Review for the vario tapeless mud

joepro0000

Ok so I got 2 samples buckets of this mud from Gary, and been so busy with work I didn't get a chance to use it up until about 3 weeks ago.
I mud claims it doesn't need taping over any joints, and will not crack later. In order to verify it will not crack, I waited 3 weeks to go back and see if it cracked, and the outcome is no! The mud did not crack and is a very good material. I will need to use it more, to grow confidence with it, but it is like a 30 min. versian on durabond, except it goes on very smooth and slick. The stuff drys fast, and doesn't need to be skimming with joint compound after, vs using durabond. I used it as a prefill, then 1st coat, followed by a 2th coat, and a final skim coat with it. See pictures attached!

Thanks, Gary!

Attached Images

	1130091337.jpg (105.0 KB, 29 views)
	1130091342.jpg (105.6 KB, 20 views)
	1130091448.jpg (106.8 KB, 19 views)
	1201090937.jpg (106.1 KB, 22 views)

rebel20

looks good thanks for the coments Joe

A+ Texture LLC

That looks like a happy drywall repair. Good job Joe.

silverstilts

I am still interested if why it would not crack even a hairline crack. What is the stuff made out of ?

__________________
aka the rock doctor

Tim0282

I am thinking I read there are a lot of fiberglass fibers in it. Not sure about that, though.

rebel20

Silver there are the polymers in it that create the bond and Tim no there are not any fibreglass fibers in it. Silver send me a pm with contact info and I will send you some then you can make your own judgement of the product. I am sure you have scrap board laying around try it there.

Rebel

Quality1st

No where not even in angles. I,m not saying it isn,t possible,but its a scary concept. No builder i know would let me try it on his building. I,d have to lock the doors and get it first coated so noone would know. And then pray like hell it didn,t crack.

rebel20

Thats what many have said the Architects and builders loved it

I gave an opportunity for anyone to try this mud. It still goes.

rebel20

This came in from a tester in NJ

RE: AW: AW: tapeless mudd
From: ************************
To: *********************x
hey great stuff i just used it today on a bathroom and i must say im sold. dries quick, mixes easier than others and goes on smooth. i ran about a half of a bag short so how can i get some 55lb bags.



Tester was from a different forum I will try to get pics from him to post

Rebel

alltex

I am trying it now in a couple rooms in a big house.didn,t use it in the angles it just seems faster with the gun .Its real smooth and mixes easy.I like it.I did another small one with it using glass tape then finished with topping .worked great sanded out alot easyer too.Get home depo to carry it!

rebel20

(Get home depo to carry it!)

I will see what I can do for you out there

rebel

rhardman

I read that many of the HD stores have the autonomy to try new products and see how customers take to them.

Their biggest concern is the supply chain.

Go get 'em Compadre' !!!

kgphoto

I was able to use this mud for the first time today. I found it was harder to mix, by that I mean stiffer than Westpac/Hamiltons Easy Sand. It didn't get as "loose" when I added more water to the initial mix. However, once mixed, it was very creamy and spreadable. This allowed making corrections and blending areas very simply. I put a fan, no heat, on it and was able to get three coats on in one day. I touched up sanded it and then skim coated with a General Purpose mud, which is my preferred choice for my skim. It sanded nicely, but I noticed a few poc marks and some "light coverage" areas, so that is why I skimmed. It was probably due to the fact I didn't use my light, just the room lights and overlooked these few spots. Tomorrow I will sand and then prime and paint. I have some areas that didin't get a skim of GP so I will be able to see if there is any differnce in primer absorption. Overall, I like it. I will need to test it on a larger area and mix larger amounts.

rhardman

Since the Vario is a setting material can you confirm that a fan or heat won't have a dramatic effect on the set time? Usually a faster set can be achieved by adding hot water or 20 minute hotmud to the mix. This is true with hot mud or plaster, I'm just not sure about your product.

I guess a fan might help to evaporate the water which would make the next coat (of regular mud) dry faster. But if there is some plaster in there, it would disipate the water anyway.

???

rebel20

Direct fan and heat won't have much effect on the setting process. The set process may vary 8-12 min each way. Hot water only allows it to Mix easier the setting time stays the same. We tested this about 3 weeks ago. And blowing a fan on it only throughs dust into the mud not recommended for any mud as far as I am concerned. I don't recommend adding another manufactures mud to it as this will null the warrenty. The chemical process that takes place is a cold fusion it does not give off heat as it hardens not like the standard fast setting compounds, thus "Hot Mud".
Vario Tapeless Joint Compound contains a proprietary mix of polymer additives. The polymers in Vario give it the necessary tensile strength to bridge joints securely without tape.

