SPACKLE Vs. DRYWALL MUD/JOINT COMPOUND (What's the Difference? When Should You Use Them?!)

what's the difference between spackle and drywall mud this is a surprisingly complicated question because a lot of it has to do with chemistry and companies are constantly experimenting with a variety of hybrid formulas but i don't think that the answer has to be that complex for the casual diy er so today i'm going to give a real quick breakdown on how newcomers can approach these two products and that's coming up next on the honest carpenter show so both spackle and joint compound are products that we use to cover blemishes or imperfections in both plaster walls and drywall there is some overlap in their functionality though which can make it confusing so how do you choose which one to use for your wall repairs probably the best differentiator to focus on is scale how big is the application that you need it for joint compound or drywall mud is a mixture of gypsum dust and water this is the product that pros use to cover their tape seams and nail heads in new drywall installations it comes in pre-mixed buckets which can be troweled straight onto walls or it also comes in dry bag varieties which you can mix with water to create whatever quantity you need most joint compounds dry very slowly once applied it can take up to 24 hours or longer to dry enough so that you can sand it to a finish for this reason mud or joint compound is best used on large applications think dry wall mudding whole rooms or even whole houses the long drying cycle gives you plenty of time to work your way around a room without your product drying out the smooth creamy mixture is easy to apply and it covers a lot of big imperfections but joint compound does shrink quite a bit as it dries this means that you generally need multiple coats to create a good surface and there are even different varieties for first coats and subsequent topping coats so that's how drywall mud works then you have spackle which is a different product altogether essentially spackle is for very small repairs think nail holes little dents and gouges even small cracks speckle gets confusing because there are tons of different mixtures out there but they basically all break down into two categories normal spackle versus lightweight spackle normal spackle is sort of a wet sludgy compound it too typically contains gypsum dust but it also has other binders in it these make it dry out a little faster than drywall mud typically one to four hours based on humidity and it also shrinks less than dry wall mud it's more elastic it's a little harder to work and trowel because it's gummy but you can often get away with one coat of it followed by some light sanding once it's dry that's normal spackle then you have lightweight spackle this stuff just looks different it's white and fluffy and flaky it sort of smears like grease when you spread it on walls but it'll clot up small holes almost instantly and it'll blend into white walls so well you almost can't see it lightweight spackle is in my opinion the greatest product ever made for patching small nail holes and other tiny bits of damage it's so light and easy to use that it requires like no practice at all just clean out loose tiny debris first then swipe lightweight spackle across the hole until you have a flush surface that's it lightweight tobacco also dries out really fast in just about 30 minutes and i've found that you can fill larger patches in some cases even up to an inch but you are going to have to use multiple coats and sand in between that's for larger patches but for smaller patches with lightweight spackle you can sometimes skip sanding the repair all together a quick swipe over it with a wet knife will smooth it right out whatever spackle you choose just remember that you'll often need to prime the patches before you paint over them otherwise they'll absorb paint through their porous surface and possibly show through later on so to sum it all up joint compound is a great bulk product that's best used for finishing whole rooms full of tape drywall seams it usually requires multiple coats and sanding to finish it can be used for small repairs in a pinch but for those you're probably better off using spackle which has more binding agents dries faster and doesn't shrink very much and for nail holes and small chips nothing beats lightweight spackle which dries in just 30 minutes and may not even require sanding i'll also mention that there are fast setting joint compounds on the market what we call hot mud my friend philip lamacchio uses them to do amazing small patch repairs on plaster we did a whole video on that so check that one out if you're interested i'll link several of these products below feel free to shop those links and remember that when you do we receive a tiny commission at no extra charge to you as always thanks for watching be sure to check back in for more videos coming up soon and please consider subscribing and hitting that little bell button to turn on notifications that way you'll know the moment we post something i'm ethan james with the omniscope.com i'll see you next time [Music]

Channel: The Honest Carpenter

Views: 504,028

Keywords: spackle, spackle vs mud, spackle drywall mud, drywall mud, joint compound drywall, joint compound, drywall mudding, joint compound drywall repair, spackle drywall, joint compound drywall mud, spackle vs joint compound, the honest carpenter, fix wall hole, fix wall damage, spackle drywall hole, spackling, how to use spackle, how to use joint compound, lightweight spackle, lightweight spackling, fix wall holes nails, wall nail holes

Id: lAh2Re76e1A

Length: 4min 52sec (292 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 20 2021