Sand the drywall between skimming applications.
Drywall panels are smooth when newly installed, but stripping off old tile or wallpaper can wreak havoc on the surface of drywall. Skim coating drywall doesn't require many tools, but it does require a very fine touch to restore the wall to a smooth surface. With a little patience and a lot of practice, you can learn to skim coat walls, using a method similar to 19th century builders who applied plaster by hand to lathe walls.
Instructions
1. Remove all nails, screws, picture hangers and loose chunks of drywall. If necessary, tape the seams between the drywall panels before starting. Remove baseboard.
2. Fill your taping pan about two-thirds full with premixed joint compound and use a 10-inch drywall-taping knife.
3. Scoop out about 1 cup of joint compound, distributed mostly in the middle of your taping blade, and place the knife, mud side against the wall, at the bottom of the wall. The blade should be about 1 inch from the floor and parallel to the floor, with the handle extending upward.
4. Pull the taping knife straight upward while using firm pressure to spread a thin, even layer of joint compound on the wall.
5. Control the amount of joint compound by the angle of the knife handle. At the beginning of the stroke, you'll hold the handle about 20 degrees from the wall. As you pull the taping knife, you can adjust the pressure by moving the handle closer to the wall.
6. Repeat the process with another stroke next to the first, overlapping the last stroke about 1 inch. Work quickly; joint compound can dry within minutes on a hot dry day.
7. Continue over a section about 5 feet wide, then go back and smooth out the entire section again. As you move, you'll develop a feel for the amount of pressure you need to spread a thin coat of compound on the wall.
8. Skim the rest of the wall, working in sections along the bottom of the wall first and then moving to the upper wall area.
9. Let the joint compound dry and sand off rough spots with a drywall sander before adding another thin coat of joint compound. Repeat this process until the wall is smooth.
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