[VANMAN]

I live in Arkansas. Our choices are USG, proform and national gypsum.
USG offers allpurpose, +3, mid-weight,and topping.
Proform offers all-purpose and lite.
National gypsum has something called "easy finish"--whatever that is...
I run USG all-purpose through my northstar bazuka. It bonds great and has a lot of glue.
I coat my corner bead with USG +3 (both coats).
I box(8" ,10") 1st , 2nd coats with the +3 and spot 2 coats screws with it also.
I angle box angles with with 1/2 and 1/2 all-purpose , +3.
Off or splay beads are plastic and once they're stapled on, I use dura-bond 45 minute brown bag to apply 1st coat, then 2 coats +3.
I think the shrinkage you all are talking about is due to how thin the mud is. Of course, more water to thin the mud will cause it to shrink more.
And the blisters don't care if there is more glue in the mud or not. If there is no mud behind the tape, you're gonna have blisters.
About me... Im 35. I have started at 14. (step-dad) put me to work. I have done it his way the whole time. He got good results and so do I. I have worked alone since 2006 and do okay with it. Largest house done solo was 339 sheets (12' Sheetrock) with some 11' ceilings, 8' up-stairs 9' everywhere else. Took 14 days.
I avoid coating with all-purpose since it sucks to sand it.
Oh. When I spray orange-peel, knock-down or anything besides acoustic, I use the same mud I tape with. I thin it down to paint consistency and STRIAN it through a paint strainer to remove the chunks.

Yea same here green top for puttin the tapes on plus 3 for 8 and 12!! But just been changing it up a bit latley! But plus 3 dont shrink at all,well maybe a little bit but not a lot:thumbsup:

 

[thefinisher]

We supply Ruco middleweight for our guys. Taping, bedding, and skimming, they all get this mud. It is much simpler and comes out great. We used to use machine grade mud too. The heavier the mud, the better the finish. Who cares if it is harder to put on, atleast it comes out good. :thumbsup:

 

[carpentaper]

whoa old thread. when i staredthis thread all i had ever used was our canadian all purposes which are really quite wimpy to tape with. CGC AP is really weak and if you do not really make sure the mud gets a chance to soak into the tape it blisters really easily. you've got to let the tape sit for a bit when hand taping before wiping in my experience. proroc AP is definately a better mud for taping. it's considerably harder to sand but i have had better luck with taping with it. this summer i used some beadex mud from down south. heavyweight AP. used it from start to finish on one small job. IT SUCKED!!!!! NEVER AGAIN! hardest mud i have ever had to sand. way harder than proroc taping mud. tapes stuck like a sonofab!tch. thank god it was just an old garage because i left a pretty brutal finish in a few spots. would not have been acceptable anywhere else. i really like CGC AP for finish coat because it does not scratch as easy as topping when sanding.

 

[Deanmcbrat]

We use yellow box lite joint taping and red classic for finish here in British Columbia Canada.. all-purpose is really great for skimming ceilings as it has a small amount of glue and it dries super white .with little shrinking. I wouldn't do a larger job using all purpose for embedding tapes as there is not enough glue to hold the tapes unless your using fibra-fuse fiberglass tape . Any fixes to ceilings use all purpose and fibra-fuse because of there being less mud in the all purpose it's easier to sand your coats .and because of the fiberglass tape it takes way less time for your tapes to dry so you can apply your finish coat in hours or less.