# Hot mud for hand texture?



## VinylHanger (Jul 14, 2011)

I'm working on my own place and am planning on doing a skip trowel on some of the walls and ceilings. I'm on a time crunch and am thinking I could use a 90 minute hot mud for my texture. The heat is a bit iffy right now, and it's cold and damp.

Is it a good idea to use the 90, or is the actual dry time so I can prime going to be about the same? Or is there a reason not to use the hot mud? It may not matter, as I may just use topping anyway, but I am looking for any options to speed things up.


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## Sir Mixalot (Jan 6, 2008)

I wouldn't use hot mud for a skip trowel hand texture. :no:
1) Inconsistency- The hot mud is constantly changing as time goes.
2) The hot mud will probably take longer to completely dry then all purpose mud. Ap is an air dry and hot mud takes a chemical reaction to set. But even though the hot mud is set up, it doesn't mean it's completely dry and ready for paint. 

My vote is for USG all purpose joint compound for a skip trowel texture. If want to speed up the drying time, put a fan on it. :thumbsup:


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## D.E.P.S. (Aug 3, 2013)

+1 ................What Sir said


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## CrpntrFrk (Oct 25, 2008)

I agree with what Pall said. Although USG does make a powder mix for texture that I have found to work well skipping and it dries a little faster.


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## Mountain Man (Jun 3, 2013)

90% of all my work is hand texture. Either skip trowel or Santa Fe and we always use USG green top. I use a power aid bottle with the top cut off and add four and a half cups of water to each box of mud. I do this to keep every bucket of texture consistent. Texturing with hot mud would be a nightmare! Add some heat and a dan and the texture will dry pretty fast!


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## Sir Mixalot (Jan 6, 2008)

CrpntrFrk said:


> I agree with what Paul said. Although USG does make a powder mix for texture that I have found to work well skipping and it dries a little faster.


That would work too. Never used the powder texture mix for skip trowel before. But I like to use it when I'm spraying knockdown, especially on ceilings.

A lot of times when the skip trowel conversation comes up on here. The definition of skip trowel is regional and what skip trowel is to one area is knockdown to another. 

Do you guys put sand in your skip trowel?


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## Calidecks (Nov 19, 2011)

Sir Mixalot said:


> That would work too. Never used the powder texture mix for skip trowel before. But I like to use it when I'm spraying knockdown, especially on ceilings. A lot of times when the skip trowel conversation comes up on here. The definition of skip trowel is regional and what skip trowel is to one area is knockdown to another. Do you guys put sand in your skip trowel?


We put sand in the skip only if specified. It was much more popular back in the 70's and 80's


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## Mountain Man (Jun 3, 2013)

I have skipped with sand but I prefer not to. A lot of people can't skip without it but I can skip just fine without. Another reason I don't like it us because I run my texture mud through a pump and can't do that with sand.


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## Mountain Man (Jun 3, 2013)

. Our skip trowel is a hand texture put on with 18" knockdown style knives.


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## CrpntrFrk (Oct 25, 2008)

Sir Mixalot said:


> Do you guys put sand in your skip trowel?


I have only added sand a couple times but never for an entire texture job. Mostly when patching.

Skip was the first texture taught to me and there are a ton of variations.


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## Calidecks (Nov 19, 2011)

Our skips out here have become hardly a skip at all, it's more like smooth wall with a skip every two or three feet or so. Seems like there was a time when skip trowel looked a lot like leopard spots or tiger stripes. Over the ages that has gotten less and less skips.


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## Mountain Man (Jun 3, 2013)

Californiadecks said:


> Our skips out here have become hardly a skip at all, it's more like smooth wall with a skip every two or three feet or so. Seems like there was a time when skip trowel looked a lot like leopard spots or tiger stripes. Over the ages that has gotten less and less skips.


The more smooth version we call a Santa Fe. It can go from what your talking about to maybe fifty percent smooth and fifty percent skip. I call the really smooth with hardly any voids a "holy smooth wall" 
A regular skip trowel is basically what you are talking about with lots of dots and/or striping. We go from a tiny micro dot skip all the way up to a large purina checkerboard skip.


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## VinylHanger (Jul 14, 2011)

This pretty much answered my question. I used topping last night and it was so much less stressful than it would have been with hot mud. Just chill and texture.

Skip trowel was the first texture I was taught as well. Most likely because we didn't have a hopper on sight, and it fit in with the old house we were doing. My version is pretty heavy, more of a plop, push, swipe with large coverage and less misses. For my wife last night I hit it with the trowel after it started to set up to smooth it down a bit and catch less dust later.

I did notice last night that one box to the next was a bit inconsistent. Or maybe my arm was just wearing out towards the end. Tonight, I'll add a bit of water to thin it down.


