Dust deputy and drywall dust

[Mike Berrevoets]

We are doing a pretty major remodel and I'll be doing lots of drywall work. I'm not the best drywall finisher so I end up with lots of drywall dust. Using the shop vac for cleanup the pleated filter gets clogged pretty fast. I'm considering a dust deputy ahead of the shop vac. But, Other than remodeling projects I don't use the shop vac too much. I have an Oneida cyclone in the shop and a festool vac for use with the sanders.

So the question, does the dust deputy work well with drywall dust? The dust is so light and fine that I'm thinking a lot will make it through the cyclone. does anyone have experience using it with drywall dust?

Mike

[Clint Baxter]

We are doing a pretty major remodel and I'll be doing lots of drywall work. I'm not the best drywall finisher so I end up with lots of drywall dust. Using the shop vac for cleanup the pleated filter gets clogged pretty fast. I'm considering a dust deputy ahead of the shop vac. But, Other than remodeling projects I don't use the shop vac too much. I have an Oneida cyclone in the shop and a festool vac for use with the sanders.

So the question, does the dust deputy work well with drywall dust? The dust is so light and fine that I'm thinking a lot will make it through the cyclone. does anyone have experience using it with drywall dust?

Mike

I've used a dust deputy for sanding drywall before and though it caught most of the dust, still allowed enough to go through that the vacuum ends up with a lot eventually as well. I ended up changing out the filter bag in my CT22 when emptying the dust deputy. Caught a lot, but not nearly as efficient as catching the sanding dust and chipsfrom woodworking.

Clint

[George Bokros]

I use this when sanding drywall. It works very well.

http://www.sandkleen.com/


(http://www.sandkleen.com/)

[William Payer]

I use this when sanding drywall. It works very well.

http://www.sandkleen.com/


(http://www.sandkleen.com/)


+1 I used the handed version of the Sandclean, making my own bucket collection for the dust. The only drawback was I used corrugated hose (cheap) which made awful screeching/whistling sounds while it was on. Very little dust made its way into the shop vac and onto the Cleanstream HEPA filter.

[Brian Elfert]

I have a small version of the Sand Kleen that I recall worked reasonably well. It will probably work far better than a Dust Deputy. Unfortunately, it looks like Home Depot doesn't carry it anymore. I thought I got mine at Home Depot.

[Tom M King]

I use the yellow bags for a Shop Vac. For the first coats, I use a wet sponge to make sure the mud is not too high. A light shined against, and across the wall shows the least high thing. A coat of primer after the first coat keeps the finish coats from swelling the thicker first coats, and allows sanding without fuzzing the paper. Several thin finish coats, scraped without leaving much sitting up too high don't leave as much sanding to do as a thick coat with the idea of sanding it down later. I like the hand sander sold in Lowes (different than those sold in HD) that takes precut sheets, and don't use anything coarser than 150. Sand fairly slow, and all the dust drops down instead of filling the air. Do the first parts right, and there is little sanding left to be done. The light helps a lot.

I use an 18" concrete finishing trowel to smooth the taping mud on the joints over the long tapered edges, and might use it for the first coat over those areas after priming.

One of these gets part of the job too, with 150, or 180: http://www.eastwood.com/2-5-8x16-hook-and-loop-sanding-block.html I've had pro finishers look at my walls and say that they don't know how I do it.

For my sunken butt joints (framing dressed back 3/32" under butt joints), I use something similar to this, but can't find the link to the old one I use: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-bflgM2z0k

edited to add: I had forgotten what it was called, but noticed the word featheredge on that video. I use this for both drywall and plaster, and have several different lengths: http://www.toolfetch.com/marshalltown-5754-4-x-4-1-2-magnesium-featheredge.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cse&utm_term=MT-15754&gclid=CjwKEAiAkvmzBRDQpozmt-uluCQSJACvCd1lpSE25bIMue306o2rLRQ0qFWZXRiTPObei082 LVC76BoC-Y7w_wcB

[Brian Elfert]

How do you sand the drywall mud if you prime it first? My experience is that latex paint is almost impossible to sand.

[Jim Becker]

Aside from getting a sanding setup that meets your needs, do a bit of practice and if possible, watch some pros doing their mud work. Your mud knives are your best tool to reduce the needs to sand outside of a little final sanding if you play things right. Think "scraper" and use your mud knife to knock down minor ridges before adding the next coat and be sure that your mud is the correct consistency...properly mixed, it goes on really smooth. :) Ever since I watched the folks I subcontracted the mud work for my kitchen renovation back in 2003, I've had a completely different attitude and approach to any mud-work and it greatly reduced the effort.

[Brian Elfert]

I tend to put drywall mud on way too thick and then end up sanding the majority of it off. I think subconsciously I am thinking that a thick layer means fewer times I have to apply drywall mud, but it means a lot of work to sand. I am getting better at it.

A guy who used to be a maintenance man at a bible camp made a rule that if volunteers did drywall work for the camp they had to sand their own drywall mud. Some put drywall mud on so thick that he had to use a power sander to sand it down. He is now working at a Boy Scout camp and drywall is almost never used. Tongue and groove wood is usually the choice for interior finishing.

