Dropped a full bucket of mud on a finished floor in a Richmond condo yesterday

I was working solo on a ceiling patch job in unit 407 and knocked my 5 gallon bucket off the scaffold. The whole lid popped off and splashed joint compound across 30 feet of brand new hardwood. Has anyone else had a disaster like that and found a quick way to clean it up before it dries?

3 comments

3 Comments

irisowens1mo agoMost Upvoted

Scribble up every bit you can with a drywall knife before it kicks, that's the move. I used to think water and a sponge was the answer for everything, but then I had to clean compound off a client's engineered bamboo floor and watched it turn into a gummy nightmare. @nguyen.blake is dead right about that stuff finding cracks, I was still scraping residue out of the expansion gaps a week later. What actually saved me was hitting the spots with a plastic putty knife and a little WD-40 on a rag, then going back with diluted vinegar to lift the haze. Still took me two hours on my knees though.

nguyen.blake1mo ago

That feeling when you're just trying to get through one job and the universe decides it's time for a test of your patience... joint compound has a way of finding every crack in the floor.

the_wendy1mo ago

30 feet is brutal, that stuff finds its way into every little gap in the boards. I've had good luck scraping off as much as possible with a drywall knife before it starts setting, then hitting the residue with a damp rag and white vinegar.