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I 've been working in the drywall industry for 35 yrs. and I've used both boxed, and buckets of mud. When using a box I lift the entire plastic bag up out of the box and put the opening of the bag into a clean bucket. Then I grab the bottom of the plastic bag and pull it straight up and squeeze any remaining mud out of the bag. Now with all of the clean mud in the bucket I lift the bucket a few inches off the floor and drop it, This compacts the mud in the bucket. I then grab my water bucket and with a very wet sponge I wash off the inside of the bucket down to the top of the mud while spinning the bucket with my free hand. I leave the water from the sponge inside the bucket creating a water cap on top of the mud. I wash the inside of the bucket each time I load my mud pan and my working mud bucket stays clean. At the end of the day I make sure I have a 1'" to 2" water cap over my mud and then I put the bucket lid back on to protect my mud from any contaminants and this slows down the process of evaporation. Then the next morning I pour out the water cap and replace it with fresh clean water. This prevents my mud from going sour (mold). This works also if your storing your mud for a few days providing you change the water every few days. Standing water in mud will sour in about a weeks time. I also like having clean buckets with lids to use for my bags of hot mud as well. I cut a corner of the paper bag and pour all the powder into a clean dry bucket and put a lid on it. This prevents any leakage from unrolling and rolling up the paper bag, or while transporting an open bag thru a customers home to get to your work area. It also prevents the bag from leaking while sitting in the back of your work truck. A clean truck is a happy truck. Also when a customer see that you are a clean drywaller they know that you will also keep your work area clean. Remember this is their home that you're working in. This will help you obtaining a good recommendation and hopefully more steady work. I've seen so many drywallers work like slobs and leave a big mess after every days work. 99% of homeowners check out your work as soon as you leave and the next door neighbors might just check it out as well. Nice clean jobs and good workmanship leads to more jobs. Sometimes I've done several jobs on the same street, due to word of mouth.
For boxed compound, we use what we need and then drop the remaining mud into a new plastic bag, that we twist super tight and tape down. The next time we need compound, we use what we need and then drop the remaining mud into a new plastic bag, that we we twist super tight and tape down... etc., etc. We've been doing this for years, and rarely ever have problems with dry flakes, or mold.
I'm far from a professional mudder, but I always buy the buckets, and I just press a plastic grocery bag down onto the mud before I put the lid on. No adding water. I just press these air bubbles out and store it for months like that. I've never seen mud go rotten, so it must do something.
Same here! I still have a smaller bucket of light weight from 2 years ago! Press bag into it, push out air, close lid.. I do the same thing with paint trays. Put pan and roller in trash bag, push bag against paint.. stays fresh for a few days..
I've never thrown away a 5 gallon bucket and I still always struggle to find an empty one. Use them to carry tools, hold parts, use for making molds, mix paints and mortars and epoxies, carry water, carry dirt, stand on, sit on, cut up and put holes in for various other projects, and still be able to use it for something else. The plastic used for the mud buckets seems to be tougher than the orange or blue buckets. Mixing tools tend to cut into those and leave little slivers or curls of orange or blue plastic. I think the stores charge extra for the bucket lid, don't they? If you ever see me with a colored bucket, I was desperate.
You are definitely correct that as an only occasional drywall person I usually use bucket mud, but I have found that if I add tap water to the premixed bucket mud to thin it, it goes bad fast. If I use powdered mud or need to add a little water to bucket mud, I use distilled water from Walmart and I got a gallon of the Concrobium mold cleaner and treatment from Home Depot and put a little of that into the distilled water before I mix it into the mud. I have had mud last for months after this process as long as put the lid back on tight.
Yeah I’ve been doing the clear wrap, grocery bag or trash bag thing for years (I do floors for a living) we do it over our tile mortar and glue buckets. If you only use a partial bucket we wipe down the sides real good and press plastic over the top. Worked for my quick drywall work at home too! Been over a month and my bucket of mud still looks new
Good housekeeping is what’s needed. DON’T work out of the box...open it, dump the mud in a bucket, throw the box away. Mix the mud in the bucket and use as needed. Keep a lid or wet towel on the bucket throughout the day. At the end of the day, scrape the side down and wipe with a soaked sponge to prevent klingons. NEVER had mold in my mud. Had one stink bad after 1 year, but no mold.
I use dish soap in drywall mud on my final coat. It helps the mud go on like butter and reduces pin holes. Dish soap is antibacterial. I’ve found a quarter full bucket months later in my shop and it was still good.
Multiple thoughts -- I'm not a pro, but did spend a couple of years with a guy who taught me what was taught to him. General rules 1) mix in the pan if it's going to be a few pans or less, few? half dozen? whatever is comfortable 2) keep your 5 in 1 in your hand or your back pocket (any pocket, just the same pocket, same place on a tool belt) 3) dip out of a bucket, whether from dry or premix, with a 6" knife into your pan, but never wipe the knife on the edge of the bucket, always on your pan, same with the 5in1 -- wipe on pan then pants, put the blade away in the same place This is specifically for premix buckets 1) only stir/mix down to a level you think you're going to use, if you do the whole bucket, you'll probably have to throw it away because of mildew/mold 2) 6" knife, take just the top, don't stab. One circular or even half circle you load up the blade, wipe it into your pan. Just as fast as a stabbing scoop. Always wipe the blade onto the pan, not the edge of the bucket. Ha, said that already. 3) finished with the job -- 1/2+ bleach to water in a spray bottle, light mist/spray, level if you have too, it should be mostly level anyway 4) That plastic, get all the boogers off, lay it on the flat, you can do a squirt on top. Air is your enemy in all cases, don't scrape the sides of a bucket if you can help it too. If we mixed it ourselves, always threw away what was left. Hot mud will teach you very quick how to figure out job requirements. Converse, don't mix up too little of hot mud or you'll learn to work faster! :P Mix in the pan if you can even with lightweight/regular, still larger jobs mix what you think you'll need in the bucket. Yea, TLDR, I use a paint mixer for a 5gal bucket, got from harbor freight
I only take out what I need and mix it up out of the container. And clean up every dropping in the container. I'm only a diyer renoing my house, so able to use smaller batches.
When I use bucket mud I clean the walls, pour water in, mix it up, and throw a damp old washcloth on top. Seems to last a long time here in AZ and it gets hot here.
I think he means mold. I had a quart bucket of all purpose in my truck and I hadn't used it in a few months. When I opened it there was black fuzz all over the top so I scooped the top layer off and it smelled like dog diarrhea.
What i do after i use partially a bucket (I'm a painter and sometimes i work with joint compound) is wipe down with a wet rag the bucket walls and cover the mud with plastic (plastic toutching the mud) and then cover with the lid. Its good to wet the plastic too.
I found that when using the Box Mud, I snip off a bottom corner and use it like a cake icing/decorating bag/kit. And then use a chip bag clip to reseal. Have had very LITTLE "Dingleberries" as a result. 👍
For boxes just pull the clean part of the bag out over the edges of the box and scoop from the middle. Then you have clean edges on your bag to twist closed down to the mud. No klingons. In buckets, put a little mold/fungus killer used in paint into the mud then stir and close your bucket. This will make it last longer. Hope this helps.
