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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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[–] • 1 pt

why not use 5 or 15 minute?

[–] • 1 pt

I was thinking about it, I just got some 5 minute and 20 minute to try. Thanks. One thing I was wondering if different layers get exposed, 5 minute vs all purpose, with they sand at the same rate? If not I won't properly be able to sand anymore (which is actually why I moved to a fill heavy approach - watered vs unwatered don't sand at the same rate).

[–] • 1 pt

i feel the white stuff is the same as all purpose for softness, the grey is a different beast.

[–] • 0 pt

I believe the quicker the set up time the more plaster of Paris there is; therefore, the quicker 5 is the hardest to sand. The 90min or the pre-mix is a lot softer and easier to sand.

Do you use corner tools or do you wing it with straight knives?

[–] • 0 pt

I have a corner tool and I'd like to use it but every time I do, I end up correcting and expanding out with the regular blade enough times that it doesn't seem I gained anything. I think the corner tool would be great and work good, if I committed to not expanding outwards afterwards. Which would mean the spackle from the corner might be only 4".

If I did that I could do corners in two runs and the time saving would be worth it.

I'm going to have a ton of corner work to do because I'm going to be lowering the whole ceiling two inches (the ceiling is actually straight up concrete, zero way to wire up lights).

[–] • 0 pt (edited )

If you think you can work that fast go for it. The shit will set up in your pan before you get it all out. If you're doing a small patch, not a problem.

[–] • 0 pt

Was also the reason I didn't jump on using the 5 / 20 minute I've got at the moment. Currently the rate I put the spackle up, vs the amount I have to do, by the time I'm done with the last part the first part is dried now (the up / down / left / right ravine / patch up phase). So the stuff in the pan would have dried before getting it put up.

I've got a spackle mixer on a drill though to keep it fresh with water and consistent / bubbleless though.

[–] • 1 pt

How many sheets of drywall are you doing? Walls ans ceilings? It sounds like you may want to find a taper. At least get a bid to see if it's in your budget. A good taper is cheaper than you might think and will get the job done in a few days. It'd be well worth it.

[–] • 0 pt

the working time is 5 minutes, it doesn't set up (unable to clean up) for a long time after that. if you are doing something that isn't precise that uses a lot you can do a pan pretty quickly.