Over the weekend we finished our drywall-hanging project in the laundry room. It was humbling, educational, and ultimately very satisfying. Sherry and I even spent a few minutes just admiring the walls on Sunday.
There’s a real, tangible euphoria that comes with finishing a project. It’s silly and glorious and yes — it can make a grown person twirl.
Doing Our Research
We’re not calling ourselves professional drywall finishers yet, but we feel much more confident heading into future drywall work. We spent a morning watching YouTube tutorials and reading guides, discovering there are many approaches and opinions. We settled on a clear, commonly recommended method and followed it for our project. Below I’ll outline the steps we took and the techniques that worked best for us, and we included a couple of videos that helped along the way.
Initially I suggested we consider hiring the taping and mudding out — it’s definitely a skill that pros make look easy. Our prior experience was limited to patching small holes and a handful of seams during our first bathroom renovation years ago. As we continued renovating on our own, though, the laundry room felt like the right place to practice drywall finishing: lots of seams to learn on, and many of them would later be obscured by trim, cabinets, appliances, and tile if they weren’t perfect.
Materials To Tape, Mud, And Sand Drywall
Here are the materials we used — most are available in the drywall section of any home improvement store:
- Rosin paper or other floor protection to catch drops, splatters, and dust (avoid letting joint compound dry on a subfloor or it can cause bumps).
- Joint compound (mud) — we avoided ultra-lightweight varieties based on reviews. A rule of thumb is about 1 gallon per 100 square feet; we estimated 4 gallons but used closer to 5.
- Mud pan for carrying compound and keeping knives clean.
- Drywall knives in multiple sizes — we used 6″, 8″, 10″, and 12″ blades.
- Corner trowel — extremely helpful for smoothing inside corners.
- Drywall tape (paper tape in our case).
- Bucket of water, work light, and a stepladder as needed.
The mud pan was handy for carrying a workable amount of compound without lugging the whole bucket. Its edges are also useful for scraping knives clean during the process.
Mudding Over The Screws
We began by covering the screw heads. Because we used a drywall countersink bit, the screws were slightly recessed already, so applying mud and scraping it flat was quick and straightforward.
Sherry handled two walls and the hallway while I covered the other two walls and the ceiling, which made the work go faster.
Taping The Drywall Seams
Next we taped the seams. We opted for paper tape rather than adhesive mesh tape because paper tape, when bedded in mud, produced a smoother finish and didn’t reveal mesh texture after sanding.
For horizontal seams I applied a bedding layer of mud, using the tapered edges of the drywall to bridge and flatten the joint. I smoothed that initial bed with a 6″ knife before pressing a pre-cut strip of tape into the mud. I kept the tape dry (some tutorials suggest wetting it, but I found that messier).
After lightly seating the tape, I leveled it with the 6″ knife, working from the center toward each end. Then I used an 8″ knife to apply another layer and feather the edges, which helps blend the joint into the wall.
After the first round on horizontal seams, I was pleasantly surprised by how manageable it felt.
Taping The Corners
Corners are trickier than flat seams and require more focus and time. We used pre-creased paper tape made for inside corners. The process began the same way: a bedding layer of mud on each side of the corner, followed by smoothing with a corner trowel, which is excellent for forming a clean angle.
I pressed the tape into the mud, then used the corner trowel to smooth it. When the top of the corner was hard to reach, dipping the trowel in water helped it glide without dragging the paper.
We had many corners to practice on — vertical corners, ceiling corners, and doorways — which added time but also valuable experience. My first coat of mud took longer to dry than some tutorials suggested; we waited an extra day in spots that still felt damp.
Applying A Second Coat Of Mud
After everything dried and the mud reached a uniform color, we applied a second coat using a 10″ knife to spread and feather the edges further. We also added another pass over screw heads where the first coat had shrunk a bit.
Before re-taping corners, I watched a few more videos and practiced the technique that worked for me: use the corner trowel, then address the ridges it can leave with a 6″ knife held at a slight angle to feather and remove excess without creating new ridges. After that, a final pass with the corner trowel solidified a crisp, smooth corner.
Wet Sanding The Drywall
About 24 hours after the second coat we sanded. I wanted to reduce dust, so we tried wet sanding. A regular sponge didn’t have enough scrubbing power, so I used a 120-grit sanding block dampened with water. The block held moisture and scrubbed more effectively than a sponge.
The damp block picked up dust rather than sending it into the air. It wasn’t perfectly dust-free, but the dust settled below the work area instead of forming a cloud. When one side of the block filled with dust I flipped it or rinsed it in the bucket to continue.
Wet sanding made a big difference in smoothing rough spots and blending seams.
Applying The Third (And Final) Coat Of Mud
After sanding we applied a thin final coat. Thinning the compound slightly with water made it spread more smoothly. We mixed a small amount in a separate bucket with a paddle mixer until the consistency matched mayonnaise.
We skipped photos of the final application and sanding since the steps mirrored earlier rounds, and there are already many pictures here. The result, though, was a clean, finished surface ready for primer.
Priming The Room
We primed the room to see how the finish held up under paint. The primer revealed a smooth, cohesive surface — suddenly it felt like a true room instead of a construction zone. We were excited and a little proud of what we accomplished.
Here are a few before-and-after comparisons showing the transformation in the hallway and doorway. It’s rewarding to see how a formerly unused corner now feels like a purposeful space.
Next up: painting and installing tile flooring. After that we’ll decide whether to temporarily move the washer and dryer back in or wait until trim and doors are finished. Either way, this project taught us a lot and left the laundry room feeling like a real, usable space.