If you're storing boxed mud, you can try a zip tie and then cut the excess of the plastic bag off. That way, when you open it to use more, you won't get the Klingons falling in your mud.
hello! this is Cesar Leyva from Presidio tx. A very small town border with Mecico. One day a friend of mine told me that in order to use box mud and still using it for months with out having those dry particles is to transfer the mud with the plastic into the bucket, and after use in it . just takin in the plastic and add water. ones you want to use it again, simply dump the water out and you good to go. I'm using this method and works just fine . I hope this helps you out
I'm a novice and buy the small mud buckets. I put plastic wrap (the kitchen kind - Glad "Press-n- Seal) gently on top of the mud in the bucket to seal it with the plastic wrap. The plastic wrap will stretch up the interior sides of the bucket. Then I lay a second piece of plastic wrap over the top of the bucket to cover all of the lip (I would use two or three pieces if a larger bucket) and then put the lid back on which presses on the plastic wrap air tighten it. I just checked my mud bucket and there's no mold and it's been down in the basement for months now.
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I am a total novice, but I have had success in keeping the mud mold free by always disinfecting the knife I use when removing the mud. I also do not mix the entire bucket with water at first, I remove what I need mix some water if needed in the pan. What I do not use from the pan, I throw out. Nothing goes back into the bucket. Have had a bucket now that has lasted me several months and no mold.
Stagnant water in the mud I believe is what speeds up the process of the compound breaking down and spoiling. That's why it comes from the store so thick and dry, to extend the shelf life.
Your bacteria is an anaerobic that is reducing sulfur to produce H2S, hence the reason it is below the surface and smells like sewage. Your possible solutions are to mix with air regularly, add sodium nitrate, and keep in a very cold place. I don't think dish soap will work because it will be too dilute and you will only get resistant bacteria. Great videos, thanks. Can you just cut the corner of the bottom of the bag and squeeze it out of the dry mud, like the do for cake piping? Then roll and clip when done?
You can also save the bucket then buy the box and reuse the bucket so you can mix it. $11 for a box (3.5) / $21 for the bucket (4.5 gal). You buy 7 gal. spending the $22 on 2 boxes, then 4.5 for $21
You could try adding a little mold inhibitor that you can add to paint to extend the life. It's basically yeast and mold rotting the mix...For a large job the box makes sense, but you can get smaller buckets for small home repairs/improvements...
I’ve used the bucket mud for years and if you scrape it down and put the piece of plastic back on top it will last years. I hate to pay extra for the 1gl and have used the 5gl buckets but it requires effort to properly store it. Once you clean the sides of the bucket and seal the surface with the piece of plastic it will last way longer than you would believe.
Same stuff Use one bucket and many boxes If you can seal/close your bucket you could be good Keep the bucket clean Only mix in your mud in your pan (not bucket) Keep the lid and edge clean Or wont re-seal
I don’t know how much it affects it exactly but I use distilled water instead of tap water. Sealing the air out as the above comment says seems to help too
Cut the excess bag off after you get the air out and breadtie it. then you wont need to worry about excess bag clingons. =) Then as you work out of it (provided you use enough mud) youll have fresh bag to tap down and repeat.
I've added Vanquish, which is an antimicrobial used in the restoration industry, mixed with water per the specs and poured in about a half inch over the top of the mud (after cleaning the sides and getting the mud kinda flat). This extends the life of the mud and keeps the mold, or whatever it is, from growing. I'll also shrink wrap the lid to the pail. It won't last forever, but it does keep the mud usable for longer.
I mix my box mud with soft water (no minerals) from my tap and store it in a bucket with a tight lid. It can sit for months between uses without going bad. If I know/suspect it might be awhile before I can come back to use it, I pour a little water on the top of the mud to keep that from skimming over. I am also careful to clean the sides, scraping what I can into the bucket and then using a wet sponge to wipe the sides clean. I use my 4-inch knife to smooth the top of the mud out so there are no peaks, then I pour a little water on that. If you don't wipe the sides clean that stuff dries and you get crumbs in your mud. Good luck smoothing out a joint with that in it. My fix for the dried stuff on a partially used box mud is to wipe the plastic with a damp sponge and clean all that off before I twist the plastic together and wrap a wire tie (like you get from a new power cord for a phone or something) around it to keep all the air out. Otherwise I get crumbs in my mud when I open the bag again. It takes a few minutes but pays off later.
I use grain alcohol or colloidal silver. It works. I originally mixed it in and floated some on top. There is a gluttony of sanitizer out there now. Get the stuff from a brew pub.
You have to maintain your bucket just like you maintain your pan, keep it wiped down, wet, and clean. I'm not a pro per say but I do a great deal of drywall work doing flood and fire restoration but have found that tap water has enough bacteria in it to cause problems with your mud if left too long. A friend of mine with a well water high in iron bacteria was finding that his mud would literally rot in just a few weeks when thinned down with his well water. God bless 🙏
when you're done with the joint compound and are just about to pop the lid on the bucket and put it away, spray the top of the mud with shower cleaner. I've had buckets of box mud mixed up that I've been working out of for months that are still fresh as daisies.
I use a kitchen sponge to clean tools and I will wipe the bucket at the end of the day with the sponge. No klingons and the bucket is mostly already clean to reuse when done. Cold is the way to preserve it. I store it in my cool garage and I will let it freeze. It lasts for me, maybe because of location, for way longer. Months longer. I also mix in a solid squeeze of of dish liquid with about 1/2 cup of water once i get a batch home.
The bacteria or mold is likely cross contaminating from your mixing tools. Additionally, whipping air into the mud allows the aerobic bacteria and mold to activate fast. The premix mud has glycerin (or some other oily substance) in it which can also feed bacteria and mold. You can attempt to create a pasteurizing box to heat the mud to 165F to kill bacteria and mold. A plywood box with a thermostat using a hair dryer or small heater as heat source would do the heating OK. Make sure you are not overheating or melting plastic or hot enough to ignite the cardboard (165F will not ignite cardboard, but heatgun output will). That may work. I don't reuse enough mud to make it worth my while to try it. Let me know if it works. You could keep it at 145F for about an hour also. You may need a countdown timer as well. This is a complicated solution.
I haven't had a problem with buckets since I scoop it out and mix it in my tray. I make sure the lid goes back on tight. I had one bucket that lasted for months. I always use the egg beater now.
Usually u clean the bucket, pour in a tad of water, get a garbage or plastic bag and cut it in the circular size of inside the bucket. Then use a two inch knife and smooth the plastic over the top of the mud taking out the bubbles, then pour a little water ontop of the plastic and cover the bucket. I also store in a cool dark undisturbed place. I'm not a pro sheet rock installer. I do take on some odd jobs and go probably 3-4 months between mudding joints.
