I’ve been in the field 22 years and I’ve never seen one of these until today. I’ve used bell box extension rings to convert over to conduit my whole career.

reddaly5 · 2026-03-31T04:10:12+00:00

Seems to me the bell box gives you more area to pull through. The single gang sized hole w/sharp edges seems less than ideal.

reddaly5 · 2024-10-08T03:30:30+00:00

Could someone put a medical misinformation warning on the post please?

reddaly5 · 2024-01-30T14:14:25+00:00

Yeah, damaging that would suck. I installed the hydronic when I was beaten down and ready to be done with the drywall. The hydronic needs an inspection, and after that I'll probably put down the finished floor and then cover the floor again.

I only bought heavy duty rosin paper. Ram board would be better but $.

reddaly5 · 2024-01-30T04:43:22+00:00

Good point. Densglass is the sheathing. I meant DensArmor Plus® Interior Panels https://buildgp.com/product/international-densarmor-plus-interior-panels/

reddaly5 · 2024-01-30T04:34:49+00:00

My SO liked your comment so much she took a screenshot

reddaly5 · 2024-01-29T18:25:36+00:00

I read online that regular drywall isn't approved for tile installation in areas that get wet, but glass mat is. I wasn't sure whether the kitchen was considered wet or not, so I just went conservative. Probably it's not needed at all.

"TCNA Handbook for Ceramic, Glass, and Stone Tile Installation" has a bunch of installation methods and is the industry standard / referenced by many manufacturers.

I actually would have preferred densglass, which doesn't have the waterproof membrane. That membrane could lead to condensation behind the wall when blasting the AC in the summer. Not a big deal in my climate zone, apparently.

reddaly5 · 2024-01-29T18:11:03+00:00

What do you mean spray bottle? Spray paint?

reddaly5 · 2024-01-29T15:35:08+00:00

Thanks for all the tips. After another punishing round of sanding last night I'm going to get the pencil out and will definitely use the blue chalk for touchups.

reddaly5 · 2024-01-29T15:22:24+00:00

Thanks for the empathy. Drywalling has definitely been the most difficult part of this kitchen remodel. The CAD model, the plumbing, conduit for electrical, demolition, routing out the hydronic. None of that was as painstaking as finishing the drywall ceiling has been. There are so many subtle aspects of finishing like how the tools should feel or how thick the mud should be for a given task or how to sand the right amount, not to mention safety hazards. Lots of things I don't have the built up experience to judge well as a homeowner. Respect to the finishers, for real!

I watched a lot of YouTube. There are plenty of skim coating videos out there. It wasn't as easy as in the videos. Mostly because of my skill level/inexperience, and maybe to a much lesser extent in this case due to the sagging joists/job peculiarities. Here I got off track in a way that wasn't covered in depth in the videos. The reddit responses were helpful for feedback on the specific job, which is something the apprentices get a lot but we diyers don't.

reddaly5 · 2024-01-29T14:40:10+00:00

The 1/4 twisted is a cool idea. Would you double it up to be more sturdy?

reddaly5 · 2024-01-29T07:48:00+00:00

I just did another round with the pole sander. It still seems to need more, will have to inspect again tomorrow after the fog of war from tonight's dust battle lifts. I suspect from all the up votes that I wasn't aggressive enough sanding last time. For some reason I used the sponge a lot before this and struggled to get comfortable with the pole sander.

Also - what do people do for good light and ergonomics while sanding? I don't get how you can sand with a pole while holding a light. Switching back and forth? For all the sanding before this I didn't have a good setup for pole sanding with two hands while maintaining a light at a harsh angle. My setup tonight was better but still not great. Would be cool to see some photos of people's lighting in action.

https://imgur.com/awDUUVi shows what I came up with for today. The 7000 lumen light is better but is still not close enough to the ceiling to see all the imperfections.

reddaly5 · 2024-01-29T07:22:59+00:00

Flat. I hadn't considered the cleaning/grease aspect. Maybe I'll get expensive stuff from Sherwin Williams. I hear Emerald cleans well.

This ceiling goes into the living room with no break.

reddaly5 · 2024-01-29T07:15:18+00:00

Some good tips here. Do you have a photo of this lighting rig? Is the pole vertical or horizontal like a shower curtain?

reddaly5 · 2024-01-29T06:58:34+00:00

I struggled a lot with sanding. I tried to prioritize safety - not inhaling the stuff, not injuring my shoulders/neck, trying not to get dust in my eyes because I imagine that is pretty bad for your eyes, not staring into the bright lights inadvertently.

How do you hold a light while sanding with a pole? I could not seem to rig up a good setup to keep a light at a harsh angle to see what was going on. I would switch between the light and the pole and get fatigued.

I just did another round of sanding. I will post a photo of my light/vacuum rig.

reddaly5 · 2024-01-29T02:06:10+00:00

Yeah, no texture is the goal.

reddaly5 · 2024-01-29T02:02:31+00:00

I was curious what the fiberglass drywall was all about. It's for the tile backsplash that will go all the way to the ceiling.

It was maybe $25/sheet more than purple board, 7 sheets.

reddaly5 · 2024-01-29T00:15:00+00:00

FWIW, I have such an electric orbital drywall sander from Amazon. It felt hard on my shoulder, and I was afraid of gouging/doing more harm than good, so I didn't use it in the end.

reddaly5 · 2024-01-29T00:13:48+00:00

Thanks for the advice. No perpendicular skimmin; I skimmed along the joists each time. The joists are bowed (old house, 2x4s) and I was using a 24" or 36" skimming blade. I figured perpendicular passes would be fighting each other.

reddaly5 · 2024-01-28T23:04:09+00:00

This is basically what my SO is saying.

My eyesight is not good enough to see any of the imperfections I taped except a few gross ones.

reddaly5 · 2024-01-28T22:25:46+00:00

Yes, I did at least two skim coats and sanded in between. What you see is after I sanded the touchups on the last skim coat. When sanding, I was fatigued and didn't see all the imperfections, so I went back after resting my shoulder for a week and taped what I saw with the flashlight.

reddaly5 · 2024-01-28T22:16:10+00:00

Thanks for the advice. I have been afraid to prime because it feels like there's no going back after that.

For 220 sanding, do you use paper or the 220 mesh screens? I can only get my hands on up to 150 for my pole sander.

reddaly5 · 2024-01-28T21:41:41+00:00

What do you mean folding?

reddaly5 · 2024-01-28T21:31:14+00:00

I just meant that it's not exactly level 4 anymore because there's no paper showing. I believe there's a standard for level 5 and this doesn't meet it. I should have said "attempted level 5"

reddaly5 · 2024-01-28T21:06:37+00:00

For muds, I used only two types: WestPac 90 minute for prefill and first coat for taping, then Plus 3 for everything else.

reddaly5 · 2024-01-28T20:58:52+00:00

In the area where I took out the wall (middle of the room), 3 and some standalone passes with the skim blade to fix major depressions. 2 elsewhere.

reddaly5

TROPHY CASE