Rant: Saw a ceiling job in my town fail after just 2 years because they used the wrong mud for the climate.

It was a big house on Maple Street, finished in 2021. The install looked perfect at first. Walked by it last week and the seams are all cracked and bubbled. The crew used a standard all-purpose compound, but we get huge humidity swings here. In the summer it's like a swamp. The drywall sucked up moisture and then shrank when the heat kicked in. The painter tried to patch it, but it's a band-aid. Now the whole ceiling needs re-taping. Cost the homeowner thousands. What's your go-to mud for humid areas? I'm sticking with a setting-type for anything that might breathe.

3 comments

3 Comments

wyatt_sullivan401mo ago

Man, that's rough. I learned that lesson the hard way on my own garage. Used the cheap stuff and it looked like a spiderweb in a year. Now I'm a total convert to setting-type mud for any room that isn't climate controlled. It dries rock hard and doesn't care about the humidity. My only issue is I mix it way too fast and then end up with a bucket of useless rocks.

fiona_webb8d ago

Lol is it really that big of a deal? My garage mud job is still fine after like three years.

blaked791mo ago

Honestly, that mixing speed is a real thing. I did the exact same thing with a bag of Durabond last weekend, @wyatt_sullivan40. Got a phone call, got distracted, and came back to what looked like a concrete flower pot in my mixing bucket. Had to chip the whole thing out with a screwdriver.