I put some plastic over the bucket mud & it lasts for many months never had mold I let a friend use it & he brought it back a month later and it was molded spatula it down & carefully tuck plastic wrap down on it get all air out of it you can get over a year trust the broke guy I figured it out years ago
Either way I take out what I need and immediately close it and mix on my board or thin it out I’ve never had any go bad it usually will harden before it goes bad at least on my end but on the bucket I press the center of lid down to get what air out that I can then the edges so it makes a lil vacuum seal kinda of it’s just what I do
I buy boxes. Just stopped from buying buckets - too many buckets! Anyway - Boxes are the best, I just do half a box into a bucket at a time, twist the bag down to the mud on the unused portion. Then, when I want to use it, I just cut off the bag, right at the mud and drop the remainder in the bucket. Of course, if I know I am going to use the whole box, or if its a bigger job, then just put the whole bag in. I swap my water bucket with my mud bucket each time. So one bucket has water up three quarters to almost full, use that for wash and for my mud water to thin. When its time for another box, I just poor the most of the water into the empty mud bucket and then wash out the bottom. Use the old water bucket as the new mud bucket when clean. Works great!
I use a sponge with clean water to clean the top of the bucket after using in a session so it is clean down to the mud level. I make sure the top of the mud is flat with a 6" knife. Next sprinkle a little water on the top and then place a plastic bag in the bucket to cover the top of the mud. I have had some buckets closed up for a few weeks and when I return back to it it is still good and usable as the plastic bag keeps the air out.
I always get the bucket. The plastic bag will leave flakes. The bucket you have to clean the side of the bucket as you use it so it stay clean. Unless you are using the box that day and all at one time, buy a bucket.
Mold is a fungus so antibacterial won't work. Activated charcoal can help with mold spores. I put saran wrap over the top and push any air bubbles out and it works well.
I use concrobium mold control. I use the spray bottle form and slightly mist the top of the mud before putting the lid on for storage. Have not had bad mud since doing it. That spray bottle will do many buckets!
Like others, I keep my mud bucket VERY clean by wiping the sides down with a damp sponge, throughout the day, and occasionally sponging off a smidge of the top layer. When I go to store it, I spray some DIY Concrobium (I didn't want to pay the exorbitant price for the name brand, so did some online research and found some recipes) on the inside of the bucket, and on top of the remaining mud, then use some light sheet plastic (cut to fit) right on top of the mud. I'll pull the lid off and check it every few months (& spray more "Concrobium", but have kept it for well more than a year using this method.
I place a piece of saran wrap plastic sheeting on top of my box or bucket mud. I squeegeed the air bubbles out from under it the wrap. I use a sponge to wipe the side of the bucket down. I have kept a stored like this for over a year.
I use white vinegar to kill mold, put I haven't tried adding it to drywall mud yet. To avoid waste some one needs to try adding some to your leftover nut when you finish a product and see how it works.
That’s sort of not true. If the plastic that’s left exposed to the air has any wet drywall mud on it then when you open the bag back up it will still fall into the box of mud. That idea would work much better if you cleaned the plastic off that’s exposed to the air. But thanks for the suggestion as I appreciate all of them.
Have you ever tried putting a kitchen waste bag in the bucket and putting water into it. This should create an air seal without having the water/mud go bad.
First if you read the bucket it says : DO NOT ADD WATER. When you add water you just introduced the organisms to it. Take out what you need, add water, mix it. Do not put any of what you've mixed back into your source material. Then before you close the bucket up, I use painters plastic to push down into the bucket until it touches the surface of the mud. That way no air gets to it to dry out. Next time I open the bucket, I remove the plastic and discard. Walla, no dried chunketies in my mud. When I close it, a new piece of plastic goes in. Also when getting mud out of the bucket. Open remove and get the lid back on. Just a few minutes with the lid off will start to dry the mud around the inside edges of the bucket. And now you got chunketies in your mud.
Exactly I just dump box into paint bucket and mix with paddle without adding water. Once I'm done for the day I just put a clean paint lid back on the bucket without adding water. Usually last for a couple of months at least before I have to toss it if I don't use it by then for some reason or I forgot about it and find it later on during the project 😅 in a mechanical room or something.
I only get the mud I need for the job I never have it for months,and wall spray will sour in the heat ,its differant than mud.took me along time to learn all this,close to 40 years,I was a hanger for the first 20 ,now just custom work only,trying to guit
I’m retired now, but when I was busy I would change out a bucket of mud every two or three days at the longest, and always had texture mixed up but I mix it up from the same box mud and never use the wall texture. And if it sits in the heat for more than a week because I only had skip trowel patches to do or something like that, it will sour every time. As for mud that has sat for months, that comes from my UA-cam video studio mostly or when I open a box of all purpose, which I usually only need every three or four months at the most. The spray texture is what went bad most often. But I now have a Grayco sprayer that with a sealed lid and a pressurized tank and I can leave texture in there for weeks and even mix up the texture inside the hopper so that reduce the sour issue a lot. Thanks for commenting and subscribing
I clean the inside edge of the Bucket with a damp sponge so I don't get dry mud. Then I don't add any water on top and put plastic wrap on top so it doesn't get air. I Did do the Same thing with paint in a gallon. I put the box mud in a pail too. Give it a try and tell me how you make out.
Agree, I do this also and keeps for months. I wipe down the sides of the bucket, add a little water, and cover with cellophane. The cellophane keeps the mud from being exposed to oxygen and going bad.
Ever tried adding some boric acid powder into the bucket? Yes, its the stuff you find in big box stores, used to kill roaches! Its a preservative used in many things, from latex paint to contact lens saline solutions.
I use boxes and dump the contents into a bucket to mix. If I have any left, I scrape the sides, wipe the sides clean water the top and lid it. Messing with the boxes and clingons is not worth the grief. Great videos, keep’m rolling in!
Bucket is 12 pounds more. A bucket has a lid and will last longer. Stink mud will happen . USG all purpose is the best for texture. I have seen both bucket and box mud last forever but also seen it turn in a few days. If the bag get all dried up at the top,poke a hole in the bottom and squeeze it out.
I use plus 3 box for finishing and it's a paint when it dries on side of bag. Once I made like a icing bag and squeezed the mud out from a hole in bottom of bag.
I'm no pro; strictly weekend warrior. With my box mud I use a twist tie to close off the bag real close to the rest of the mud, then use a damp sponge to wipe the leftover mud from the rest of the bag so it does not dry out and fall in when I open the bag again. It takes a few minutes but seems to be worth the effort since I don't end up with crumbs in the box when I open it next weekend. The stuff I mix I put into a 5-gallon Lowes bucket or a 3-quart bucket that originally held all purpose. Depends on how much I had to mix. When done for the day I scrape the sides down to the main body of mud, level out the mud, then wipe the sides with a damp sponge down to the mud. I try to never go more than two weeks with out using it all.
I've never liked box mud because there are more steps involved in using it. Then just like you said when it drys on the plastic it is impossible to keep out all of the pieces that fall into the mud. I have had a few buckets of mud get moldy but for the most part mud seems to last a long time in a bucket. Thanks for the video.
