Blew through 12 boxes of compound in one day last Tuesday

We had a rush job on a new build outside Denver, 18 foot ceilings in the main room. Thought I had enough mud prepped but nope. Three trips to the supply house before lunch. Foreman just kept saying "tape it and pray." By 4pm my wrists felt like jelly. Anyone else run into a job where the prep work was way off and you had to burn through materials like crazy?

3 comments

3 Comments

diana_kim661mo ago

TWELVE boxes in ONE day? That is absolutely INSANE. Your wrists must have been screaming by noon, I can't even imagine doing that much finishing work in a single shift. The prep work being that far off is a nightmare, especially with those tall ceilings making every lift harder on your arms. Three trips to the supply house before lunch sounds like a total disaster, like somebody seriously miscalculated the square footage or the coat thickness. That "tape it and pray" foreman line is both hilarious and terrifying because it means nobody had a real plan. Hope you got some serious overtime pay for that mess, because your body definitely paid the price.

murray.cora1mo ago

Oh man, I gotta admit @diana_kim66, I used to think guys bragging about monster mudding days were just exaggerating for street cred, but this story is making me reconsider everything. Twelve boxes of finish in one shift sounds like a nightmare for your wrists, especially with those tall ceilings just making every reach worse. The supply house runs before lunch tell me the whole job was a cluster from the start, and that "tape it and pray" foreman line is gold because it's way too real about how some sites run. Hope you got paid double time at least, because that kind of day leaves you sore for a week.

evan_cooper731mo ago

And the worst part nobody talks about is how those tall ceilings mess with your body mechanics, you're reaching up and straining your shoulders all day long. That kind of repetitive motion on the wrists is brutal, twelve boxes means thousands of knife pulls and your forearm is just on fire by lunch. Supply house runs before noon tell me the estimator completely blew it, that's just amateur hour from someone who's never actually taped a day in their life. The foreman saying "tape it and pray" means the schedule was already screwed and they just needed bodies in the room, no respect for quality at all. Hope diana_kim66 got paid time and a half at minimum, because that kind of abuse to your body takes a week to recover from. That story is a good reminder to always walk the job before you bid it, because some sites are just set up to fail from day one.