I've never tackled taping, mudding, and finishing drywall in a whole room before, but knew if I could patch and repair holes it was likely I could muster my way through it. Hooray! Both the bathroom and the kitchen walls were finished all the way through to a coat of primer yesterday. For those of you who have never taped and mudded drywall, it is quite a process and I wasn't very good at first.
My first mistake was that I bought a bucket of all-purpose joint compound and I hated it. I'm not sure if it was old or it was my inexperience, but I struggled with it. It wasn't going on smoothly and I was getting bubbles under the joint tape. Thankfully, I started on the walls in the kitchen that will be covered up with cabinets and tile, so the unprofessional taping job will be hidden.
After watching a couple YouTube videos which suggested using an all-purpose light compound for taping and a topping compound for the final coat, I purchased a box of each and a couple of Lowe's blue buckets. After a good spin with the mud mixer, the all-purpose light was just right, the joint tape was going on flat, and the feather lines in the final finish with the topping were smooth.
Finishing drywall is a three-day process, actually four if you count the coat of primer. For those of you who are interested in how it's done, here is a video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mup3RHnYggA&t=66s
Here is what the bathroom looked like after the second coat of mud and sanding. A final coat of topping, a good sanding and the walls were ready for primer and the shower surround for a sealer of Red Guard before the tile and be installed. The square patch on the right side of the wall will be the paint color. It's called Sea Salt from Sherwin Williams.
The tub surround coated with Red Guard, a water proofing elastic membrane to seal the walls before applying tile. The walls have been sanded flat and primed with Kilz 2 All-Purpose Indoor/Outdoor primer.
All of the walls except the back wall with the door will be covered with either cabinetry or tile. I am pretty happy with how the drywall finishing turned out. It still needs to be textured and painted but I'm getting closer and closer to having a kitchen.
My son, Matthew is coming up for a couple of weeks to help with a multitude of projects before winter sets in. By the time he leaves on September 19th, I'm hoping to have the bathroom finished, the kitchen well on its way, and the exterior basement walls insulated and drywalled.
In addition, Matt will be working on shoring up the upper level floor before we hang the ceiling drywall and completing the wiring for the sound system and the Cat 8 ethernet cable wiring throughout the house. I will keep you posted on our progress!