Mud already has organic material in it so as soon as you break the seal and introduce oxygen it starts rotting the only way i can think of to keep it from going bad is a way to re seal it
Mixed a lot of bulk cleaning mixes when I had a pressure wash company. Oxcilac acid, sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide are cheap in 50lb bags. Also bleach comes in commercial strength but always using extra strong bleach gets twice the bleach and less waster. All these others than the acid are based and should be fine. Any organic will be destroyed so make sure the additives are Not organic in any way. Also SH is what I used most but keep in mind it will literally dissolve you hand if it's mixed strong
I buy it by it by the box and dump it into a bucket. I put a garbage bag on top of the unused mud, flatten it and push all (most) of the air out. Lasts a lot longer than putting water on it. I also have a 6” knife that broke in half, ground down the side to make a 3” flat sided knife. Gets virtually all the mud off the side of the bucket without getting it all over your hands(although that’s no biggie). I’m not sure about you, but most stuff stored in my basement appears to be in old mud boxes.
After whipping the whole bucket, I scrape the sides of the bucket every time to keep it clean after filling my pan. Then every other time I do a very quick scrub w water from a stiff brush I use to clean my blades. No crusty mud ever. Get about 3 months before it goes bad in Michigan
Sounds like alot of these comments are to just here urself. We live out where Temps are 118 in the summer and high 30 in winter. We use mud all the time from a box and you control how thick is needed. When done clean all sides throw clean plastic and little water and no problems at all, but we never leave mud unused for weeks either. So buy small and you have no problems
I was ordered by the wife to hang pictures (Honey Do) today. The house was built in 1958 and most of the nails I drove into the drywall were in the old walls, but some were driven into the remodeled room where the old drywall had been replaced with new drywall. The old stuff was much harder to nail into than the new stuff. What's different and how do I get the old stuff if I could?
To make your mud in the bucket last longer add-about 1/4 cup colloidal silver and mix. You can get colloidal silver at most health stores it will also protect mild growth on finished product
First of all, use the blue labeled product, the green stuff is crap ,unless you like chunky, or like mixing for a long time. When filling your tray or hawk , scrape the material off the inside of your bucket. Keep it clean, and you won't have old or partially dried material falling into your mud.
What’s what I’ve heard as well. Keep your tools clean and scrape the excess off the top of the bucket. Drop a little water in & cap it. Will last for days.
In the olden days you'd buy the buckets because they'd last far longer than the boxed mud because the buckets in those days had a rubber gasket seal around the lid that clamped down on the bucket rim sealing it from outside the bucket air... The new buckets don't all have that gasket these days... And like you said a thin layer of water on top after cleaning the sides of the bucket walls would make the mud last months to a year even with the old buckets... The cling ons [chunks] can be avoided with the buckets if you clean the sides before sealing the lid on it... Those bags, no matter what you do, those cling ons on the plastic are like throwing a thousand tiny pebbles into your mix... No way to avoid it falling back into the box when you open it... Ridiculous...... The only time to use the box mud is if you are doing large jobs where you'll be using the entire box and not having to store it... Also if you are doing the texturing, priming, and painting side of a job after you do the drywalling and mudding you use those 5 gallon buckets for those tasks... You know paint peels out of a bucket too so you can use it many times and not have to throw it in the landfill...
As I am writing this, your video is said to be 6 months old. I am a biologists and I have seen some good ideas, but you guys are forgetting that some of the nastiest bacteria and molds grow ANAEROBICLY, without oxygen or in lay terms, without air. So I am questioning whether getting all the air out is really a solution or whether the presence of air is the problem. Several people added bleach which is the same as adding a ton of OXYGEN. They reported no growth. The people who used distilled water are right. Distilled water should add H2O and nothing else. Distilled and deionized water should be best. Well water and "city water" have a tons of bacteria and mold spores and everything else. Steam Distilled, Dionized water is almost as good as starting with a new box or bucket. I think using just "what you need" from the bucket or box and mixing in a separate bucket is the best idea. You are not contaminating your "new" box or bucket. I hope I explained this so that non - biologists can understand it. I hate to see things go to waste, like a batch of mud that was just right, but you had to do something else for a few days. Yeah you can start over, butt...
Boxed mud isn't really available in certain parts of the country. Here in mid atlantic, most everyone uses buckets and not all supply houses even bother stocking boxed mud. I never knew the stuff came in boxes until I worked in TX, MS, AL. I'm not longer in the DW trade, more commercial GC'ing so we don't us much mud but when we do our own DW work, we don't try to save partial buckets unless we know they will get used in a week or two. Mud is cheap, not even worth trying to save but we will empty what's left in the buck and take it with us.
New sub here....love learning new things and appreciate your videos, Thanks man.....in an effort to reuse the box mud and avoid clingons.....wouldn't it be feasible to just break through another side and use what you need? You could potentially get 5 more uses after the first time opening the box....maybe even duct tape the box after each breakthrough......idk What do you think?
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I 've been working in the drywall industry for 35 yrs. and I've used both boxed, and buckets of mud. When using a box I lift the entire plastic bag up out of the box and put the opening of the bag into a clean bucket. Then I grab the bottom of the plastic bag and pull it straight up and squeeze any remaining mud out of the bag. Now with all of the clean mud in the bucket I lift the bucket a few inches off the floor and drop it, This compacts the mud in the bucket. I then grab my water bucket and with a very wet sponge I wash off the inside of the bucket down to the top of the mud while spinning the bucket with my free hand. I leave the water from the sponge inside the bucket creating a water cap on top of the mud. I wash the inside of the bucket each time I load my mud pan and my working mud bucket stays clean. At the end of the day I make sure I have a 1'" to 2" water cap over my mud and then I put the bucket lid back on to protect my mud from any contaminants and this slows down the process of evaporation. Then the next morning I pour out the water cap and replace it with fresh clean water. This prevents my mud from going sour (mold). This works also if your storing your mud for a few days providing you change the water every few days. Standing water in mud will sour in about a weeks time. I also like having clean buckets with lids to use for my bags of hot mud as well. I cut a corner of the paper bag and pour all the powder into a clean dry bucket and put a lid on it. This prevents any leakage from unrolling and rolling up the paper bag, or while transporting an open bag thru a customers home to get to your work area. It also prevents the bag from leaking while sitting in the back of your work truck. A clean truck is a happy truck. Also when a customer see that you are a clean drywaller they know that you will also keep your work area clean. Remember this is their home that you're working in. This will help you obtaining a good recommendation and hopefully more steady work. I've seen so many drywallers work like slobs and leave a big mess after every days work. 99% of homeowners check out your work as soon as you leave and the next door neighbors might just check it out as well. Nice clean jobs and good workmanship leads to more jobs. Sometimes I've done several jobs on the same street, due to word of mouth.
For boxed compound, we use what we need and then drop the remaining mud into a new plastic bag, that we twist super tight and tape down. The next time we need compound, we use what we need and then drop the remaining mud into a new plastic bag, that we we twist super tight and tape down... etc., etc.
We've been doing this for years, and rarely ever have problems with dry flakes, or mold.
I'm far from a professional mudder, but I always buy the buckets, and I just press a plastic grocery bag down onto the mud before I put the lid on. No adding water. I just press these air bubbles out and store it for months like that. I've never seen mud go rotten, so it must do something.
This is exactly what i do. Use the bag, remove aa many of the air pockets i can.
Have had some buckets last several months with no signs of mold!
