Sheets & Coverage

Sheet count is arithmetic. What changes the job is sheet length, and it changes it through the number of butt joints rather than the number of boards.

A butt joint is where two board ends meet. It has no tapered edge, so the tape sits proud of the surface and has to be feathered eighteen inches or more each way to disappear. Tapered edges — the long sides — bury tape in a recess and finish almost flat.

Twelve-foot boards hung horizontally on an 8 ft wall can eliminate butt joints entirely on most walls. Eight-foot boards stood on end put one every four feet.

Compound goes by board area, not joint length

A 4.5 gallon bucket covers roughly 500 ft² of board for a three-coat Level 4 finish. Level 3 is two coats and about 20% less. Level 5 skims the entire surface and runs about 40% more, plus a great deal more sanding.

Buy all-purpose for taping and lightweight for the finish coats. Lightweight sands far more easily, and sanding is where the hours go.

Finish level is a specification

Level 3 belongs under heavy texture. Level 4 is the normal standard for flat and eggshell paint. Level 5 exists for gloss paint and for walls that get raking light down them — a long wall beside a big window will show every joint that Level 4 leaves, and no amount of paint hides it.

Deciding this after the walls are up costs a second visit and another day of dust.

Deduct openings by half, not in full

You still cut board around a door and a window, and most of what comes out is offcut that fits nothing else. Deducting the full opening area is the standard way to end up two sheets short with the delivery gone.

Two habits

Ceilings before walls — the wall boards support the ceiling edge, and ceilings take about 15% more screws because the board is fighting gravity.

Set the driver clutch so the screw dimples the paper without tearing it. A screw through the face paper holds almost nothing, and once the mud is on you cannot tell which ones did it.