As soon as your first coat has taken an initial set, you can scrape any high spots with your knife and apply a second coat. Since the mud is setting rather than drying, the second coat won't slow the setting of the first coat.


I see KG used a fan which was not necessary as the setting time is 45 min he still could have finished the three coats in 1 day

Rebel

rebel20

Ok guys got to remember here I’m not a finisher learned to hang drywall have drywall business in Germany and contract out the finish side. I was sitting at my dad’s and said I am tired of looking at the cracks in the front foyer so let’s fix them. What I thought was going to be a quick fix on the plaster turned out to be a job in itself. When I started grooving out the plaster it started falling from the wall. So then it started, I removed all the loose plaster as seen in the pictures and started a long process of redoing the wall with Vario. Need to say I only had so many tools to work with as I was not expecting to do this and did not see the sense in going and buying $100 worth of tools. I did have to buy a trowel because I couldn’t work with the drywall knives just my preference.

rebel20

Here the Pic's

Attached Images

	DSCN0098.JPG (70.3 KB, 8 views)
	DSCN0101.JPG (69.0 KB, 8 views)

rebel20

I had a small bucket no pan. I have also put skim coat of mud over the existing Plaster and paint no primer just to test for those guys out there that keep asking the question of mud over paint. And the threads bubbles when mudding over paint and so forth. I must say I had fine bubbles in a 1 in. area but when I swiped trowel over it they disappeared immediately. And there were three coats of paint pink (probably primer), green and yellow.

The results I am sure if one of you guys would have done it been much better and probable in a fraction of the time it took me to do it. I also mixed the mud with hot water to see what the results in setting time would be, there was no difference. The only difference in setting time was on the painted surface which took about 25 minutes longer to set. As I am leaving for Germany tomorrow my brother will do the finishing touches. Sand, touch up and paint if they even decide to do this. My dad may say has a rustical touch to it and sand and paint.

I will try to have my dad take a picture once a month to post to see the results of the mud over paint, plaster no primer.

New pic after 1 month vario still holding. Kinda yellow camera setting will try to get better pic next time.

Attached Images

	DSCN0107.JPG (72.8 KB, 6 views)
	DSCN0108.JPG (71.2 KB, 4 views)
	DSCN0109.JPG (72.3 KB, 4 views)

kgphoto

Further update.

Now that I have been back to the job I can see that after it is fully dry, it is a harder surface to sand. When it was "green" it sanded very easy, now not so much. Using a sponge backed sandpaper, it wasn't cut well and sanded the softer skim around it leaving a bump. I didn't have a hard backed sander with me on this job.

I did find that it scrapes very easily. By this, I mean I could shave it with my sharp painter's tool (think wide chisel) and it didn't chatter or break out, but shaved cleanly. This is a fast, low dust way to take care of bumps.

I notice it did shrink more than the Easy Sand on the Nail holes. That is not a big deal as I was planning on multiple coats. I will try a larger patch and see how much it shrinks there.

Definitely wear a mask when mixing and sanding this material.

You may be right that I didn't need a fan, but it seemed to make it go faster. I will run a timed test on another day.

I didn't mix any other mud into the Vario. I just used a skim coat of GP once it was dry. I typically do this when I work with hot mud, so if there is any touch up sanding required, it is a softer mud and the sanding goes very quickly.

The bubbles (pock marks) I got were easily removed by a second wipe of the knife. The one I overlooked was because I didn't have my bright light on the wall when I worked. As I get older I notice I need brighter light to see things that I used to be able to see without it.

thesprayking

Rebel, I used the mud the other day on a job where all the off-angles had cracked in one room. I did 3 with regular straight-flex tape and hot mud, then one with no tape and your vario product. I did not have any problems with the vario at all. No cracking, very smooth mixing, easy working time(25mins). The only problem I had was I had no straight line to work with because I used no tape (just for experimental), kinda hard keeping a straight line but it worked. I only used this because the job is literally around the corner from my home and the GC is a friend and loves new products. I plan on using it in a bathroom this coming week. I will save a complete wall to do with the mud, and compare it to the other walls. Also it will get spray textured. I will remember to bring my camera to work this time.