Same here! I still have a smaller bucket of light weight from 2 years ago!
Press bag into it, push out air, close lid..
I do the same thing with paint trays. Put pan and roller in trash bag, push bag against paint.. stays fresh for a few days..
I've never thrown away a 5 gallon bucket and I still always struggle to find an empty one. Use them to carry tools, hold parts, use for making molds, mix paints and mortars and epoxies, carry water, carry dirt, stand on, sit on, cut up and put holes in for various other projects, and still be able to use it for something else. The plastic used for the mud buckets seems to be tougher than the orange or blue buckets. Mixing tools tend to cut into those and leave little slivers or curls of orange or blue plastic. I think the stores charge extra for the bucket lid, don't they? If you ever see me with a colored bucket, I was desperate.
You are definitely correct that as an only occasional drywall person I usually use bucket mud, but I have found that if I add tap water to the premixed bucket mud to thin it, it goes bad fast. If I use powdered mud or need to add a little water to bucket mud, I use distilled water from Walmart and I got a gallon of the Concrobium mold cleaner and treatment from Home Depot and put a little of that into the distilled water before I mix it into the mud. I have had mud last for months after this process as long as put the lid back on tight.
Yeah I’ve been doing the clear wrap, grocery bag or trash bag thing for years (I do floors for a living) we do it over our tile mortar and glue buckets. If you only use a partial bucket we wipe down the sides real good and press plastic over the top. Worked for my quick drywall work at home too! Been over a month and my bucket of mud still looks new
Good housekeeping is what’s needed. DON’T work out of the box...open it, dump the mud in a bucket, throw the box away. Mix the mud in the bucket and use as needed. Keep a lid or wet towel on the bucket throughout the day. At the end of the day, scrape the side down and wipe with a soaked sponge to prevent klingons. NEVER had mold in my mud. Had one stink bad after 1 year, but no mold.
I use dish soap in drywall mud on my final coat. It helps the mud go on like butter and reduces pin holes. Dish soap is antibacterial. I’ve found a quarter full bucket months later in my shop and it was still good.
I’ve heard a ton of people discouraging this method for breaking the bond/adhesion characteristics
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Multiple thoughts -- I'm not a pro, but did spend a couple of years with a guy who taught me what was taught to him.
General rules 1) mix in the pan if it's going to be a few pans or less, few? half dozen? whatever is comfortable 2) keep your 5 in 1 in your hand or your back pocket (any pocket, just the same pocket, same place on a tool belt) 3) dip out of a bucket, whether from dry or premix, with a 6" knife into your pan, but never wipe the knife on the edge of the bucket, always on your pan, same with the 5in1 -- wipe on pan then pants, put the blade away in the same place
This is specifically for premix buckets
1) only stir/mix down to a level you think you're going to use, if you do the whole bucket, you'll probably have to throw it away because of mildew/mold 2) 6" knife, take just the top, don't stab. One circular or even half circle you load up the blade, wipe it into your pan. Just as fast as a stabbing scoop. Always wipe the blade onto the pan, not the edge of the bucket. Ha, said that already. 3) finished with the job -- 1/2+ bleach to water in a spray bottle, light mist/spray, level if you have too, it should be mostly level anyway 4) That plastic, get all the boogers off, lay it on the flat, you can do a squirt on top.
Air is your enemy in all cases, don't scrape the sides of a bucket if you can help it too. If we mixed it ourselves, always threw away what was left. Hot mud will teach you very quick how to figure out job requirements. Converse, don't mix up too little of hot mud or you'll learn to work faster! :P Mix in the pan if you can even with lightweight/regular, still larger jobs mix what you think you'll need in the bucket.
Yea, TLDR, I use a paint mixer for a 5gal bucket, got from harbor freight
I clean the sides of the bucket when done then press a piece of saranwrap down flat on the mud.
Yep, me too. Been doing that for years.
For short term.. Yes. Works long storage.. It will grow mold still.
I don't have saranwrap on the job, so the corners are usually missing from my disposable plastic drop cloths.
I only take out what I need and mix it up out of the container. And clean up every dropping in the container. I'm only a diyer renoing my house, so able to use smaller batches.
when storing bucket at a cap of bleach, also wipe edges of mud off with wet sponge
When I use bucket mud I clean the walls, pour water in, mix it up, and throw a damp old washcloth on top. Seems to last a long time here in AZ and it gets hot here.
I think he means mold. I had a quart bucket of all purpose in my truck and I hadn't used it in a few months. When I opened it there was black fuzz all over the top so I scooped the top layer off and it smelled like dog diarrhea.
What i do after i use partially a bucket (I'm a painter and sometimes i work with joint compound) is wipe down with a wet rag the bucket walls and cover the mud with plastic (plastic toutching the mud) and then cover with the lid. Its good to wet the plastic too.
I used a vacuum bag for clothes on the box mud.
Works great!
I found that when using the Box Mud, I snip off a bottom corner and use it like a cake icing/decorating bag/kit. And then use a chip bag clip to reseal. Have had very LITTLE "Dingleberries" as a result. 👍
The Dad Pic and the dancing on stilts are very endearing - I'd imagine you're someone's favorite uncle.
For boxes just pull the clean part of the bag out over the edges of the box and scoop from the middle. Then you have clean edges on your bag to twist closed down to the mud. No klingons. In buckets, put a little mold/fungus killer used in paint into the mud then stir and close your bucket. This will make it last longer. Hope this helps.
What type of additive is that?
@@tonyrader7102 it’s one of the M1 products for paint that you can get at Sherwin Williams etc.
Thanks
A splash of bleach works perfectly
If you're storing boxed mud, you can try a zip tie and then cut the excess of the plastic bag off. That way, when you open it to use more, you won't get the Klingons falling in your mud.
hello! this is Cesar Leyva from Presidio tx. A very small town border with Mecico. One day a friend of mine told me that in order to use box mud and still using it for months with out having those dry particles is to transfer the mud with the plastic into the bucket, and after use in it . just takin in the plastic and add water. ones you want to use it again, simply dump the water out and you good to go. I'm using this method and works just fine . I hope this helps you out
I'm a novice and buy the small mud buckets. I put plastic wrap (the kitchen kind - Glad "Press-n- Seal) gently on top of the mud in the bucket to seal it with the plastic wrap. The plastic wrap will stretch up the interior sides of the bucket. Then I lay a second piece of plastic wrap over the top of the bucket to cover all of the lip (I would use two or three pieces if a larger bucket) and then put the lid back on which presses on the plastic wrap air tighten it. I just checked my mud bucket and there's no mold and it's been down in the basement for months now.
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I am a total novice, but I have had success in keeping the mud mold free by always disinfecting the knife I use when removing the mud.
I also do not mix the entire bucket with water at first, I remove what I need mix some water if needed in the pan. What I do not use from the pan, I throw out. Nothing goes back into the bucket. Have had a bucket now that has lasted me several months and no mold.
Stagnant water in the mud I believe is what speeds up the process of the compound breaking down and spoiling. That's why it comes from the store so thick and dry, to extend the shelf life.
