How Smooth Does Drywall Mud Need to Be (Enough If Possible)

The smoothness of the drywall mud surface is very important. A more smooth drywall surface means the paint part will be more perfect.

Drywall Mud surface should smooth as much as possible. There should not be any imperfections, faults, or spots. If you find any visible issue, fix it as fast as possible. Because paint or primer do not hide the issue, these make the fault more visible.

In this article, I will break down the smoothness of drywall mud.

How do you understand that drywall mud surface smoothness is not ok

Detecting drywall smoothness is not very hard. Your hand, feelings, and eyes will tell it.

When you see an affected drywall mud area, you can easily see any type of small hole, spot, crack, fault, knockdown texture, etc. When you touch the area, if you feel it is much uneven and not properly flat, it is not a smooth surface.

However, getting a super smooth surface is very hard. But it would be best if you made it a minimum intermediate level smooth to make your project more professional.

How do you smooth drywall mud?

You can use different tools and methods to make your drywall mud surface properly smooth. Here are some methods and instructions that you can follow.

Use 4-5 light coats instead of 2 thick coats

Thick coats should not apply. If the mud coat is too thick, it can not dry properly. It creates many uneven spots and lines on the drywall. Also, it is not easy to sand. 

If you use thin coats, it dries fast and properly. You can sand it and then apply more mud. It makes mud very smooth and long-lasting.

Lightweight drywall mud

Choose lightweight mud to apply to the drywall surface. This joint compound is quite easy to bond with each other, dries fast, is easy to sand, and makes the surface more smooth.

This type of mud is also beginner friendly. 

Wide tapping knives

Use wide tapping knives to make drywall mud more smooth. The knives generally came in 3 sizes 6,8,12 inches. It would help if you used them.

Wider tapping knives make the mud surface more smooth and plain. 

Super smooth final coat

Make the lightweight joint compound thin and use it as a light coat on the drywall surface. And it should be the final finishing coat.

The skim final coat covers every little mistake, uneven area, spot, etc.

Use a sponge for sand

For final coat finishing, use a sponge without water for the sand surface. Use the sponge like sandpaper. It does not hurt the mud surface. It will clean the final skim coat little mistakes and make drywall more smooth for paint.

Is it necessary to sand between coats of drywall mud to smooth?

Yes, sand is important between coats to make the drywall mud surface smooth. Generally, after using 2 mud layers or filler layers, we start sanding the mud. 

Drywall mud is used for covering drywall issues. However, after using mud on the drywall surface, it is not completely smooth and flat. If there is sand between the 2 coats, the first coat surface will be smooth, and the upper other coat will be more perfect or flat.

That is why it needs lite sand between 2 coats to make the surface more smooth.

How do you know if drywall mud is sanded enough?

It is a very tricky question. You can easily detect yourself with your hand, eye, and feelings. 

Drywall mud is not as hard as concrete, so it needs light sand. Your aim should be to fix wavy, spot areas lightly. Use 120 grit sandpaper. When you feel the surface is flat enough and there is no big gap, your sand is ok.

If you find more small issues on the drywall surface, again apply a coat of mud and dry it, then lightly sand again. 

How many coats of mud are necessary for a smooth finish?

We know that for the mud project, there are three layers for applying joint compounds. 

Generally, 2 layers (filler + finishing) need 2 coats of mud. But 4-5 coats of mud are recommended to make the surface smooth. Each layer after each layer will be a thinner coat and between layers properly sanded. 

The final coat should be very thin, which is called a skim coat. It makes the surface right and smooth enough.

How smooth does drywall mud need to be before primed and painted

You can not fill drywall mud finishing mistakes with prime and paint. Moreover, the prime and paint make the mistakes more visible.

You should smooth drywall mud perfectly. There should not be any visible issues like spots, wavy texture, fault, gap, crack, etc. Everything I already described above in the article.

It is hard to fix the issue when your drywall is already primed or painted. To fix the issue, you have to apply the joint compound on the painted surface again, dry it, sand it then again apply paint.

If you already paint your house, but you forget prime. You can check this article.

It sounds very hard and expensive. If you don’t smooth the drywall mud surface before, you may face trouble in the future.

To avoid trouble, smooth the drywall surface from the beginning and before paint.

How smooth does drywall mud need to be before texturing?

Texture can very easily hide any small drywall mud mistakes. For using texture, you do not need as much careful smooth surface as applying paint.

Just make sure to fix low and deep uneven areas. And then, you can apply texture.

Conclusion

Drywall mud or joint compound comes to drywall joints or other areas to make them smooth. It would be best if you tried to make the surface as smooth as possible. The smooth surface makes your house painting more perfect.

I hope now you get your topic answer. If you think this article is helpful, share it with your friends and family.