[Elsbeth]

I am having a problem with air bubbles in the dry wall mud. I am using an all purpose joint compound, how much dish soap do you put in to how much compound??

[Pandoras_Pain]

Yo, the dry wall mud will develop air bubbles due too water settling towards the bottom of your bucket or what ever you are use-n to hold it, plus air get's being mixed into the mud while you mix it. Is the mud sitting for a period before you use it? If so re-mix it, an that should help.

[Elsbeth]

Tried remixing, not mixing, nothing helps! First coat goes on well, it's the second and third coats that get the air bubbles. We are getting it out of a 5 gallon bucket, putting it in a mud tray to use ( small amounts) and the bucket is covered between.

[Pandoras_Pain]

Hmm, is this pre-mixed or are you mixing?

[schwim]

Hi there Elsbeth,

I used to run into the problem with an overly thick mixture and dust(or other contaminate) on the wall during reapplication.

You could get 20 different answers from 20 different people, since applying mud is a "feel" thing, but I'd be happy to share with you what works for me.

When I open a 5 gal bucket, I put half in an empty, leaving me approx. 2 1/2 gals in each bucket. This does a couple of things. First, it allows me room to mix, and secondly, it allows me to use up the bucket without the hardened nerdlings at the lip, since I won't be fooling with the bucket long enough for them to develop. The sealed bucket won't have the issue at all.

Working with 2 1/2 gals, I mix in about 16 oz. of water, to thin the mix. The way mud is shipped is way too thick for my taste. You either push so hard to work it that you make the run concave, or if you try to keep that from happening, you don't push hard enough and your taper is fouled up.

Mixing in 16 oz. of water won't be enough to make you have to work with it differently, but you will notice the difference. The trade off is that it takes a little longer for the application to dry.

This will probably solve your problem with bubbles in and of itself, but if you have it handy, I simply squirt a circle of soap around the perimeter of the bucket and mix it in.

That's it!

As I said, there's plenty of other methods out there, equally useful, but this works best for me.

Thanks,
Json

[massplumber2008]

Do me a favor guys... explain the soap thing! I have sheetrocked for years and have never seen anyone use soap. Thank you!

[schwim]

Hi there mp,

It smooths the mud and helps get rid of pock marks and bubbles when applying.

There was a product on the market called NoPock that did the same thing, but it seems that it's no longer available.

Thanks,
Json

[glavine]

Ive finished sheetrock since I was just 14yrs old, through the years I've heard and seen a lot of little tricks, and I have heard of the soap trick before, Ive never used it nor seen it actually work, to me it would make more bubbles instead of getting rid of them, anyway what I do is put the 1 and 2nd coat on and as it drys you can see if they start and usually this happens in the first 10 to 15 minutes. Ill wet my knife usually a 10 or 12" and run back over the joint, and a lot of time this will also smooth out some ridges as well.

If you've ever done plaster work its a lot like that. As mentioned above it is a feel thing.
If you can't get the bubbles to stop just want till it all drys and just skim coat the affected areas. No big deal

[schwim]

Ive finished sheetrock since i was just 14yrs old....

You've not given us enough information! If you're fifteen years old, we're not considering your expertise to be substantial :)

Just having a little fun, no offense intended ;)

Thanks,
Json

[Decorate Now Patterns]

What type of soap... just plain old white liquid dish soap?

Thanks!

[glavine]

At 15yrs I still knew more than you... schwim... no offense just having fun
I'm 31 for the record, and as for my info, why explain what you have already explained?
As for your question, dawn is what I had heard used, just plain old liquid dish soap

Decorate now patterns you may just try and use the sheetrock mud that comes in the green bucket, its for general purpose, the black and the light blue type are a lighter mud and its always seemed to have more air pockets than the green does, also schwim says he adds water to it, that's fine and it does help thin it out where it is easier to use, and I don't believe this would add to any bubbles.

[ballengerb1]

Forget the soap, half of all hangers will tell you its not worth your trouble. It does not create or cure this issue. The stuff in 5 gallon buckets is not what DYI folks should use for the first coat anyway. It can take a full day or more to dry before you can do the second coat but maybe we want our wives to think this is a big job. Buy yourself some small bags of 45 or 25 minute dry power and mix it yourself. You can thin it to taste and it will be rock hard in 25 minutes even if its still in your bucket,

[glavine]

The 45minute isn't bad but if you haven't finished drywall before 25 will dry so fast you end up wasting a lot of it. Also id mix it up with a drill so you can make it smooth and get the lumps out.

ballengerb1 is right about it taking all day for the bucket stuff, that it will and longer if the humidity is high. Good luck

[hkstroud]

I'm no dry wall finisher, only done patch work. Done a couple of basement finishing. I was told, and it seems to be correct that holding the knife too flat is what causes the air bubbles. Try holding the knife at more of an angle. Don't think of it as smoothing the mud out, think of it as cutting the top of the mud off smoothly. The info must be correct, I don't have a problem with air bubbles.

[Dawen69]

I take a box of pre mix mud approx 17 litres pour it into a 5 gallon pail then pour into the same bucket a little less than half a litre of clean water and about 5 table spoons of plain ol' liquid dish soap, mix all this together with a drill and whip and you have very easily workable mud, I use this mixture for taping, 2nd or block coat and 3rd or skim coat.

[mudman1]

Dish soap is the snake oil of the drywall trade. I finished drywall for 25 years and never had to use dish soap in the mix and I primarily did slick finish. It was the Ames automatic finishing machines that brought on the soap technique to run the tools more smoothly. You use more water in the taping mud. It keeps the paper and dryness of the wall boards from drying the mud too much before the tape can be wiped down. It also helps shrink the tape coat back so it will all be covered with the fill coat with less chance of blisters or high tape on butt joints which will allow for a flatter finish overall. Fill coat should have as little water as you can stand, especially with the corner bead, and is more skreeted with the knife standing more upright, as this will shrink less and dry quicker and allow for a tighter final skim coat. The final skim coat is probably the most water sensitive, as you will be putting mud on and taking more back off and this will remove some of the water each pass. If there is air bubbles in the mud appearing on the walls, it is typically on the corner bead and from it being installed incorrectly. I know of maybe 3 drywall hanger/finishers in my entire finishing career who could put on bead correctly. It is possibly the most overlooked process of the trade. That and the proper finishing of the fasteners. I actually got out of drywall when it got to be such a hackers trade. I still do some specialty work or points of architectural interest when an absolute slick finish is required.

[mudman1]

What am I saying? It's the whole process that is pretty much done incorrectly any more. Pretty much ever since the housing boom of the 90's, when the real apprenticed journeymen were replaced with illegal labor and heavy texture.

[Greg Tremblay]

I've watched a pro squirt a ring of Sunlight (not any other brand) around a 6" in diameter in the center of the bucket, and then power-stirred it. He says it breaks the surface-tension of the water/moisture, and allows for smooth strokes. Can someone confirm this quickly, as I'm doing that tomorrow morning as my final coat.

[ma0641]

Just read the above posts. Been mudding for many years and never used it. Thin it out a bit, and no bubbles.

[hkstroud]

Now I ask you this. If soap or dish washing detergent would make the mud work better don't you think the manufacturer would put it in the mix. It is certainly not expensive and the manufacturers certainly want their products of work as well as possible.

If you are having air bubbles, it is because you are holding the knife to flat. Angle between the wall and the knife should be about 35 degrees.