Your bacteria is an anaerobic that is reducing sulfur to produce H2S, hence the reason it is below the surface and smells like sewage. Your possible solutions are to mix with air regularly, add sodium nitrate, and keep in a very cold place. I don't think dish soap will work because it will be too dilute and you will only get resistant bacteria. Great videos, thanks. Can you just cut the corner of the bottom of the bag and squeeze it out of the dry mud, like the do for cake piping? Then roll and clip when done?
You can also save the bucket then buy the box and reuse the bucket so you can mix it. $11 for a box (3.5) / $21 for the bucket (4.5 gal). You buy 7 gal. spending the $22 on 2 boxes, then 4.5 for $21
You could try adding a little mold inhibitor that you can add to paint to extend the life. It's basically yeast and mold rotting the mix...For a large job the box makes sense, but you can get smaller buckets for small home repairs/improvements...
I’ve used the bucket mud for years and if you scrape it down and put the piece of plastic back on top it will last years. I hate to pay extra for the 1gl and have used the 5gl buckets but it requires effort to properly store it. Once you clean the sides of the bucket and seal the surface with the piece of plastic it will last way longer than you would believe.
I got the proform lite premix box. I may only use half of it. How do I properly store it? Pour it in bucket and lid?
35 yrs of finishing only eva had 1 bucket go bad. It stunk but still used it!!!
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Same stuff
Use one bucket and many boxes
If you can seal/close your bucket you could be good
Keep the bucket clean
Only mix in your mud in your pan (not bucket)
Keep the lid and edge clean
Or wont re-seal
I don’t know how much it affects it exactly but I use distilled water instead of tap water. Sealing the air out as the above comment says seems to help too
I like getting one bucket of mud, then boxes for the job. Its very convenient that way
Cut the excess bag off after you get the air out and breadtie it. then you wont need to worry about excess bag clingons. =) Then as you work out of it (provided you use enough mud) youll have fresh bag to tap down and repeat.
Cool. Thanks
Thanks for your videos, I've learned a lot by watching them!
I've added Vanquish, which is an antimicrobial used in the restoration industry, mixed with water per the specs and poured in about a half inch over the top of the mud (after cleaning the sides and getting the mud kinda flat). This extends the life of the mud and keeps the mold, or whatever it is, from growing. I'll also shrink wrap the lid to the pail. It won't last forever, but it does keep the mud usable for longer.
I mix my box mud with soft water (no minerals) from my tap and store it in a bucket with a tight lid. It can sit for months between uses without going bad. If I know/suspect it might be awhile before I can come back to use it, I pour a little water on the top of the mud to keep that from skimming over.
I am also careful to clean the sides, scraping what I can into the bucket and then using a wet sponge to wipe the sides clean. I use my 4-inch knife to smooth the top of the mud out so there are no peaks, then I pour a little water on that. If you don't wipe the sides clean that stuff dries and you get crumbs in your mud. Good luck smoothing out a joint with that in it.
My fix for the dried stuff on a partially used box mud is to wipe the plastic with a damp sponge and clean all that off before I twist the plastic together and wrap a wire tie (like you get from a new power cord for a phone or something) around it to keep all the air out. Otherwise I get crumbs in my mud when I open the bag again. It takes a few minutes but pays off later.
Excellent advice.
On box mud just put the plastic over the box and cut a square of sheet rock and place it on top, it stays moist
I use grain alcohol or colloidal silver. It works. I originally mixed it in and floated some on top. There is a gluttony of sanitizer out there now. Get the stuff from a brew pub.
uve got twice as many vowels as consonants in your name, how did that happen? kind of cool.
I always buy the powder form and mix up what I need. Keeps for years!
You have to maintain your bucket just like you maintain your pan, keep it wiped down, wet, and clean.
I'm not a pro per say but I do a great deal of drywall work doing flood and fire restoration but have found that tap water has enough bacteria in it to cause problems with your mud if left too long. A friend of mine with a well water high in iron bacteria was finding that his mud would literally rot in just a few weeks when thinned down with his well water.
God bless 🙏
when you're done with the joint compound and are just about to pop the lid on the bucket and put it away, spray the top of the mud with shower cleaner. I've had buckets of box mud mixed up that I've been working out of for months that are still fresh as daisies.
I use a kitchen sponge to clean tools and I will wipe the bucket at the end of the day with the sponge. No klingons and the bucket is mostly already clean to reuse when done. Cold is the way to preserve it. I store it in my cool garage and I will let it freeze. It lasts for me, maybe because of location, for way longer. Months longer. I also mix in a solid squeeze of of dish liquid with about 1/2 cup of water once i get a batch home.
The bacteria or mold is likely cross contaminating from your mixing tools. Additionally, whipping air into the mud allows the aerobic bacteria and mold to activate fast. The premix mud has glycerin (or some other oily substance) in it which can also feed bacteria and mold.
You can attempt to create a pasteurizing box to heat the mud to 165F to kill bacteria and mold. A plywood box with a thermostat using a hair dryer or small heater as heat source would do the heating OK. Make sure you are not overheating or melting plastic or hot enough to ignite the cardboard (165F will not ignite cardboard, but heatgun output will). That may work. I don't reuse enough mud to make it worth my while to try it. Let me know if it works. You could keep it at 145F for about an hour also. You may need a countdown timer as well. This is a complicated solution.
I haven't had a problem with buckets since I scoop it out and mix it in my tray. I make sure the lid goes back on tight. I had one bucket that lasted for months. I always use the egg beater now.
Our Black cat stray loves to help too! Great vid
Usually u clean the bucket, pour in a tad of water, get a garbage or plastic bag and cut it in the circular size of inside the bucket. Then use a two inch knife and smooth the plastic over the top of the mud taking out the bubbles, then pour a little water ontop of the plastic and cover the bucket.
I also store in a cool dark undisturbed place.
I'm not a pro sheet rock installer. I do take on some odd jobs and go probably 3-4 months between mudding joints.
I put some plastic over the bucket mud & it lasts for many months never had mold I let a friend use it & he brought it back a month later and it was molded spatula it down & carefully tuck plastic wrap down on it get all air out of it you can get over a year trust the broke guy I figured it out years ago
Either way I take out what I need and immediately close it and mix on my board or thin it out I’ve never had any go bad it usually will harden before it goes bad at least on my end but on the bucket I press the center of lid down to get what air out that I can then the edges so it makes a lil vacuum seal kinda of it’s just what I do
I buy boxes. Just stopped from buying buckets - too many buckets! Anyway - Boxes are the best, I just do half a box into a bucket at a time, twist the bag down to the mud on the unused portion. Then, when I want to use it, I just cut off the bag, right at the mud and drop the remainder in the bucket. Of course, if I know I am going to use the whole box, or if its a bigger job, then just put the whole bag in. I swap my water bucket with my mud bucket each time. So one bucket has water up three quarters to almost full, use that for wash and for my mud water to thin. When its time for another box, I just poor the most of the water into the empty mud bucket and then wash out the bottom. Use the old water bucket as the new mud bucket when clean. Works great!
It's 10 bucks! Most people spend half that on coffee that they drink in in an hour. How much is your drywall job worth? Toss it! Start fresh!
