How to fix damaged sheetrock?
Question:I have to paint sheetrock damaged and torn by a family that agressively removed wallpaper and tore the sheetrock paper. They primed most of the torn places, and I was asked to "mud" and sand the walls prior to texturing and my painting following that. When I applied lite mud to the damaged places, most worked fine, but in several places the paper bubbled, air pockets, and I need advice about what to do next. Will the bubbles naturally collapse, or is there some trick to fixing this? Any suggestions welcome.
Answers:
you may still get bublles after the paint is applied in places after the skim coat is on and has dried also, DO NOT touch these or you will be messing with something that will never turn out like you want them to unless you sand the complete wall. After you prime and this happens, take a pin and poke them, this will let the bubbles collapse and when it is almost completely set up they should be almost gone and retracted in where they should be. wait a few hours at that point to paint even if it is dry to the touch, the primer is still locking in a lil air and needs to escape before you put latex or enamel on it because you will have major bubbles if you dont. with the sheetrock a paint roller cover dipped in a bucket of regular mud does a good job and its fast. What you do is roll it on the wall and then take a 9 or 12" taping knife and go over it to make it smooth and then let it dry a day and come back and sand out imperfections or high spots then spackle as necessary in spots. this gves a very uniform appearance and is not too time consuming. .
Wait til it dries and scrape the bubbles, and then put on a "skim coat" of mud & you should be good to go.
Hope this helped, good luck!!
There is still paper and glue where you have found the bubble. Use a little hot water to get the paper off before you mud the affected areas. Also if it bubbles again, take a sharp utility nife and make small slits in the bubble and press it down flat.
Good luck.
What you are seeing is the mud drying outwards. Normally when you apply mud to drywall the water goes into the paper and also into the air. All the water in this case has to come out. What you do is let it dry, then lightly sand the mud. Apply another coat and let it dry. Most if not all of the bubbles should be filled now. If not, apply another coat of mud and let it dry and then sand. Now you should have a nice smoothe surface you can paint on. This bubbling effect will happen anytime you put drywall mud over any kind of paint.
You are in luck, all of your responses look truly helpful. I would like to add a tip.The mud would go on the bare spots, and on the unpainted drywall. If you have to feather a skim coat of 'mud' over a painted surface, make sure it is not greasy or dirty, and that it has been sanded. When that is all smooth, and dust free, put a good coat of primer on it. A second coat of primer won't hurt. An alcohol-based primer dries quickly, and can be painted over the same day most of the time. You can also get the primer tinted the same color as your top coat.
If you "listen" to all of the other responders, you will soon be a drywall expert. Good-luck.
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