Skim Coating Drywall walls

[Cincinnati]

The drywall job in my personal house (in the USA) is a mess. Screws and nails are popping. Tape is coming loose from seams. Walls are wavy because studs were not all crowned the same direction. Butted seams (where there was no bevel on the drywall board) were built up far too high and not feathered adequately. They tried to hide all this with orange peel texture and flat paint. We painted several years ago with semigloss. Now every mistake is clearly emphasized. I want to repair all before repainting. I want smooth walls and ceilings.

I have skim coated walls before wth a 16 “ knife (about 400mm) that I got at one of the box stores. I recently discovered Speedskim online and wanted to purchase a set for this project. I was thinking of a 600/1200 set and possibly an 1800mm. Although the 1800 may prove difficult to wield. I can’t seem to contact the company. They are not responding to email. Their posted phone number doesn’t seem to work for me. All the tools on their website store list as “out of stock”. Can One of you mates from across the pond please assist me? Are they still in business? Are there distributors in the UK from whom I could order these?

 

[Removed_User]

God,you americans have some weird language. Would have helped you if I'd understood mate. You'll still need to coat with a normal trowel before flattening and if you like, possibly at the trowelling stage.

 

[zolco]

The drywall job in my personal house (in the USA) is a mess. Screws and nails are popping. Tape is coming loose from seams. Walls are wavy because studs were not all crowned the same direction. Butted seams (where there was no bevel on the drywall board) were built up far too high and not feathered adequately. They tried to hide all this with orange peel texture and flat paint. We painted several years ago with semigloss. Now every mistake is clearly emphasized. I want to repair all before repainting. I want smooth walls and ceilings.

I have skim coated walls before wth a 16 “ knife (about 400mm) that I got at one of the box stores. I recently discovered Speedskim online and wanted to purchase a set for this project. I was thinking of a 600/1200 set and possibly an 1800mm. Although the 1800 may prove difficult to wield. I can’t seem to contact the company. They are not responding to email. Their posted phone number doesn’t seem to work for me. All the tools on their website store list as “out of stock”. Can One of you mates from across the pond please assist me? Are they still in business? Are there distributors in the UK from whom I could order these?

Level 5 has a new spat range out they look like refin@ spats to me, I'm sure you can get that in the states easy

 

[Nicm]

The drywall job in my personal house (in the USA) is a mess. Screws and nails are popping. Tape is coming loose from seams. Walls are wavy because studs were not all crowned the same direction. Butted seams (where there was no bevel on the drywall board) were built up far too high and not feathered adequately. They tried to hide all this with orange peel texture and flat paint. We painted several years ago with semigloss. Now every mistake is clearly emphasized. I want to repair all before repainting. I want smooth walls and ceilings.

I have skim coated walls before wth a 16 “ knife (about 400mm) that I got at one of the box stores. I recently discovered Speedskim online and wanted to purchase a set for this project. I was thinking of a 600/1200 set and possibly an 1800mm. Although the 1800 may prove difficult to wield. I can’t seem to contact the company. They are not responding to email. Their posted phone number doesn’t seem to work for me. All the tools on their website store list as “out of stock”. Can One of you mates from across the pond please assist me? Are they still in business? Are there distributors in the UK from whom I could order these?

Overboard the lot and use a veneer plaster.Diamond is a nice one to use.You don’t need a speedskim or anything,my advice is hire a good plasterer to do it for you.With the greatest respect if you don’t know what your doing it will be a disaster.

 

[Cincinnati]

God,you americans have some weird language. Would have helped you if I'd understood mate. You'll still need to coat with a normal trowel before flattening and if you like, possibly at the trowelling stage.

Overboard the lot and use a veneer plaster.Diamond is a nice one to use.You don’t need a speedskim or anything,my advice is hire a good plasterer to do it for you.With the greatest respect if you don’t know what your doing it will be a disaster.

I appreciate your counsel. I’ve never done traditional plaster, but I have skim coated many walls. I am not in the least bit unsure of my ability to handle this job. If I can brag a bit, the last job I did for myself was a commercial building. It drew the attention of two different builders. Both wanted to subcontract me for their drywall finishing. I am meticulous and do very nice work but I had no desire to do it for other people. That job was the first time on my life that I had the budget to hire a pro but couldn’t find one who could handle the task. I had to rip out and re-Sheetrock a section after the first, and the Second couldn’t handle a curved wall with a 5ft radius. I finally was forced to resort to my own efforts.

On that job, I troweled the mud on with a 12” knife and leveled it with an 24” blade. When I saw the 4ft Speedskim, given the waviness of my walls, it seemed that would make it easier and faster to smooth out the imperfections and get better results.

Someone mentioned Level 5, but I’m striking out on finding them too in the states.