I'm not a tree hugger but we need to stop waste old drywall would probably help the landfills but . . .
@@ericschulze5641 dude i get what you say but planet is fucked. Just your reply footprint on youtube releases 10 lbs o FC C02 and sludges a lake
Not $10 in Canada ... more like triple that ...
I use a sponge with clean water to clean the top of the bucket after using in a session so it is clean down to the mud level. I make sure the top of the mud is flat with a 6" knife. Next sprinkle a little water on the top and then place a plastic bag in the bucket to cover the top of the mud. I have had some buckets closed up for a few weeks and when I return back to it it is still good and usable as the plastic bag keeps the air out.
Try storing the buckets upside down. I've had good luck storing paint buckets this way.
I always get the bucket. The plastic bag will leave flakes. The bucket you have to clean the side of the bucket as you use it so it stay clean. Unless you are using the box that day and all at one time, buy a bucket.
Mold is a fungus so antibacterial won't work. Activated charcoal can help with mold spores. I put saran wrap over the top and push any air bubbles out and it works well.
I swear there is nothing better than old school knowledge.
Agreed. Sage advice for my first attempt at this.
But dummies are fun to watch. Just keep your distance so you don't get hurt.
i always clean off sides and then place plastic or wax paper on top of mud. Keeps bucket clean and no mold
Use a splash of apple cider vinegar in the water you mix in. It will kill any germs/mold and smells good also.
I use concrobium mold control. I use the spray bottle form and slightly mist the top of the mud before putting the lid on for storage. Have not had bad mud since doing it. That spray bottle will do many buckets!
Hmm, I have that so will try it. Thanks
Like others, I keep my mud bucket VERY clean by wiping the sides down with a damp sponge, throughout the day, and occasionally sponging off a smidge of the top layer. When I go to store it, I spray some DIY Concrobium (I didn't want to pay the exorbitant price for the name brand, so did some online research and found some recipes) on the inside of the bucket, and on top of the remaining mud, then use some light sheet plastic (cut to fit) right on top of the mud. I'll pull the lid off and check it every few months (& spray more "Concrobium", but have kept it for well more than a year using this method.
I place a piece of saran wrap plastic sheeting on top of my box or bucket mud. I squeegeed the air bubbles out from under it the wrap. I use a sponge to wipe the side of the bucket down. I have kept a stored like this for over a year.
Learned that from a well qualified Canadian contractor here in Ontario. I believe the equivalent product in the US GSC 45 if I’m not mistaken.
I use white vinegar to kill mold, put I haven't tried adding it to drywall mud yet. To avoid waste some one needs to try adding some to your leftover nut when you finish a product and see how it works.
add about 1/2 cup dish soap before you mix and it will keep much longer
With the box mud, after you finish using it twist tie the plastic opening and turn it upside down when storing. This will prevent the hardened flaking
That’s sort of not true. If the plastic that’s left exposed to the air has any wet drywall mud on it then when you open the bag back up it will still fall into the box of mud. That idea would work much better if you cleaned the plastic off that’s exposed to the air. But thanks for the suggestion as I appreciate all of them.
Companies made it safer a few years back. Mica and selica are hazardous so they took some out but it doesn't seem to stay fresh very long.
Have you ever tried putting a kitchen waste bag in the bucket and putting water into it. This should create an air seal without having the water/mud go bad.
Cool idea, I’m going to have to try that one too.
First if you read the bucket it says : DO NOT ADD WATER. When you add water you just introduced the organisms to it. Take out what you need, add water, mix it. Do not put any of what you've mixed back into your source material. Then before you close the bucket up, I use painters plastic to push down into the bucket until it touches the surface of the mud. That way no air gets to it to dry out. Next time I open the bucket, I remove the plastic and discard. Walla, no dried chunketies in my mud. When I close it, a new piece of plastic goes in. Also when getting mud out of the bucket. Open remove and get the lid back on. Just a few minutes with the lid off will start to dry the mud around the inside edges of the bucket. And now you got chunketies in your mud.
Exactly I just dump box into paint bucket and mix with paddle without adding water. Once I'm done for the day I just put a clean paint lid back on the bucket without adding water. Usually last for a couple of months at least before I have to toss it if I don't use it by then for some reason or I forgot about it and find it later on during the project 😅 in a mechanical room or something.
Actually, my mud boxes and buckets say thin to desired consistency....
Add Dawn dish soap, NEVER had mud going bad and, somehow it floats better during application.
I've added PineSol disinfectant to keep leftover mud from spoiling.
I only get the mud I need for the job I never have it for months,and wall spray will sour in the heat ,its differant than mud.took me along time to learn all this,close to 40 years,I was a hanger for the first 20 ,now just custom work only,trying to guit
I’m retired now, but when I was busy I would change out a bucket of mud every two or three days at the longest, and always had texture mixed up but I mix it up from the same box mud and never use the wall texture. And if it sits in the heat for more than a week because I only had skip trowel patches to do or something like that, it will sour every time.
As for mud that has sat for months, that comes from my UA-cam video studio mostly or when I open a box of all purpose, which I usually only need every three or four months at the most.
The spray texture is what went bad most often. But I now have a Grayco sprayer that with a sealed lid and a pressurized tank and I can leave texture in there for weeks and even mix up the texture inside the hopper so that reduce the sour issue a lot. Thanks for commenting and subscribing
I clean the inside edge of the Bucket with a damp sponge so I don't get dry mud. Then I don't add any water on top and put plastic wrap on top so it doesn't get air. I Did do the Same thing with paint in a gallon. I put the box mud in a pail too.
Give it a try and tell me how you make out.
Level the mud out, then lay a piece of cellophane on top of mud. Keep air off.p
Agree, I do this also and keeps for months. I wipe down the sides of the bucket, add a little water, and cover with cellophane. The cellophane keeps the mud from being exposed to oxygen and going bad.
Ever tried adding some boric acid powder into the bucket? Yes, its the stuff you find in big box stores, used to kill roaches! Its a preservative used in many things, from latex paint to contact lens saline solutions.
No. I’m not a big fan of adding non Drywall products into mud
Nothing drives me more crazy than someone working right out of the box lol great vid 👌
I use boxes and dump the contents into a bucket to mix. If I have any left, I scrape the sides, wipe the sides clean water the top and lid it. Messing with the boxes and clingons is not worth the grief. Great videos, keep’m rolling in!
Thank you for your comment
What about the dawn soap trick? Smoother mud and an anti funk knarl agent?
Most mud nowadays doesnt need the soap it smooths out pretty good
it doesn't keep the mold at bay. i actually think it made more air pockets and now my mud is bad in 7 days after adding it.
Agreed
In Canada , lots use Sunlight dish soap , it does work to help get rid of pinholes , seen it used for decades and never seen any problems
Bucket is 12 pounds more. A bucket has a lid and will last longer. Stink mud will happen . USG all purpose is the best for texture. I have seen both bucket and box mud last forever but also seen it turn in a few days. If the bag get all dried up at the top,poke a hole in the bottom and squeeze it out.
I’m from Ontario, Canada. The best thing to use here is Sheet Rock 45. It comes in powder form. Just add water & mix depending on how much you need.