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## Sir Mixalot (Jan 6, 2008)




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## Mountain Man (Jun 3, 2013)

How do I post pics from an iPhone?


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## Mountain Man (Jun 3, 2013)

Some Santa Fe hand texture with about 40% skip in it.


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## Calidecks (Nov 19, 2011)

Mountain Man said:


> Some Santa Fe hand texture with about 40% skip in it.


Nice texture MM that's a good look. It all boils down to preference. I don't like it too wild, but yours is just about right, IMO. Go into some Mexican Restaurants and the texture is so heavy you could lose some meat if you brushed up against it.


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## Mountain Man (Jun 3, 2013)

I hear ya!! All my textures for the most part are really smooth. I three step the texture when putting it on. First apply a couple pans of mud then give it a bit of a smear and then when it sets up to the right consistency , I hit it with the knife one more time smoothing it out and freeing it up of any tool or lap marks. And even though it's very smooth at this point I brush it down with the sanding pole.


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## VinylHanger (Jul 14, 2011)

Here's mine. Remember, I ain't no drywall guy. Oh, and please ignore the ratty lid. :whistling


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## iDAHOchris (Feb 11, 2012)

If you arnt using a trowel it cant be called a skip trowel:no:. A skip trowel texture IMO is done by dobbing the ceilingl with trowel ( and hawk) and making small stalagmites on ceiling. Wait a few minutes and knock it down.


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## iDAHOchris (Feb 11, 2012)

Mountain Man said:


> I hear ya!! All my textures for the most part are really smooth. I three step the texture when putting it on. First apply a couple pans of mud then give it a bit of a smear and then when it sets up to the right consistency , I hit it with the knife one more time smoothing it out and freeing it up of any tool or lap marks. And even though it's very smooth at this point I brush it down with the sanding pole.


 Are you using an 18" knife for this texture or a smaller one. I like the 14" knife for our" imperfect smooth".


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## CrpntrFrk (Oct 25, 2008)

iDAHOchris said:


> Are you using an 18" knife for this texture or a smaller one. I like the 14" knife for our" imperfect smooth".


18" curved blue steel knock down knife is what I like to use. I have used a 14" before but the 18" covers more territory faster. Just my personal preference.

I have been trying to upload a video of myself applying a Sante Fe for months but I never can get it to upload to you tube


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## Sir Mixalot (Jan 6, 2008)

Skip trowel is mostly done on ceilings here in my area. And for the most part skip troweled ceilings here always have sand mixed in the texture. 
Rarely do I get a request to do skip trowel on walls. When I do walls, I usually don't put sand for a smoother surface.

Here's a short video clip of me applying a skip trowel texture to a ceiling after removing the popcorn texture from it.


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## iDAHOchris (Feb 11, 2012)

We call that a "Skip" minus the sand. Alot of guys have swithed to knives ( myself included) for applying texture and I guess as long as it looks the same it can be called the same. I just find it odd to use a KNIFE and call it a TRoWEL texture:blink:. Nice looking skip Paul:thumbsup:


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## Mountain Man (Jun 3, 2013)

iDAHOchris said:


> Are you using an 18" knife for this texture or a smaller one. I like the 14" knife for our" imperfect smooth".


Yes I am using an 18" short handled marshalltown knockdown knife to do hand texture.


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## Mountain Man (Jun 3, 2013)

iDAHOchris said:


> If you arnt using a trowel it cant be called a skip trowel:no:. A skip trowel texture IMO is done by dobbing the ceilingl with trowel ( and hawk) and making small stalagmites on ceiling. Wait a few minutes and knock it down.[/QUOTE
> 
> That's what we call a brocade style texture here.


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## Sir Mixalot (Jan 6, 2008)

CrpntrFrk said:


> I have been trying to upload a video of myself applying a Sante Fe for months but I never can get it to upload to you tube


How are you trying to upload it? Windows MM?


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## CrpntrFrk (Oct 25, 2008)

Sir Mixalot said:


> How are you trying to upload it? Windows MM?


Off my phone direct to you tube. It will keep trying but always fails. Try some different stuff to see if I can get it loaded.


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## Sir Mixalot (Jan 6, 2008)

CrpntrFrk said:


> Off my phone direct to you tube. It will keep trying but always fails. Try some different stuff to see if I can get it loaded.


Plug your phone into your computer and upload the photo file to it. :thumbsup:


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## Mountain Man (Jun 3, 2013)

There is an app called youtube capture that you can upload the video onto and then upload to YouTube. And from there you can put the link onto CT. That's how I uploaded my video from my iPhone.


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## CrpntrFrk (Oct 25, 2008)

Watching this I realized how freakn fat I really am. :laughing:.....wait......:sad:


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## Mountain Man (Jun 3, 2013)

Happens to the best of us man!!


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