanding. If you are wanting a smooth finished wall you need to apply two more coats of mud over the seams. You'll need a couple of different sized drywall knives, use a 8" or 10" for the first coat and a 12" or 14" for the second coat. Take your knife and load it up with mud and use it parallel to the seam or joint to laod the joint up with mud. Hold you knife with the thumb and pinky and the three middle fingers extended behind the blade supporting it. The knife should be at about a 40 degree angle to the board when you're running it down seam. Start in the middle of the seam/joint and work towards the ends. The more angle you hold the knife at the more mud you will be taking back off the wall.

What kind of mud are you using, all-purpose or light? I'd recommend getting yourself a bucket of light compound for use for all but the taping. Also did you thin and mix the mud before putting it on the wall? The premix stuff needs to be thinned down with a bit of water until it's nice and creamy, kind of like soft-serve ice cream. Use a drill and a mixer paddle for this.

Hope that helps, post back if you've still got questions.

[AllMyFault]

I sanded down the bubbles and aplied 3 coats of lightweight over it and sanded in between each coat, lightly. It looks much better. As for the tape edges showing, once I applied the additional coats it seemed to improve. I primed it yesterday with some PVA and it looks much better. Thanks doc!

[housedocs]

Glad we could help you out Jesse, it's justs coats and patience.

[Marty and Laurie]

Hi there!

My husband and I are redoing our bathroom and he is in the process of taping and mudding the drywall. He got the tape on fine and put the mud on it and it looks fine for about 5-10 minutes and then the tape bubbles up! Any ideas? He is very frustrated with this whole project so I thought that I would seek an answer.

Thank you for any and all help!
Laurie

[MinConst]

Marty and Laurie,
How is he applying the tape? He needs to first mix the mud well. Put a thin layer on then apply the tape over it. make the tape lie flat and smooth and take a 6" knife and run it down the seam removing the excess mud under the tape. Hold the knife at about a 45 degree angle and press firmly but not to hard. You dont want to remove all the mud. Let it dry and apply coat #2. It will probably take 3 coats.

[Marty and Laurie]

I will ask him and let you know tomorrow. Thank you so much for replying. I could not find anything about techniques for mudding on the web.

Thank you again!
Laurie