I use plus 3 box for finishing and it's a paint when it dries on side of bag. Once I made like a icing bag and squeezed the mud out from a hole in bottom of bag.
I love the egg beater for mixing a pan of hot mud.Wife isn't to hot about it when all the beaters went missing.
Lol
i found that box of mud as hard as a rock in our garage when we moved in and after you said, im still getting a box lol
Good luck Ivette! Thank you for your input
I'm no pro; strictly weekend warrior. With my box mud I use a twist tie to close off the bag real close to the rest of the mud, then use a damp sponge to wipe the leftover mud from the rest of the bag so it does not dry out and fall in when I open the bag again. It takes a few minutes but seems to be worth the effort since I don't end up with crumbs in the box when I open it next weekend. The stuff I mix I put into a 5-gallon Lowes bucket or a 3-quart bucket that originally held all purpose. Depends on how much I had to mix. When done for the day I scrape the sides down to the main body of mud, level out the mud, then wipe the sides with a damp sponge down to the mud. I try to never go more than two weeks with out using it all.
I've never liked box mud because there are more steps involved in using it. Then just like you said when it drys on the plastic it is impossible to keep out all of the pieces that fall into the mud. I have had a few buckets of mud get moldy but for the most part mud seems to last a long time in a bucket. Thanks for the video.
We dump it in a bucket. Boxes will save you alot of money on a good size job. $11 vs $18.
@@garyrosie9475how do I properly store the box mud in bucket? Do I pour to bucket when I open or after the first day usage?
Mud already has organic material in it so as soon as you break the seal and introduce oxygen it starts rotting the only way i can think of to keep it from going bad is a way to re seal it
Mixed a lot of bulk cleaning mixes when I had a pressure wash company. Oxcilac acid, sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide are cheap in 50lb bags. Also bleach comes in commercial strength but always using extra strong bleach gets twice the bleach and less waster. All these others than the acid are based and should be fine. Any organic will be destroyed so make sure the additives are Not organic in any way. Also SH is what I used most but keep in mind it will literally dissolve you hand if it's mixed strong
I buy it by it by the box and dump it into a bucket. I put a garbage bag on top of the unused mud, flatten it and push all (most) of the air out. Lasts a lot longer than putting water on it. I also have a 6” knife that broke in half, ground down the side to make a 3” flat sided knife. Gets virtually all the mud off the side of the bucket without getting it all over your hands(although that’s no biggie).
I’m not sure about you, but most stuff stored in my basement appears to be in old mud boxes.
lol, I cut the flaps off of boxes and paint some of them white and use them all over the place. They’re stronger than crap
I'm in Wisconsin I keep my mud on a cold porch on cement with lid not too tight and I can keep it in a bucket for months.
I never saw boxed mud in any store in my area of Pennsylvania we only have bucket.
After whipping the whole bucket, I scrape the sides of the bucket every time to keep it clean after filling my pan. Then every other time I do a very quick scrub w water from a stiff brush I use to clean my blades. No crusty mud ever. Get about 3 months before it goes bad in Michigan
Find a tile guy and give them the buckets, we love drywall mud buckets lol
Sounds like alot of these comments are to just here urself. We live out where Temps are 118 in the summer and high 30 in winter.
We use mud all the time from a box and you control how thick is needed. When done clean all sides throw clean plastic and little water and no problems at all, but we never leave mud unused for weeks either. So buy small and you have no problems
I was ordered by the wife to hang pictures (Honey Do) today. The house was built in 1958 and most of the nails I drove into the drywall were in the old walls, but some were driven into the remodeled room where the old drywall had been replaced with new drywall. The old stuff was much harder to nail into than the new stuff. What's different and how do I get the old stuff if I could?
To make your mud in the bucket last longer add-about 1/4 cup colloidal silver and mix. You can get colloidal silver at most health stores it will also protect mild growth on finished product
put a trash bag in the bucket and use the edge or the bag to seal the bucket when you put the lid on the bucket
First of all, use the blue labeled product, the green stuff is crap ,unless you like chunky, or like mixing for a long time. When filling your tray or hawk , scrape the material off the inside of your bucket. Keep it clean, and you won't have old or partially dried material falling into your mud.
What’s what I’ve heard as well. Keep your tools clean and scrape the excess off the top of the bucket. Drop a little water in & cap it. Will last for days.
In the olden days you'd buy the buckets because they'd last far longer than the boxed mud because the buckets in those days had a rubber gasket seal around the lid that clamped down on the bucket rim sealing it from outside the bucket air... The new buckets don't all have that gasket these days... And like you said a thin layer of water on top after cleaning the sides of the bucket walls would make the mud last months to a year even with the old buckets... The cling ons [chunks] can be avoided with the buckets if you clean the sides before sealing the lid on it... Those bags, no matter what you do, those cling ons on the plastic are like throwing a thousand tiny pebbles into your mix... No way to avoid it falling back into the box when you open it... Ridiculous...... The only time to use the box mud is if you are doing large jobs where you'll be using the entire box and not having to store it... Also if you are doing the texturing, priming, and painting side of a job after you do the drywalling and mudding you use those 5 gallon buckets for those tasks... You know paint peels out of a bucket too so you can use it many times and not have to throw it in the landfill...
Try mixing some paint. The color also helps you see better.
Take the powder, store it in a bucket with a lid. Place a sheet of plastic on top of it.
As I am writing this, your video is said to be 6 months old. I am a biologists and I have seen some good ideas, but you guys are forgetting that some of the nastiest bacteria and molds grow ANAEROBICLY, without oxygen or in lay terms, without air.
So I am questioning whether getting all the air out is really a solution or whether the presence of air is the problem. Several people added bleach which is the same as adding a ton of OXYGEN. They reported no growth.
The people who used distilled water are right. Distilled water should add H2O and nothing else. Distilled and deionized water should be best. Well water and "city water" have a tons of bacteria and mold spores and everything else. Steam Distilled, Dionized water is almost as good as starting with a new box or bucket.
I think using just "what you need" from the bucket or box and mixing in a separate bucket is the best idea. You are not contaminating your "new" box or bucket.
I hope I explained this so that non - biologists can understand it. I hate to see things go to waste, like a batch of mud that was just right, but you had to do something else for a few days. Yeah you can start over, butt...
Boxed mud isn't really available in certain parts of the country. Here in mid atlantic, most everyone uses buckets and not all supply houses even bother stocking boxed mud. I never knew the stuff came in boxes until I worked in TX, MS, AL. I'm not longer in the DW trade, more commercial GC'ing so we don't us much mud but when we do our own DW work, we don't try to save partial buckets unless we know they will get used in a week or two. Mud is cheap, not even worth trying to save but we will empty what's left in the buck and take it with us.
New sub here....love learning new things and appreciate your videos, Thanks man.....in an effort to reuse the box mud and avoid clingons.....wouldn't it be feasible to just break through another side and use what you need? You could potentially get 5 more uses after the first time opening the box....maybe even duct tape the box after each breakthrough......idk
What do you think?
Honestly, it’s seldom an issue for me since I mostly put the box into a bucket and keep the sides clean