You will be able to see the scratches through the paint, especially if there is direct sunlight coming through a window and shining on the area. After a sanding block is worn in pretty good, it's perfect for sanding drywall patches, but if you are patching in such a manner that the patch requires a lot of sanding to get it smooth, then you may find that the worn sanding block is not as good. So, the best thing to do would be to start with a newer sanding block and then fine tune the patch with a worn in one. This all depends of course on which mud you are using. The USG Plus 3 is very lightweight and can be sanded very easily. If you are using the general purpose stuff (green lid) then the worn out sanding blocks may not be enough to get the patch smooth. The EasySand stuff that you actually have to mix with water can really only be sanded with actual sandpaper or a very new medium grit sanding sponge. If you are using the Red Devil vinyl spackling paste, then you may need a belt sander to sand it, or maybe it's just better to hammer the patch deeper into the wall and use something that can be sanded....ahh now I feel better since I was able to get my daily dig into Red Devil.

Thanks. I do use the softer worn in ones. Some of them seem so darn rough when new, even fine ones. I wonder if some of the areas I looked at last night (with a grazing light) were with a different sponge. I hope so! They looked not quite so fine. Other areas weren't too bad. I thought I was getting this nice and smooth.

This is the ceiling (8ft) and I'm having difficulty seeing detail even with a LED stand light. Sand in eyes, on glasses, in air, blinding white light, lol.

I'm using the general purpose green lid. I do not know what the drywall guy used. He did have lightweight stuff around.

I am not going to be able to add more compound along the seams. It would be a sloppy job, I think. Unless I were to fill them in after a coat of paint. Maybe take a soft wet wallboard sanding sponge to it to melt them out? Haven't seen these yet, a different store carries it.

I prefer the long sanding sponges that are like 3x8(?) for most sanding (of course a pole sander is indispensable for ceilings)
I find the longer one is less likely to leave an edge line. The one I use has an 80/120 combo I believe. The bigger size lasts longer too.
The feather-edge sponge is great for the top of a cathedral ceiling where there's an obtuse angle.
Casey

Yea, sometimes actually painting the area helps to see better what you need to fix. It may be that on a ceiling, it will look fine because it's not at eye level.

"may be that on a ceiling, it will look fine because it's not at eye level."

I'm hoping that's the case, so will see how bad things show for the wall work ahead. When I start adding compound to already skimmed areas to fix things, I seem to run into creating irregularities. So, if I get some paint on what's good and flat now, I can fill out any indents later. That's the theory, anyway, lol. We'll see how this one doesn't work, ha.

I got up there with an LED flashlight grazing it today. Saw much better than with the LED stand. Yes, scratches and stuff I didn't see before.

HD has small, soft, palm-sized sponges with a sanding side. I used a fine one to softly even it out. It worked well! Can't find a picture but they look kind of like this except all gray. The sanding part looks kind of like fabric but is rough. They are in sheets that you break off how many you want.

Hey, I'm going to be heading into priming soon!!! These walls have been a nightmare.

Just quit with the flash light stuff. Are you going to live worrying about minute scratches on the ceiling??? Move along. Stand back and look at things in normal lighting. You are way over thinking this .

Don't you have anything better to do? :-)

I can't see. That's not good enough for me.

And it did show some significant areas to be sanded.

I really don't appreciate some of your remarks.

snookums,

for the final sanding, try using a piece cut from a paper shopping bag wrapped around a small piece of 2x4, or anything else that's flat.

I will try that. Thanks :)

Hah, well it is possible that you are being too picky. Drywall is what it is you know, an imperfect surface. You can go and fix imperfections forever if you wanted to. The standard way to look at it is without a beacon or flashlight or halogen light because all drywall will look like hell when you do that...same deal with the sunshine coming in the windows.

I know I'm being picky! lol. And there's nothing wrong with that. That's how I learn the details. I am trying to let go of some of it as I climb the learning curve but am not going through all this to end up with a sloppy looking job, sealed down with paint. I've read many pros, drywall and painting, use light to graze the walls so they can see what they're doing.

I am very lucky there is not sunshine beaming in here!

Snookums -- you are funny. I was told I was being too anal about my project too (after many many pleas for help about this-n-that) and the poster was right! When I un-plugged the lights, stepped back and looked at everything like I was a "guest" the project looked great.

I get it though -- you work so hard and you want it to be as perfect as can be. I keep switching up what I'm obsessed about -- and learning to let somethings go. If I don't ... I will NEVER get done. LOL. Keep up the good work!!

Well that's okay then. You know what is funny about using lights is that you may think you get a perfect surface so you paint it and put your room back together and then in normal light you will be walking by and notice something that you missed. So the light shows flaws and not having light shows flaws and daytime you will see flaws and at night you will see other flaws and with a dim light you will see more flaws and in the shadows you may notice others...see, at some point you need to just accept it...unless you skim coat the entire surface, which of course I have done in my own old house to get to as close to perfection as I can.

When you wipe down with the damp drywall sponge, the minute scratches in the mud will disappear.
Casey

You are so right! lol It's sanded smooth, niiiice!, and then somehow it isn't smooth anymore when the angle changes. Big scratches and a blump.

I guess the funniest part is that I actually like imperfection. Pleasantly imperfect. But this house has such a history of sloppy it's ridiculous and quite sad. I want things done nicely this time!

I am working on letting go of things. But it is not easy! I will not do a bad job though. The ceiling did need work. It had over 30 mud pops over the screws that had to be sanded down, along with slopped up corners and lots of rough unsanded edges around the perimeter. Not to mention glops of mud splattered here and there. The walls were no less than terrible repairs. Honestly, I had a contractor here and we were just talking about other things and he told me the drywall guy did a complete BS job. Like I hadn't noticed, lol.

This home stretch is a bear though. I am on the learning curve what is good enough to look nice and professional when done. So far, the paint in the bathrooms and backsplash look really good! But I did obsess, lol. I will loosen up in the closets and see what happens.

I think Faron understands!!?!? lol. He has a perfection thread out there somewhere, with a little repair kit to get the textures just the same!

Thanks all.

You will hear no more from me

OK?

Thanks for all your help Christopher. I just don't like the personal comments. I don't see what difference it makes to you or why you assume I have only minute scratches and imperfections to worry about here.

I refuse to paint over slop and have been working hard to make these walls look sweeping smooth and professional in the end. It has not been easy and is not fun but they have come a long way, on a learning curve with tools and techniques. I am not a construction worker. This kind of stuff is all over the place, large areas, small areas. The ceiling I'm working on has been the least of it but is large and awkward. I don't know how someone can do this and then bill the job as complete and ready for painting. He said paint is really thick today and fills all that stuff in. Really. And he was there, lol.

This post was edited by snookums2 on Sun, May 19, 13 at 22:44

Good pics there Snookums2!!

I'm assuming they're the B4 pics...!??!?!
;-)

Faron