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Shoutout to the guy who told me to sand drywall mud with a sponge
I was finishing up my basement in Des Moines last winter and the dust from sanding joint compound was brutal. My shop vac couldn't keep up and I had drywall dust all over the place. This old timer at the hardware store said try a damp sponge instead of sandpaper on the final pass. I thought he was crazy but figured I'd give it a shot. The sponge smoothed out the mud just as well but without any dust flying around. I did three rooms that way and saved myself hours of cleanup time. Has anyone else switched to wet sanding for drywall or do you stick with paper and sanding blocks?
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noah9145mo ago
Damn right the sponge method works. I did my whole garage that way a couple years back and never looked back. The trick is you gotta use a real damp sponge not soaking wet, just enough to soften the mud a little. I tried a regular sponge at first and it left streaks, but those drywall sponges with the rounded edges are worth the few bucks. It is way easier on the lungs too, no mask needed unless you are doing massive areas. Only downside is it takes a little longer cause you gotta rinse the sponge out more often, but the cleanup trade off is totally worth it.
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mason_flores215mo ago
The moisture level thing is huge, and I actually found out the hard way that your sponge choice matters for more than just streaks. I grabbed a kitchen sponge once out of desperation and it left tiny fibers in the mud, had to sand those spots anyway. The real game changer for me was switching to those blue cellulose sponges, they hold water way more even and don't fall apart after a few passes. Also, if you stagger your joint compound with a thinner mix for the final coat, the sponge method practically does the work for you. But yeah, totally agree on the cleanup, I used to spend an hour vacuuming dust out of every crack, now it's just a bucket rinse and done.
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