OT Drywall Question

Last December I started mudding the joints and screw holes in the office of the new building at our tractor club. The heat has been turned off since then. It's time to get back at it. My question, how long does the heat need to be turned on before I can put on another coat? Does the drywall have to be warmed up for the joint compound to stick, or can it be put on a cold wall? It's 60 miles up there, so I can only work on it on Saturdays. If the heat is turned up on Friday night, will it be OK to work on it Saturday morning? I will keep the joint compound with me so it will be warm. Do I need to keep the heat on until it's dry? Thanks, Chris

I would believe it would be okay to apply cold, If you turn the heat on friday it should be good, I would also leave the heat on untill its dry. Ive never done drywall puddy under those conditions but thats what i would do

Texas is not all that cold, but they build houses here in the winter and put up drywall with no heat in the house. I am pretty sure if they turn up the heat on Friday, you will be OK on Saturday. Tom

Chris,
It takes 3 days to heat a house to the desired temperature.Before any wise,from the "experts", remarks this includes all the wallboard etc.Hope this helps.

Vito

It will in fact take a good bit of time and as for having to keep it warm you will need to see what the label on what your working with says to do.
Now along the same lines your question has me thinking about the thing about turning down the temp in a house when your not home or sleeping does that really help save $$

We are just finishing the drywall on a house we are doing. When the guy started taping, he wanted it warm so we set the thermostat at 60 and he was happy with that. His angles and joints seemed to dry down so they could be recoated the next day. We cracked the windows just so slightly and let the air exchange so the humidity stayed low. Outside temps ranged from below zero to mid 20's while he did this. He taped the garage firewall when the outside temp was 25. We put the Knipco on for an hour to get the temp up in the uninsulated garage. He said if it stayed above freezing for 3 or 4 hours, the mud would be dry enough and we could turn the heat off. He's been doing drywall for over 30 years so I believe he knows what he is doing.

When you say turn up the heat, you could make alot of ranges with that stament.

I once taped up a lumber yard building, and we had it real warm 80 plus in the dead of winter. We were constantly opening the door to bring in fill / cement. We were a t very sub zero temperatures, and the joints cracked.

Just a little note for your project, you can use the fast set powder, ranging fro five munites to sanding to 90 min sanding time. The cost isn't only a few cents more other than wasted materials.

I personaly have to do little sanding, as the last swipe is a clean cut one. I do however old school it may be, use premix for the top coat.

If you haven't used dry mix, read the directions, and it is --NOT---repeat NOT like mason cement when you can add pot life by adding water and remixing. It will not dry in a month if you try it.

I would try it if the wallboard is warm to the hand in the corners of the room at baseboard level. Fans will help with moving this heat, and leave the heat on for at least a week I would say.

Premix facts will only be a phone call away so you know for sure--see the phone number on the bucket. Way to much work for a guessing game.

What you suggested sounds just fine to me. I have done drywall under many circumstances and have found that you can not predict what will or will not crack sometimes. Too many factors in expansion , contraction, future temperatures and structure movement. Call a drywall manufacturer or compound manufacturer, you can google their customer service and get the best advice available.

I have been taping for 10 years and the most important thing is that the surface temp of the drywall is at least 55 deg. 65 is ideal. Crank the heat Friday and start on interior walls Saturday and leave exterior wall to last. You will find inside corners on exterior walls will take the longest to dry as they do not get the air flow that they need. Take a couple of box fans with you to help aid in drying. Also keep your mud and wall about the same temp. Tape will not stick to a cold surface say under 40 deg. If your mud is in the office building now it will take a few days to heat a five gallon bucket to its core. For the top coat add a 1/4 cup of dish soap to a five gallon bucket of mud. It is not technically five gallons of mud but goes by weight. Most buckets are actually less than 5 gallons. Good luck

Ditto to what was said below, ideally, you should be running the heat, 60-65 F would be ideal, as would maintaining a temperature around that prior to and after each successive coat. When you are at that phase of the job, during cold weather, temp heat or having the buildings heating system commissioned and fired up and in use is a direct cost of the overall cost of the building.

Colder temps, the joint compound will take excessive time to dry, and could create minor problems, hard to comment on that, too many variables. I've been around a lot of jobs where trailer loads of drywall and joint compound were installed, high rises, commercial buildings etc. if in the winter time, heat was on consistently, no fluctuation.

I think keeping the substrate temperature within tolerance in advance of performing the work and after is important like was mentioned, it takes time to get things warmed up besides the air, I'd heat the area until done if were me.