How to do a TIGHT SKIM on drywall!

welcome back to vancouver carpenter today i'm going to show you guys how to do a tight skim on a wall and that's something i haven't done too often in my videos i usually do like so this is a freshly sanded first coat and so normally what i do is i especially over a painted wall where it wants to bubble is i will skim it really tight and then i'll skim it again to try and leave a little fat on a little bit of meat on that mud so that there's something to sand but in this case i have this wall so smooth already that what i'm going to do is only the tight skin so uh it's well sanded i spent a little time with my sponge sander getting into all the corners so that i'm not going to get little boogers in the mud and so those corners are going to come out nice and crisp because when you're doing a tight skin there is no material left to float out inconsistencies so the tight skin is there to fill in any of the little stuff so i don't know if you can come up here get a little bit closer so you can see even though most of it looks perfect if you get right up close you can see these little pinholes so yeah this would not make for a nice painted surface because there's little holes there that somebody's gonna have to fill after it gets painted [Music] there ouch what just okay so there's two things well there's a lot of things but here's another thing when doing a tight skin is what kind of mud you're using so i'm using finished mud here and i'm gonna be mixing it real thin and this will probably be more than enough for that whole wall because it goes on so thin first i got to mix it up though really helps to have good mixing tools when doing this because you know you want to have all of it mixed to a nice thin consistency and we're going to be going pretty thin here adding a little more water i don't have you know specific ratios for you it's just got to be pretty soupy that might be good enough it's fairly runny um i'm gonna go even a little bit thinner because what tends to happen is while you're working with it on the wall the wall pulls the moisture out of it so i'm going just slightly runnier than i want it there we go so another thing is the thinner the mud is the more it shrinks so that's why having such a well prepped wall that's so smooth is important because again this stuff isn't gonna have enough left on there i gotta say this again i'm saying it all wrong my point is if there's any deep inconsistencies that need to be filled this stuff's gonna shrink too much so it's really thin like let's take a look at this it's basically thick enough that i can still work with it but runny enough that um that it's easy to work with in this case so i'm using my 12 inch by 5 inch curry stainless steel trowel got my richard stainless steel six inch knife 14 inch hawk and these are going to be the tools the tools of the trade my preferred tools for this job i'm not using any skimming blades the reason is i find when doing this i have way more control and i do a faster job with the smaller tools than i do with the bigger tools unless i had a huge wall now we're getting too technical you guys if i had a huge wall i'd break out the roller and the fancy tools but on just this one wall yeah we'll do it by hand okay and we got a wicked scaffold set up here the uh the old two by six balance beam on the ladder but it's good enough it's not a long way down i'll be okay that set up well there we go about there i got one last thing here that i couldn't get because i didn't have the scaffold set up right here in this corner i want to get this all nice and tidied up and a little bit this way again that's that prepping to make sure it's smooth enough to just skim it with really thin mud so time to get to it so i'm not going to be putting as much mud on my hawk as i would normally take for a first coat because well you just don't need it and you're gonna spill it because it's so runny it's really common to like you'll be like wiping the wall trying to get it all nice and perfect and meanwhile this thing's getting ready to have a big blob on the floor so in this case you don't need any more mud than this and if you're a noob well you're going to get a lot of mud on the floor but the more mud you have on here the more you'll get on the floor okay so well i can just barely reach this i already went to like my max height let's see what we're gonna do here so we're just gonna put the mud on and as you can see it's gonna bubble like crazy as i'm applying it why because i'm applying it on top of mud that's on a painted surface so all that air that's in the mud has nowhere to go but back out of the mud and i've done videos on this before the only way to get rid of that is to do a tight skin which is what we're doing we're just not going to be skimming it out anymore after so i'm not going to cover the whole thing i want to you know just like do as much as i can work with so sometimes you can even push it back this way it's going to help and push it like what you're doing is there's all these little pockets of air in here and you're trying to like force the mud in and then as the air comes out it goes like now i don't want to go into the wall i want to pop back out so you kind of have to work it a couple directions sometimes so first thing feather your edge just like you should be feathering that let like button like button oh there's a leg button if you're into it i don't know okay so feathering your edge if you're new to this channel is when you push really hard on the edge of the trowel and that's what helps you get that super fine edge right there so it's getting better and now that i feathered i'm going to do this i'm not taking all the material off yet again i'm kind of trying to work it in there see as i went that way the bubbles got a little bit better so this