For those who do not do drywall for a living it can be overwhelming to figure out what types of drywall mud to use for certain projects. If you were to ask 10 different drywall people how they would approach completing a project, you are likely to get at least 5 different answers. In this overview, we will take into account that most reading this are not drywall experts and review what would be simplest for a beginner.
Let me start out by saying that the easiest drywall mud or joint compound to use is the premixed in a box or bucket. However, this material has a setting time of at least 24 hours and with busy lives today who has time to wait for drywall mud to dry? I would recommend for larger jobs such as a basement or an entire room to use the premixed drywall mud. I will save the details of why for a later review.
Now on to the purpose of this article, how to mix powdered drywall mud. For smaller drywall repair jobs like a door knob through the wall, nail pop, or crack in the wall, powdered drywall mud is ideal.
Powdered drywall mud sets up in a specified time increment, for instance if you purchase 20 minute drywall mud it should setup in approximately 20 minutes. The advertised time is only approximate. I have had 20 minute drywall mud take 24 hours to dry in the past and I have also had it setup as soon as I was done mixing but for the most part the time on the bag is accurate. Also keep in mind that the time on the bag means you can apply another coat of drywall mud overtop of the previous coat. It is not ready for sand.
There is not an exact science to mixing powdered drywall mud. Many variables are involved with mixing drywall mud such as what coat of drywall mud you are mixing. For example, are you mixing a tape coat or a skim coat? Do you prefer your drywall mud thicker or thinner? Again, you will get various answers to these questions depending on the experience and preference of who you ask. The steps below will get you close. You can fine tune your preference once you have the basics.