# Easy sand vs premix skimcoat



## cj133 (May 16, 2011)

Ok, I'm going to admit I'm fairly new to working with mud and honestly, think I'm at the point where I'm just confident enough to really screw stuff up. :thumbsup:

I'm skimcoating an old plaster ceiling that had wallpaper over a bunch of chipped paint. Wallpaper is lone gone, glue is gone and any and all loose paint is gone. I did my first coat using green lid all purpose USG mud. I learned using a trowel and a hawk is 100000 times harder than guys make it look, and ended up going back to my 12" knife and mud pan after putting more on the floor and my body than on the ceiling. Kudos to all of the pros I see in online videos making it look super easy!

So my question is, for my next coat I'm wondering if I should use easysand or not. I've noticed when guys skimcoat a plaster wall they can go back to it later and smooth out imperfections, something I can't do with premix.

Does easysand allow you to work it after it sets up some? My plans were to use the USG grey bucket blue lid for the rest of my coats but if easysand would allow me to go back and smooth it out later I'd gladly use that instead. I think it would mean a lot less sanding in the end.

Thoughts? Opinions?

I think some of the videos I've watched are from the UK and they were using some kind of brown colored mix, not sure what it is.


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## ToolSeeker (Sep 19, 2012)

cj133 said:


> Ok, I'm going to admit I'm fairly new to working with mud and honestly, think I'm at the point where I'm just confident enough to really screw stuff up. :thumbsup:
> 
> I'm skimcoating an old plaster ceiling that had wallpaper over a bunch of chipped paint. Wallpaper is lone gone, glue is gone and any and all loose paint is gone. I did my first coat using green lid all purpose USG mud. I learned using a trowel and a hawk is 100000 times harder than guys make it look, and ended up going back to my 12" knife and mud pan after putting more on the floor and my body than on the ceiling. Kudos to all of the pros I see in online videos making it look super easy!
> 
> ...


If by easy sand you mean the powder you mix with water no it would be a bad choice for a skim coat. If you mean the light weight mud then yes it would be a good choice. And to answer your question NO once they start to set they must be left alone until they dry completely or they will pull out and make a mess.
What you need to do is apply thin coats remember "skim" after you apply you pull almost all of it back off, this is where you get the smooth part. Then let it dry completely, take your knife and scrap off any ridges and sand with a sanding sponge any place that needs it. Take a small amount of mud and fill any low spots, let dry and sand. I don't know what the brown mix is. The mud I use for skim coats is the ultra light weight mud in the bucket with the ugly green lid. It is soft and very easy to sand. I personally don't care for the gray bucket I know it says less dust but really all it does is the dust is supposed to fall straight down so not so much in the air. Never saw where it worked all that well.
Hope this helps.


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## cj133 (May 16, 2011)

ToolSeeker said:


> If by easy sand you mean the powder you mix with water no it would be a bad choice for a skim coat. If you mean the light weight mud then yes it would be a good choice. And to answer your question NO once they start to set they must be left alone until they dry completely or they will pull out and make a mess.
> What you need to do is apply thin coats remember "skim" after you apply you pull almost all of it back off, this is where you get the smooth part. Then let it dry completely, take your knife and scrap off any ridges and sand with a sanding sponge any place that needs it. Take a small amount of mud and fill any low spots, let dry and sand. I don't know what the brown mix is. The mud I use for skim coats is the ultra light weight mud in the bucket with the ugly green lid. It is soft and very easy to sand. I personally don't care for the gray bucket I know it says less dust but really all it does is the dust is supposed to fall straight down so not so much in the air. Never saw where it worked all that well.
> Hope this helps.



Yessir by easysand I mean the USG powder mix.
I think I recall actual plaster being able to be worked as it sets up, but there is absolutely no way I am up to doing anything large with that. 45 or 90 minutes I can deal with, 6 isn't happening.

When you use the ultra light weight do you mix water or green Palmolive in it or just use it straight? Also, do you prefer a knife or a trowel for skim coating?


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## ToolSeeker (Sep 19, 2012)

cj133 said:


> Yessir by easysand I mean the USG powder mix.
> I think I recall actual plaster being able to be worked as it sets up, but there is absolutely no way I am up to doing anything large with that. 45 or 90 minutes I can deal with, 6 isn't happening.
> 
> When you use the ultra light weight do you mix water or green Palmolive in it or just use it straight? Also, do you prefer a knife or a trowel for skim coating?


The easy sand is what we call hot mud or setting mud. This refers to the way it dries. Hot mud dries by chemical reaction. The pre mix compounds dry by simply drying. The hot mud is used mainly when faster drying is required. One of the downsides is once the chemical reaction starts it can't be stopped and it doesn't know if it's on the wall or in your pan. Adding water to it will only make it brittle when it dries won't give you more time. So if you mix more than you can use at one time you have to throw it out, clean all your tools and mix more. The reason you have to clean your tools and pan in between is once the reaction starts if you mix more with it, it will start the reaction in the new mud immediately. If you mix the powder with warm water it sets quicker, mix with cold water it sets slower. These are just a few reasons it would be bad for skim.
The ultra I use straight out of the bucket. You really don't need the soap for a skim because you pull almost all of the compound back off so fish eyes and small pits won't be a problem.
And I traded my knifes and bread pan for hawk and trowel and wouldn't go back. Hope this helps.


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