is just kind of time consuming especially because i'm talking so much um if i wasn't talking i'd be done this section and on to the next but anyway so that's a tight skin right there and it has a lot to do with the angle you hold the trowel at um okay where was i at like brain farting yeah right we're here doing a tight skin that's what i'm doing okay okay so yeah tight skin the angle of the blade that's what's important here so the first passes might be kind of shallow like this but then as you do the tight skin you're going to push harder and you might change the angle of the blade a little bit more this way too much this way it's going to do the washboard effect where it chatters but anyways it takes a bit to get the feel of it but basically i'm just pushing real hard [Music] and there's little pinholes right here but they're filled so that's what you want to be looking for is that they're not like big bubbly fish eyes but that those holes are filled [Music] and then to get it looking smooth like that with no lift off well that's just knowing how to use the trowel so we'll get into that on the next pass this mud's already thicker because of how long i left it on that wall let's try and work with it and get it done okay so apply the mud bubbles like crazy as you can see [Music] yeah the bubbles are crazy so at this point i can just start skimming i'm cleaning my blade here so how do we do that without leaving a big huge line well let me show you all right so i've talked about this before in other videos but when you are skimming so it's all about where the pressure on the blade is so on every one of these passes my pressure is just slightly like this and i'm also using a pretty firm grip on the trowel at this point because i need to that's another thing geez there's so much to know you guys should be watching my other videos on hawk and trowel basics if this is all really confusing to you a lot of that stuff is covered in the hawk control basics so we need to get into the um how do you not get that lift off so yeah it just has to do with where you're putting the pressure on the blade so i'm kind of working it out there a little further all right that has to do with the pressure of the blade um my first one i'm gonna feather like this really hard to get that burned down and then on all my consecutive ones the pressure is very slightly it's right here it's like with these two fingers right here so that's my grip on it it just did that thing i was talking about that's too busy talking to you guys let's find somewhere to put that huh now it's got hair and dirt in it it's honestly hard to make a video and teach things while doing a kind of time sensitive job at the same time okay here's some ramboard i think i can get away with putting this right here have any more dog hair in the mud no we're good okay okay pretty soon here i'm gonna actually just start moving and you guys can watch it happening in real time a little bit of bubbles go that way one more okay do this section here you want to trade spots let's do some real time coding here not all this talking because yeah i want to go skateboard as usual it comes down to me wanting to go skateboard better that edge if you haven't feathered that like button by now what's your problem man lady kid i don't know who you are probably not a dog they don't drywall [Music] but then again that's totally speciesist of me all right okay i don't need to be going there i need to get back to that other section but yeah there's not so much to it oh man i'm starting to coat this like it's a friday wall it is friday isn't it okay a little more mud try to keep it with it it's not super critical to keep a wet edge but it helps just trying to make sure i have good coverage and this mud's getting thicker too which is kind of annoying getting thicker because i've been talking and not getting it on the wall all right i like to keep the edges of my blade clean cut half of it nope doesn't fit between there doesn't matter which way you come at it as long as it's smooth when you're done okay we got a little bit of stuff here that needs some love and we got a camera guy here that can maybe pick it up you see all this that needs a little bit of help oh oh oh textured ceiling down there it's super thick but i'll do it on the next pass so you know usually i actually start from the bottom and work my way up i don't know why i did it this way because when you start from the bottom and work your way up you're able to keep the mud um at the top of your blade see how it's not puking out the bottom there that's something i should have done i'm not sure why i did it this way you know it's even something i knew come on bubbles get up all right it's good enough so you can see this is always called a tight skin i am not leaving much on here i'm going to take this stuff that's way too way too stiff i often put it kind of right here so that i can then dig from this other stuff right here so i'm not always going back to the super dry stuff let's make some time down here clean off the back of them blades dust dust [Music] i just don't want that creating little clumps in my mouth look at those bubbles glorious hateful bubbles i hate them so much but i'm so grateful that i have a wall that is smooth enough that i can skim it tight instead of having to skim it tight and then do it over again that's as far as we need to get into that corner it'll look good that first one was just to take off the excess before i get to that see that's the blob i was talking about from not starting at the bottom now we looking smoosh and i sometimes will get my knife in all right you see all this stuff right here from running my edge against my trowel against the edge of the casing well now we're just going to take this with a soft hand why not goodbye so i often use my knife to work