This is the part of your drywall taping job that most of the horror stories come from and I will not pretend it is enjoyable but it is a very important part of your drywall job and if you have kept your work neat and clean and have stuck to the drywall instructions up to now it will not be that bad. First as always you want to prepare by closing or blocking all cold air returns on your home furnace and make sure the fan on your furnace is not running turn off the switch if necessary.
Now close all doors on adjoining rooms that do not have to be sanded and block the doors at the bottom or even better staple plastic over the entrances that you wish to protect as much as possible. Now as for yourself you are going to get covered up,so if you have coveralls great if not grab some old clothes also a hat and disposable filter masks that you can buy at your building supply store once you have done this you are ready to start sanding your Drywall Contractor.
Always start at the top of your job and work your way down so pick a room and start with the corners that meet your ceilings and start lightly feathering along the edges of the corners to remove any ridges and try not to go too hard into your corners as you may cause damage to your corners. You are doing what you did between coats you are cleaning your drywall job the only difference is this is your final sand and you want to be a little more picky. Now when your done the corners around the top of your ceiling, finish sanding your down corners until you have finish all the corners in your first room. You are going to sand your ceiling next and this is where it can become messy as the sanded drywall dust will of course fall down right on you and the room.the procedure for sanding your ceiling seams is the same as your corners, feather the outer edges first and then lightly run your hand sander back and forth on the center of your seam always running in the same direction of the seam never across it.Just a side point do not let any one tell you to use a power sander they are not for sanding drywall so avoid the temptation, because if some ones drywall coating is so thick and bad that they have to use a power sander they have gotten themselves into a real mess.Now when your have your first ceiling seam nice and clean just repeat the process on the rest of your ceiling and move on to the walls in your room which are easier as the dust will fall to the floor in front of you.
Remember when sanding the ceiling your bulk heads are part of your ceiling and sand your corner bead in the same fashion feathering at first then lightly finishing the rest of your bead up and down not across.When you have completely finished one room move to the next until you are completely finished your drywall sanding job. You are finally finish all your drywall and all that is left is to is clean up,take a broom and knock all the excess drywall dust off your ceiling and walls and if you have a shop vac use it to vacuum up the dust and then damp mop your floors to get the rest.
You are now ready to prime your drywall, this is important as new drywall after it is finished is very volatile and it can be easily damaged when bumped or scratched so you want to seal it with drywall primer as soon as possible also paint today is not cheap so you want your drywall to soak up your primer and not your expensive finish paint. One last tip when sealing get lots of paint in the corners,but do not leave of course any excess drips. I hope these drywall taping instruction have been of help to you and you are happy with your finished job. Thank you for visiting.