[Tom M King]

How do you sand the drywall mud if you prime it first? My experience is that latex paint is almost impossible to sand.
Mud sticks fine on top of primer. I've been doing it like that for over 30 years in new houses that I built, and no problems. The trick is not to have to sand it. You have to make sure the first coat of mud is not sticking up too high anywhere. It doesn't matter if it's low, since you're going to put the other coats on top of the primer. A wet sponge takes care of any high parts, assuming you didn't let the tape be above the finish wall level. This way, the first coat does not absorb any water from further coats of mud, and it allows you to put thin coats on faired in well with your knife, which not only allows you to do finer finish with the finish coats, but it dries faster too.

The light makes all the difference. If you have drywall in your house now, hold a light right up against it shining across, and I'll bet you can see every joint and nail head cover. My goal has always been to not be able to do this, so that's how I developed my own methods. It doesn't really take any longer. I use an airless rig to spray paint. Walls are finish painted before any trim goes up. The head of the airless sprayer just gets dropped into a bucket of water until I finish, and the paint in the bucket being used is just covered down to the surface with plastic. The same rig goes right from primer to finish paint, and you don't have to clean it. The primer left in the hose just gets put somewhere into the first coat of paint.

Trim was finished before it was put up. Backbands and base caps were used to get a perfect joint between the walls and trim. I did everything myself though, so I didn't have to worry about subs coming in and screwing up anything next to what they were doing.

Since Jim mentioned mixing mud, but bucket mud, I use a mud masher to shake it up just like it's in the bucket. Some people thin the taping mud, but I don't because it just makes it shrink more. The mud masher doesn't put air into it like a drill mixer will.

[Brian Elfert]

The previous owners of my house were very hard on it. The drywall had hundreds or maybe thousands of nicks, scratches and dents in it. My parents and I spent so much time repairing the drywall it might have been quicker to replace all the drywall with all the time spent fixing it up. We went over each wall at least five times with a powerful light and yet I still find tiny imperfections that should have been filled. I am surprised all the repairs don't show after the walls were painted. The casual observer would never know the walls looked as bad as they did. We went through more than 10 gallons of drywall mud fixing the walls. I am sure plenty of defects would show with a light, but who regularly shines a light on walls to find defects?

I did use an airless sprayer to prime the walls and then used the sprayer to paint the very dirty ceilings. I wasn't brave enough to do the final coat on the walls with the sprayer, but a roller didn't take that long with no baseboard, casing, or doors in place.

I have really derailed this thread, but I am very interested in your techniques since I plan to start finishing my basement this week which will require lots of drywall work.

[Mike Berrevoets]

Thanks everyone for the drywall finishing tips. I wasn't looking for drywall finishing tips but they are always appreciated. Im not a complete newbie at drywall finishing. I got much better and faster after doing all the drywall on my 20'x36' shop with 10' ceilings. Drywall lift and the baker scaffold was very helpful on that project. But on that job I wasn't looking for perfection since it was just a shop and I sprayed the whole shop white. this is the kitchen so I'm being a little more careful and pursuing perfection.

The best thing I've done lately is use the double halogen light from the side. Makes every mistake jump out like a sore thumb which means putting on more mud and going at it again.

One thing I am using on this project is "Buttboards". The butt seems float between the studs/joists and the buttboard is placed behind the drywall to make for a slightly tapered edge like the factory tapered edges. For me it makes finishing the butt seems much easier. Could just be a DIY cheat but for the extra few bucks on the project it is worth it to me versus trying to feather out the butt seams which was a trouble spot for me in the past. I'm also focused much more on using less mud than more mud and adding a little water to the mud and mixing it well to a nice smooth consistency and less stiff mix seems to be helpful for me.

Someone mentioned the bags for the shop vac. I hadn't thought of that but I'll give those a try first before I spring for a dust deputy that won't get used much after this project.

[Tom M King]

As I said on another thread. We got called to fix sheetrock in a house where the butt joints were done with those things. Every one of them had cracked, and there was no invisible fix that would work, so we ended up covering the whole thing with other stuff. I take 3/32" off the framing members under a butt joint so both sheets get pulled in some, and use a featheredge to flatten it out with tape and mud.

Anyone that has a lamp on a table beside a wall is shining a light on it. I remember when my newest helper started with me in 1998, and we were doing sheetrock. The old helper told him, "he's going to go over it with a magnifying glass, so don't think that less than perfect is good enough." I don't really use a magnifying glass, but he had the right idea. It doesn't take any more time to do a good job, just a little more attention to what you are doing.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Drywall sanding sponge

http://www.homedepot.com/p/MAT-Drywall-Sanding-Sponge-105900B/100020608

Worked very well for me and not expensive!

[Robert Engel]

Thanks everyone for the drywall finishing tips. I wasn't looking for drywall finishing tips but they are always appreciated. Im not a complete newbie at drywall finishing.Well you said you werent' the best finisher, no?

Good drywall finishers do very little sanding. That's why you got so many tips.