Tried using hot mud for the first coat on a big ceiling job...

I had a 1,200 square foot ceiling in a new build over in Elmwood last month and figured I'd save time by using 5-minute mud for the first coat. Mixed it up, slapped it on, and by the time I got the trowel back to the bucket it was already setting up in there. Ended up wasting half a bucket and had to race like crazy to get it flat. Has anyone else had hot mud go off way faster than the bag says on a warm day?

2 comments

2 Comments

jakewhite24d ago

5 minute mud sets quicker than advertised when the room is warm.

cole_bailey8524d ago

Temperature really does change everything with mud. Read somewhere that chemical reactions speed up about 50 percent for every 10 degree increase. So a warm room could easily cut that 5 minute window down to 2 or 3 minutes. Found that out the hard way when I mixed a batch in July and had to throw half of it away because it turned into a rock. Acclimated mud also goes off faster than a fresh box, which catches a lot of people off guard.