out the little bits we got a little puppy in the background there that wants to get out you can't get out from there right now it's not in this direction oh hateful hateful bubbles i know i can hear you guys i can hear you in the comments ben why don't you protect the floor doesn't anybody do that these days yes often but these floors are being replaced i am not a caveman i swear as we'll make our actions count instead of doing these piddly little passes [Music] so i really can't tell you exactly how to get the feel of a trowel or a knife knives will do the same job you don't have to use a trowel guys this is just the tool that i have learned on that i'm familiar with and then i get the fastest best results there's like a little paint chip in there giving me some grief this is going to be easy sanding on monday i got too much on here to unload it what better place than the wall and the floor let's take a little bit of that you don't need that all there put it right here get right down close to that plug there right there don't get electrocuted get in there oh chunks all right we're looking pretty good yeah oh i almost almost put my fortunately this box is really sunk i almost put my trowel right on my edge there if you uh if you accidentally like if you have a live plug and you accidentally push the mud in there and it touches those little bolts you're gonna get a shock through your trowel ask me how i know [Music] this one annoying little spot right here so you gotta get a nice clean knife can you see that bit right there it's causing me a little grief gotta get a nice clean knife just that'll have to be good enough those little bubbles right there if you can even see them i will fill come sanding day a real quick just like skim it'll dry in five minutes and we'll sand it so sometimes if there are very small imperfections on a job like this that's what i'll do is i will actually fill them on sanding day because they're so small that they will dry in like two three four five six depends how much air movement you have and how warm the place is but a really small fill of like a pinhole or a very small scratch oh hey there's the washboard i got a little washboard but i don't know if the camera is picking it up so before you guys can see it let's get rid of it there we go i'm almost getting some mud on the floor here again get rid of a bit of that and we are at the final passes here i'm happy with that one little thing right here we can make a bit prettier all right everything on here i can live with and it's still too wet for me to be able to fix anything but um if i really need to like something like this this might be dry enough probably can't see it it's again a teeny little bubble but i can even just like put a little mud on like that even though it doesn't look as pretty as my skimmed wall the fact is it'll sand out no problems now with time you just learn how mud works you learn when it's going to pull when it's not going to and also i'm going to move over here with time you actually get like worn in blades so that's another thing i should have mentioned at the very start of this video but i'm only thinking of right now because there's actually so much little knowledge in here but really worn in rounded over blades work the best for a skim coat so yeah this is like an old worn in knife that square edge is long gone these trowels have like super rounded over edges in fact it's so sharp it's so sharply rounded over you could practically slice the tomato with this thing but yeah those round edges help compress the mud into the wall instead of scratch and washboard it off so that's one thing to know the older your tool is and obviously no nicks or dings this thing has been dropped like 10 times and somehow is still perfectly straight has no nicks or dings in it and still leaves one of the best finishes out of all of my trowels this my trusty old 12x5 curry um yeah i don't even know where to find them if i can link them in the description i will they're good tools but i can't seem to find any links for the curry tools sponsorship come on curry anyways you guys um this video is done let's take a step back and look at this so as you can see yeah we have a flawless skim coat except for one again little washboard there that i didn't see but that'll stand out yeah i'm happy with this it's gonna look really good the reason we did this is because of this window right here there was a couple of big humps in the wall from settling when you can see that joint at four feet that goes all the way across the wall that's what we had there and now it's all gone so it just needs to be sanded and painted and it's going to be awesome and i'm babbling because i've been chatting at you guys for like half an hour which means i'm super tired and it means we're officially getting a good awkward rambling outro you happy good me too i'm done time for me to go do something else with my day i hope you're doing awesome i hope you're getting some wickedly skim coated walls with some of these tips and if you're not even here for that and you were just here for the entertainment i hope you liked it till the next one you guys

Channel: Vancouver Carpenter

Views: 147,874

Keywords: drywall, repair, hole, wall, fix, corner, tape, mud, taping, tools, fast, crack, best, easy, patch, plaster, mudding, joint, compound, joint compound, mesh tape, setting, quickset, DIY, finish, topping, paper tape, gypsum, wallboard, inside, outside, trowel, knife, drywall finishing, plastering, taper, mudder, skim, coat, install, ceiling, corner bead, beed, screw, pop, nail, screw pop, nail pop, angle, taping and mudding, paint, sanding, home repair, painting, beginner, cut, cutting in, how to paint, brush, different

Id: T1WOP0sCI1A

Length: 25min 30sec (1530 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 12 2021