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I'm doing a home renovation and spackling is murdering. The process I've currently got is -

Round 1 Spackle the tape, at least 2 hour turn around until it's dry enough to cover

Round 2 Put a full coat with unwatered all purpose, have it be ~10 inches from the tape in all directions (takes a day to dry)

Round 3 For in either left to right, or top / down with heavily watered / runny spackle. Use the 12 inch blade at a 85 to 90 degree angle to get a perfectly flat cut. This 100% levels out everything in either up / down or left / right. (normally takes about 1-4 hours to dry fully)

Round 4 Do the same as round 3 but in the opposite direction. End result is perfectly flat in both up / down and left / right. (normally 30 min - 2 hours to dry)

Round 5 Patch work in the same spirit as 3 / 4. Fill it bubble holes, scraps / accidental gouges etc. Do one last run on the edges for a flawless "feathering" in the approach of 3 / 4. At this point it should truly be flawless and 100% flat. After this do one to two runs across evenly with a orbital sander. End product is near flawlessly flat and feathered.

These are for butt joints, not the joints where both ends are depreciated.

So far this seems like "murderous overkill" for if I need to do ie lowering the whole place's ceiling and putting drywall throughout the whole place. It'll literally take weeks just for the spackling. (I get about 4-5 work hours per day)

To me it seems the main things are - Use quick set on the tape and tape covering rounds to get a day turn around to a few hours. Consider using mesh tape to cut out the tape drying time. 2. Go out less distance from the tape to create less surface area. Less surface area means less spackle to put up for round 3 / 4. Since it's going to be guaranteed flawlessly flat, maybe 8 inches out or even 6 might work? 3. Maybe cut out Round 4 entirely and just make round 3 be against whatever direction the tape covering round was, and essentially make the tape covering round double as the round 4.

I'm doing a home renovation and spackling is murdering. The process I've currently got is - Round 1 Spackle the tape, at least 2 hour turn around until it's dry enough to cover Round 2 Put a full coat with unwatered all purpose, have it be ~10 inches from the tape in all directions (takes a day to dry) Round 3 For in either left to right, or top / down with heavily watered / runny spackle. Use the 12 inch blade at a 85 to 90 degree angle to get a perfectly flat cut. This 100% levels out everything in either up / down or left / right. (normally takes about 1-4 hours to dry fully) Round 4 Do the same as round 3 but in the opposite direction. End result is perfectly flat in both up / down and left / right. (normally 30 min - 2 hours to dry) Round 5 Patch work in the same spirit as 3 / 4. Fill it bubble holes, scraps / accidental gouges etc. Do one last run on the edges for a flawless "feathering" in the approach of 3 / 4. At this point it should truly be flawless and 100% flat. After this do one to two runs across evenly with a orbital sander. End product is near flawlessly flat and feathered. These are for butt joints, not the joints where both ends are depreciated. So far this seems like "murderous overkill" for if I need to do ie lowering the whole place's ceiling and putting drywall throughout the whole place. It'll literally take weeks just for the spackling. (I get about 4-5 work hours per day) To me it seems the main things are - Use quick set on the tape and tape covering rounds to get a day turn around to a few hours. Consider using mesh tape to cut out the tape drying time. 2. Go out less distance from the tape to create less surface area. Less surface area means less spackle to put up for round 3 / 4. Since it's going to be guaranteed flawlessly flat, maybe 8 inches out or even 6 might work? 3. Maybe cut out Round 4 entirely and just make round 3 be against whatever direction the tape covering round was, and essentially make the tape covering round double as the round 4.

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[–] • 0 pt (edited )

Another thing, wide mounds can't be seen by the untrained eye. The eye only catches lines so stop fussing over sanding down gradual hump, unless you are in the kitchen or bathroom.

Not always true. In my hallway some clown did this shit and because of how the house was designed the natural light in the hallway comes in from the bathroom window and shines right along the hallway wall highlighting every hump, bump, and wave in their shitty job. One day I'm gonna have to spend a weekend fixing that shitty wall because it drives me crazy every time I look at it.

When I hire a drywall guy I check the work with a bright flashlight held against the wall and shine it in all directions. If there are big shadows we have a problem. It's also a good way to check the work of a tile guy and a floor guy (uneven floor tile is the worst).

[–] • 0 pt

Did they texture? What kind of texture did they use on the wall?

[–] • 0 pt

They used knockdown, but the shadows are way bigger than the texture.

[–] • 0 pt (edited )

That's a shame. Curious what it looks like. Its probably not gradual enough. Or the light is going to haunt you no matter how good the wall looks.

You never know what they were dealing with, though. Ripping drywall down and doing it again may reveal the 2x4s are twisted. If you decide to do it, first take a long straight edge and identify the valleys. Might need a 1/4th of a bucket just filling in 1 radical valley. Come out 3 ft or more. If its way too much work, then re-doing might be the best , but re-hanging won't be the cheapest and won't make the family happy. But it presents an opportunity to insulate for sound, which will make everyone happy if the hallway doesn't have it already. Big difference in quality of living, insulating the walls.

Matching knockdown kind of an art. I prefer orange peel for the reason that any homeowner can perform patches.