Q:I live in a home built in 1979 and want to create a smoother surface on my walls. They were finished with a textured finish of long strokes of finishing mud, which I have heard called a skip-trough ...

After the compound (drywall mud) dries, sand the area until smooth and reapply drywall mud feathering out further. Repeat this process. NOTE: Do not prime and paint until you're completely satisfied!

While there is no such thing as a perfect building material, drywall comes pretty close. For one thing, it's dirt cheap, costing about $7 for a 1/2-in.-thick 4 x 8 panel. It's also DIY friendly--about ...

Q. I’m building a new home. Because of the booming economy and shortage of great help, I might be forced to hang and finish the drywall myself. I’ve done a few repairs here and there and wonder if ...

Patches made with traditional patching materials must be primed with a sealing-type primer before painting. Otherwise, the patched areas could show foggy spots throughout the finished paint job. But ...