[dalbrough]

Hubs and I decided to go with the low dust GCG drywall compound to use - we figured since we are living in the house during construction it would be the way to go since I am still dusting off the residual plaster dust from two weeks ago when we took down the old plaster walls. Thought this would help with the clean up.

I think we made a huge mistake - we have never used this product before and trust me we have done a ton of drywall work.......

First thin coat - wow when we woke up this morning it had all cracked.......not little cracks but big honking cracks like we had put it on 4 inches thick.

Being Canada Day today all the stores are closed.

We decided to carry one with second coat - keeping our fingers crossed.

Has anyone used this product or like products before and experienced this before?

thanks,

From cracked up Deb

[kelly]

Oh no! I have not used it- I've used different types of drywall compounds (heavy and light) but not low dust. How frustrating, like you need more issues when you're mudding.

I really hope it straightens up for you!

[Chuck]

I used the low-dust formula once, but didn't have the issues you're describing - I bought it only because the blue (light weight) compound wasn't available. I have a "dust-less" vacuum system which I use occasionally, but it doesn't sand nearly as well as standard sandpaper.

I generally end up just using the standard paper, doing as much as I can to keep down the dust infiltration - plastic in doorways, with a layer on either side of the door, if possible, open the windows, box fan pointed outside, etc. - and just suck it up (literally and figuratively, though a mask is ESSENTIAL!!!!) when it comes to the clean up process.

[dalbrough]

ARGH - word of advice - NEVER USE THIS PRODUCT!!

I yell from the roof tops.

Just came home from the Canada Day fireworks - Yup second coat cracked just as bad as the first coat. How disappointing is that....

That being said this time it is only the ceiling joints and the inside corner joints - the ceiling will be covered with crown moulding and the inside joints will have cab's and back-splash to cover it up. The cracks are large - probably 3 to 4 mm. I cant believe it.

At least the outside corners and the one wall that will not have cab's on it looks okay it is really frustrating considering both hubs and i are completely detail orientated (anal) about everything being to as close to perfect as we can make it.

I highly recommend not to use this product.

[torrus]

My personal preference is Durabond (45 or 90)...need to work quickly, but won't crack .

[dalbrough]

Cracks aside - I must admit this product does not produce any dust - falls right to the floor.

We decided to plow ahead and keep using it as we didn't know how the other stuff would bond to this formula......

Doing a big sand tonight and there is absolutely no dust.....

Hopefully the coat tonight will not crack.

[davlun]

So how is it going with this?

I have a whole box (unopened) of this sitting on my kitchen floor right now.

As a side note, my local big box home supply store does not carry durabond but have heard it mentioned a number of times. Is it similar to fix-all, something they do carry?

[dalbrough]

it does sand just like it says it will - falls right to the floor.

After the third thin coat it is no longer cracking - hubs put on a fourth thin coat is some places last night and it looks good.

Just be careful - the first coat cracks like crazy..........but does fill in with subsequent coats.

[mshnyb]

We've been using this product with no problems, but I'm at the other end of creation from you here in St Petersburg, FL! I have a sneaking suspicion that curing conditions are somewhat different.

DH did a partial sheet on a corner the other day and we used this for that. He did the first mudding of the corner and seams. It was way ugly, but I don't recall it being cracked when it dried. I "frosted the cake" the second time. I used a drywall knife and knocked down ay peaks and shaved off any high spots, then I sanded lightly. I felt like the premix was too tight, so I watered it down just a little, untill I had a thick pudding consistency. The second coat that I applied came out great. I'm going to sand it a bit and call it done.

It's very humid here, so the mud dries fairly slowly even given the heat. I wonder if that is a factor for you?

Ths product IS better dust-wise. The less you sand the better, though.

B