Mud Work Hints and Methods

[Davy]

After I spread the mud leaving it about an inch too high, I raise my trowel about a foot off the floor and slap the mud, raise it and move over about 4-5 inches and slap it again and continue repeating that. I can't ever remember my shoulder being sore, even after mudding all day. It doesn't need that much pounding.

[Just In Tile LLC]

Yeah the mud tamping is hard to explain, I used to say enough to crush an empty can in one shot, but its more like half that amount of force definitely enough to pop an egg though.

Davy told me about that method and honestly it's the best reason to still scratch and brown instead of the one coat mud job. Since I use 6 mil poly I'll over shoot the plastic so I can screed right off of the drywall sometimes and it doesn't scuff the texture. Alot of times the drywall isn't nailed at the edge so I'll shim behind the drywall itself if possible.

This was my first time trying his method so as you can see the results are awesome! I pookied the nails cuz I was scared

[CaliGrown]

Very Clean Justin, I love it Excited to give it a shot again, I have a 3’ by 3’ coming up that’ll be perfect to practice on!

[Davy]

Yep, that's a point I forgot to mention, the 1/8 thick stick keeps your straight edge from riding on the painted/textured wall. I figure the tile layout to cover the sheetrock/mud transition by about a half inch.

[CaliGrown]

Been letting loose on the reins and having Eduardo get into more and more independent/uncomfortable tasks to ensure he can become a full on mechanic vs. being an installer only. He’s starting to get the basics of plumb and in plane then applying 3-4-5 for 90* perpendicular walls. Thought it was insane that measuring the same distance from a plumb reference provided a parallel plane and could be used to check for the side walls being square
https://youtu.be/lCqdkXrvoAs
I floated the mud for setting sticks, set three of them had him to the other half, we finessed and ensured they were on point. Then I went through on top of the bucket filling in from my hip height to the ceiling, with him filling from mid point down. Made a quick effort of it all; and allowed us to take the time to go over each detail of the mud process without murdering ourselves!

[John Bridge]

No fair wearing gloves, Christopher.

[CaliGrown]

Ehh hahaha, buncha cheaters we are!

[speed51133]

Never any issues with the weight of that mud?? How heavy is it all?

[CaliGrown]

16 Fat @ 50# and 5 deck @ 55# = 1075 lbs. plus thinset & tile. I’ve yet to encounter an issue due to the weight, have solved many wonky framing shortcomings though.

[Just In Tile LLC]

Looking good Chris, yes 3-4-5 and it's larger counterparts are indispensable for layout. I think the largest I've used is 30-40-50 for an exterior porch. What's cool is if you look up Pythagorean triples you'll see the weirder numbers you can also use.... of course I've only stuck with all the divisibles of 3-4-5.

I've tried to simplify my technique in showers for square, I usually will set sticks and check them using two straight edges (one on back wall and one on plumbing wall for example) and my hawk resting against where the two L edges converge in place of a speed square. (Haven't found an out of square hawk yet) Adjust sticks as necessary. Works great for most showers unless they are abnormally huge.

[smifwal]

Meet the 3-4-5 square,by C.H. Hanson

[CaliGrown]

Good tips Justin!! Hawk’s already in hand too

As a check, I’ll quickly rod off my sticks in a few sections after plumbing and squaring up the sticks and measure my diagonals, it’s good indicator for tolerance

Holy smokes Shawn, BIG speed square lol.

[smifwal]

Nah this is my big speed square

[speed51133]

That's just 4in x 4in according to the description

[Davy]

Justin, if the shower has a ceiling that's going to be tiled, draw square lines up there. I usually try to mud the back wall parallel with the curb and jamb. So I draw a line on the ceiling 6-8 inches (doesn't matter, as long as it's parallel with the jamb) from the back wall. I then draw a line square with that line along the side walls. I then set my screed sticks parallel with those lines.

I also use my laser to get the screed sticks plumb.