 

[Nicm]

I appreciate your counsel. I’ve never done traditional plaster, but I have skim coated many walls. I am not in the least bit unsure of my ability to handle this job. If I can brag a bit, the last job I did for myself was a commercial building. It drew the attention of two different builders. Both wanted to subcontract me for their drywall finishing. I am meticulous and do very nice work but I had no desire to do it for other people. That job was the first time on my life that I had the budget to hire a pro but couldn’t find one who could handle the task. I had to rip out and re-Sheetrock a section after the first, and the Second couldn’t handle a curved wall with a 5ft radius. I finally was forced to resort to my own efforts.

On that job, I troweled the mud on with a 12” knife and leveled it with an 24” blade. When I saw the 4ft Speedskim, given the waviness of my walls, it seemed that would make it easier and faster to smooth out the imperfections and get better results.

Someone mentioned Level 5, but I’m striking out on finding them too in the states.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do.Hope it works out good for you.

 

[Dacha]

Buy all the new tools and try it. It will be a lot of fun and satisfaction if it works out good. If not happy with your finish, can hire plasterer who can sand it recoat it, make it ready for painting.

 

[Heritage Plasters]

The drywall job in my personal house (in the USA) is a mess. Screws and nails are popping. Tape is coming loose from seams. Walls are wavy because studs were not all crowned the same direction. Butted seams (where there was no bevel on the drywall board) were built up far too high and not feathered adequately. They tried to hide all this with orange peel texture and flat paint. We painted several years ago with semigloss. Now every mistake is clearly emphasized. I want to repair all before repainting. I want smooth walls and ceilings.

I have skim coated walls before wth a 16 “ knife (about 400mm) that I got at one of the box stores. I recently discovered Speedskim online and wanted to purchase a set for this project. I was thinking of a 600/1200 set and possibly an 1800mm. Although the 1800 may prove difficult to wield. I can’t seem to contact the company. They are not responding to email. Their posted phone number doesn’t seem to work for me. All the tools on their website store list as “out of stock”. Can One of you mates from across the pond please assist me? Are they still in business? Are there distributors in the UK from whom I could order these?

Hello and "Welcome along" as our UK friends like to say.

I can identify with your plight in looking for speed skims, or most of the good toys these guys get. (Except Marshalltown stuff.... Still don't understand their love affair with that brand) I think the speed skim a great tool but based on what you said about your project I think there are other things you need to consider that are a much higher priority.

I'm based in Western NC and do both poster and drywall but you should know that plaster is a totally different beast from drywall and the skills don't transfer like you might imagine. If you have the idea of using your pan and knife to apply the plaster I think you'll be in for a rough ride. Drywall compound is much sticker and easier to apply and you have to use a hawk and trowel for plaster to accomplish much. (I've seen people try to use pan and knife before, even very experience drywall finishers. It is very entertaining, but makes a huge mess and the work looks like trash.) Not to mention that plaster is much harder, doesn't really sand and will get hard in about 45 minutes and there is no retempering it to get more time.

I'll give you some info on products and techniques if you would like to pm me your phone info. I think you may want to use a 2 coat veneer system if there walls are as bad as you say and to help cover the existing texture. I'm assuming your based in OH?

 

[Danny]

The drywall job in my personal house (in the USA) is a mess. Screws and nails are popping. Tape is coming loose from seams. Walls are wavy because studs were not all crowned the same direction. Butted seams (where there was no bevel on the drywall board) were built up far too high and not feathered adequately. They tried to hide all this with orange peel texture and flat paint. We painted several years ago with semigloss. Now every mistake is clearly emphasized. I want to repair all before repainting. I want smooth walls and ceilings.

I have skim coated walls before wth a 16 “ knife (about 400mm) that I got at one of the box stores. I recently discovered Speedskim online and wanted to purchase a set for this project. I was thinking of a 600/1200 set and possibly an 1800mm. Although the 1800 may prove difficult to wield. I can’t seem to contact the company. They are not responding to email. Their posted phone number doesn’t seem to work for me. All the tools on their website store list as “out of stock”. Can One of you mates from across the pond please assist me? Are they still in business? Are there distributors in the UK from whom I could order these?

Welcome

 

[algeeman]

The drywall job in my personal house (in the USA) is a mess. Screws and nails are popping. Tape is coming loose from seams. Walls are wavy because studs were not all crowned the same direction. Butted seams (where there was no bevel on the drywall board) were built up far too high and not feathered adequately. They tried to hide all this with orange peel texture and flat paint. We painted several years ago with semigloss. Now every mistake is clearly emphasized. I want to repair all before repainting. I want smooth walls and ceilings.

I have skim coated walls before wth a 16 “ knife (about 400mm) that I got at one of the box stores. I recently discovered Speedskim online and wanted to purchase a set for this project. I was thinking of a 600/1200 set and possibly an 1800mm. Although the 1800 may prove difficult to wield. I can’t seem to contact the company. They are not responding to email. Their posted phone number doesn’t seem to work for me. All the tools on their website store list as “out of stock”. Can One of you mates from across the pond please assist me? Are they still in business? Are there distributors in the UK from whom I could order these?