Good call on the angled lighting—I learned that lesson the hard way too. Nothing worse than feeling confident about your joints and then seeing every little flaw pop out after painting. I've found that natural daylight also helps a ton. If you can, try checking your work at different times of day. Sometimes imperfections that hide under artificial lights become painfully obvious in sunlight.
Also, totally agree about wider knives. I used to think an 8-inch knife was plenty, but once I switched to a 12-inch, it really upped my game. Now I'm tempted to try a 14-inch just to see if it makes any noticeable difference.
One thing I'd add is being patient between coats. I used to rush things, thinking I was saving time, but it always bit me later with extra sanding or having to recoat. Now I give each coat plenty of drying time, and the sanding is way less tedious.
Anyway, sounds like you've got a solid system down. Drywall finishing is definitely one of those skills you get better at with each project...but man, it's still my least favorite part of remodeling.
Totally agree on patience between coats—learned that lesson after sanding forever on my first project. Curious if anyone's tried eco-friendly joint compounds? I've heard mixed reviews about their smoothness and drying times...would love some firsthand experiences.
I've used eco-friendly joint compound a couple times—it's decent, but yeah, drying time was noticeably longer. Smoothness wasn't bad though, just took a bit more effort to feather out nicely. Worth trying if you're patient and wanna keep things green...
Yeah, totally get what you're saying about the drying time. I tried the eco-friendly stuff on a small bathroom remodel last summer, and at first, I thought I'd messed something up because it just wouldn't dry. Kept poking at it every hour or so, haha. But once I got used to the slower pace, it wasn't too bad. Actually found it kinda relaxing—forced me to slow down and pay attention to details I might've rushed otherwise.
Smoothness-wise, I agree, it's workable. Took me a bit of practice to feather it out nicely, but by the end of the project, I felt pretty good about the results. Definitely not as quick as traditional compounds, but knowing it's better for the environment made the extra effort feel worthwhile. Glad to hear someone else had a similar experience...makes me feel less impatient, lol.
Had a pretty similar experience—thought I'd screwed something up at first too, haha. Once I accepted the slower drying time, it actually improved my technique. Curious though, did you notice any difference in sanding ease with the eco-friendly stuff? For me it felt a bit softer, which made sanding quicker but also meant I had to be careful not to overdo it...
