Spackle vs joint compound on large jobs

Submitted by dramaticFlySwatter t3_10mgve3 in DIY

My grandfather has two 100' long showroom walls littered with nail holes from years of hanging his paintings. I'd like to fill the holes as the walls are looking a bit rough, but I'm hesitant to apply spackle to 1000+ holes individually. Would rolling joint compound across the walls fill the holes sufficiently? How are large repairs like this generally completed?

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Hyjynx75 t1_j62yurq wrote

A good drywaller could do a skim coat of drywall compound and sand it smooth. 2 x 100' walls is a lot of square footage though so expect it to cost a bit for their time.

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letmehavefun12 t1_j64fv5o wrote

I had a painting business and when I came across areas that needed a lot of spackle id call a drywaller, Thats all they do and they do it well. Worth the money.

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GodzlIIa t1_j62zxeh wrote

I cant think of a solution that would be faster then filling the holes individually. If you roll joint compound I imagine you are still going to need to smooth it out, and unless you are good at that it would probably be a pain.

What kind of nail holes, are they small? One idea I can think of is just get a texture hopper and spray the compound on instead. Id do a light/fine texture pattern but just spray it on heavy till the holes are covered lol. Would still probably be longer then filling them individually as you would have to do the whole wall to make it even.

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loganab13 t1_j63l9y7 wrote

The only truly correct way to repair would to be skim coated in its entirety. A good finisher can skim coat and finish sand both walls in half the time a DIYer could individually fill 1000+ holes and spot sand every one. Plus, the end result will look a thousand times better.

I’ve worked with a lot of finishers over my years in commercial construction and it truly is an art form.

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hamildub t1_j63ai31 wrote

Sand first, roll on light finishing mud, float with the biggest drywall trowel you can handle, lightly sand, re-coat if needed, paint.

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alberttf t1_j64mngn wrote

Had a similar problem. Wall had a light orange peel texture and after spackeling it looked horrible with all the smooth spots sticking out like a sore thumb. Had to skim it to fix it. TLDR just go straight to skimming.

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Lintlickker t1_j64filh wrote

As others have said, an experienced drywaller could mud the entire surface faster than you could individually fill all of the holes. But, generally, if I'm going to be filling holes, I'll use spackle because it dries faster and shrinks less. If you plan on skim coating the whole thing definitely use joint compound but if you can afford paying someone experienced to do it, they can do it way faster than you and will look better.

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Beatncheex09 t1_j66cyuk wrote

Like others have said light sand, skim, then texture or whatever look you want or are matching. The only thing I would add is throw on a coat of primer before painting. I know most paints are supposed to be paint and primer, but putting a coat of primer on before painting will really help with your final color especially if going with a dark color.

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