"kevin" wrote in message
oups.com...
Go with just one rough coat of mud over the joints. Let it dry for a
day or two, then go over it with a sponge. Use a bucket of warm water,
and a big thick sponge (e.g. 6x8x3 inch variety) -- just dip the
sponge, squeze a bit so you don't have dripping water, and quickly run
over the joints. This will smooth out the mud quite a bit, which will
make the whole thing look pretty nice, and will make painting easier on
the mostly smooth surface. Let the mud dry again for a few hours.

I'm not great at mud, and even I could probably do the entire mud in an
hour or two, then the sponging in 30 min or so.


Yep, this works pretty nicely and you get a pretty smooth joint. If you are
real careful with the application of your joint coumpound this could be a 2
step process.