I always thought taping drywall was just a messy chore until I saw a guy use a pan.

For years I just slapped mud on the tape right from the bucket, making a huge mess and wasting a ton. Then I worked with this older guy on a job in Akron who used a 12-inch mud pan. He loaded his knife clean, kept his work area tidy, and was twice as fast. The difference was having a flat surface to load from versus digging into a deep bucket. Anyone else have a simple tool that totally changed a basic job for them?

3 comments

3 Comments

nora_park7226d ago

Oh man, that reminds me of a video I saw where a drywall guy talked about the pan trick. He said it's all about controlling the mud. You get a consistent amount on your knife every time, so you're not pressing too hard and squeezing it all out the sides. It just looked so much smoother, way less cleanup after. I guess it's one of those things you don't know you need until you see it done right.

angela4026d ago

Totally get what you're saying about control, but that pan trick is mostly for speed on big flat walls. The real key for smooth joints is loading your knife correctly off the hawk or pan edge to begin with. If you're squeezing mud out the sides, you started with too much on your knife. It's more about the initial pickup than the pan itself.

lisa_bennett26d ago

Nora's video guy had a point, but Angela's right about the root cause.