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Tried pre-filling corners with hot mud instead of taping them first... big mistake
I thought I'd save time on a garage job in Phoenix by filling the inside corners with 5-minute hot mud before laying the tape in. Figured it would bond better and I could skip the pre-fill step. Nope. The mud set up so fast that by the time I got the tape in place, it was already hard and the tape wouldn't embed right. Had to chisel it out and start over, took me twice as long. Anyone else tried shortcuts that backfired like this?
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evan1511mo ago
@ivan_hayes29 nailed it on that one. I think the issue a lot of us miss is that even the slower hot muds like 20 or 45 minute still kick off way faster than you'd expect in dry climates like Phoenix. The combination of low humidity and high temps can cut your working time nearly in half. Next time try dampening the corner bead and even the tape itself with a spray bottle before you put the mud on. It buys you maybe an extra 30 seconds but that can be enough.
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