Ever tried SKIMMING DRYWALL with one of THESE? 

I’m pathetic, just got home from spraying knockdown all day, and I’m watching drywall videos.

You are just fantastic at this. It's really a big win for us all to have someone of your ability as a tradesman also have such a gift at teaching. It's genuinely educational and oddly relaxing watching you work. You're kind of the Bob Ross of carpentry.

Had my first level 5 job this week since seeing you apply the mud with a roller & decided to try it out. Once again, thank you for teaching me yet another little trick that has proven to be a huge time saver. I used less mud, applied it faster, more consistent thickness & the skimmer was done in 2 passes. Best tip in ages. Cheers from Australia.

Great Job on these Videos. You do the best at explaining every little nuance. I too have the 18,24 and 40 in skim blades. I can't believe how fast the job goes. 2 coats and I am done I was impressed at the amount of area one can cover with the 40 in blade. Thanks for explaining the roller, this will help in the future. As a homeowner I have learned a lot from you. Keep up the good work.

I bought a level 5 set last year. Can't believe how much work it saves & seriously impressive results.

So glad I found this helpful video AFTER skim coating my living and dining rooms. As a cake decorator, I agree that it does feel a bit like frosting a cake.

I'm getting ready to work on the ceiling and repair walls in a bathroom remodel. This video was timely. But I'll need to revisit your other drywall videos for reminders. Thanks.

Dip your roller in water and use your hands to work the water in the fibers a little. Give it a gentle spin, then dunk it and spin it again. You want it pretty damp but not dripping. We always called it “priming” the roller. It basically allows you to start applying material right away, without the first several minutes and sections being wasted to saturating the roller. Same thing with a brush. I have every confidence it would work for preparing a roller to applymud for a skim coat.

I love this channel and that almost half a million folks tune in to see you do something we can't really see on camera. But in our imaginations, that wall is silky smooth

I grabbed a Level 5 and it makes a huge difference - I almost looks like I know what I'm doing! After watching your video, now I know I can do a better job rolling it on as well.. that's a huge time saver as well if you ask me. Thank you for your great videos 🙂

Amazing how a pro defines "messy". By just standing still and looking at a bucket of mud, I manage to look as though I willfully decided to take a bath in the stuff! It frightened the cats when they saw me and the little woman cracked up and said I looked like I was in a full body cast.

I have a job coming up where I will be skimming the walls in a bathroom. I googled skimming walls and came across your video! You covered all my questions and demonstrated so well how it’s used! Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge!!

I didn't know about rolling on mud or smoothing blades. I have three bedrooms with painted-over wallpaper. I was going to replace the sheetrock! Thank you for the incredible paradigm shift!

Thank you for this video! You got me to buy one of these to make my skim coating easier. I am hanging new sheet rock in places, and removing a 1950's sanded skip trowel on the walls that don't need replacing. Yeah I suck at it, this is my first time. I am getting better.

23 years ago I worked on a project that wanted 700,000sqft of drywall level 5! We rolled it all with 18” rollers and used a huge pan of mud to dip the roller into! Three man process. One guy rolling and two guys trialing with 14” knives. And this was with regular mud! They didn’t have lightweight back than! Now we use Graco Mark 5 to spray the mud on the walls! Great videos! Love the inside jokes!! I laugh and than my wife gives me the l don’t get it look! 😆

Totally agree with BenRush's comment about you being the Bob Ross of Carpentry. I find I'm watching your videos just because I can relate to the satisfaction aspect of your work. It is very relaxing to watch. Not to discredit how fit you are, the amount of muscle it takes to do the work is not at all lost on me. So glad the blade company sent you those blades. And I would like to add, whoever is filming, did a fabulous job.

Oh my geez. So satisfying to watch. I completely related to your contentment as you skimmed that wall. God I want to buy one but I'm not a drywaller (lol) by profession. I just began remodeling my home a year ago which has been an amazing experience. Ben, my honey showed everyone at work my drywall & skim work via video and pics, and they were shocked to see how good my work is that at one point, they even said that it would be a good thing to hire me for patching up drywall jobs. Can you believe this? All that I have learned is because of your videos. You're a great teacher. Wish I could show you my work. And by the way, the humor is a bonus to watching VC videos with coffee in the A.M. THANK YOU SO MUCH! Oh yeah, and I TOTALLY agree w/ keeping the bucket lip clean. I'm 100% OCD about that too.

This is the best, most educational skimming video I’ve seen and I’ve searched through a fair amount. Thank you for this. It’s great that it’s in real time rather than the sped up videos that people do these days, where certain important points are not explained. Very much appreciated and hope to see more of your videos. 🙂👍

I can't believe how much your tutorial helped me thank you!

You make it look so simple when it's totally a finesse job... It was really informative for me, though, after I've struggled with doing drywall, mudding and taping all my life, well, most of it, anywho... I already used some of your suggestions, and I really found out about mud consistency is key !

I'm not a tradesman, but I learned how to do drywall working on my own house. And I find it to be one of the most satisfying home improvement tasks there is. I might be kind of a weirdo, but I love getting that mud smooth on the wall. I have only used long blades in the past, but I might invest in one of these things if I ever do another job on my house.

First, I would like to say thank you. I have learned a lot from u . I got my level 5 and can't wait to start my adventure. Again, thank you and continue the awesome work

Thank you bro 35 years of drywall but not much smooth wall you have really help me on this job terrible bubbles OMG crazy I'm going do this today after I sand it I'm sure it's going make things better

Just skim coated walls with roller and 36" blade today for the first time. LOVE IT!

A pro showing a “hitchhiker”. This guy is the genuine article. ❤

Ben anyone would think you are a pro skim coat guy with those blades.they are a fantastic invention!! good job buddy

I always appreciate how you talk out what you’re doing as you’re doing it! Most “how to” videos would just say “roll the mud on and sand”.

Your Videos are so so good! Thank you so much for what you do and how you teach !

Really glad to see you doing this video. I just bought a Level5 32" skimming blade! I can't wait to try it out but first I have to perfect the annoying corners! And as I was removing old tape from the corners I found a spot that was beginning to mold and sooooo I'm back to square one. Replacing that bad section with new drywall!

I have always skimmed by hand but decided to try this technique on a 100 year old house and man it worked a charm. Beautiful flat walls quickly.

This would be awesome for finishing ceilings after texture removal. I never thought to search for something like this! This is amazing!

I used a Bon 6-foot by 4" by 3/4" aluminum screed (a tube with a rectangular cross-section) and a 4 foot aluminum ruler (about 2" wide and 1/8" thick) to skim walls and ceiling. Worked great! Use whatever you have on hand to do the job. Also used them to float the floor (in concrete) before porcelain tiles. The trim and baseboard went on super easy, since the surfaces were so flat.

Love watching your Videos for your honest assessment of your work! Love your work😄! Thank you!

Another great video. You are great at explaining things. Thanks very much.

I always used a paint roller to apply my mud for skim coat. It works very well.

Thank You Michael Carbonaro!! Good to see you doing something other than magic tricks..

I liked how you mentioned when you press the mud down when you roll it out can eliminate many bubbles/pox as apposed to loading it on with a knife or trowel. Also obviouly the thinned down mud helps.

"I should have my bucket close to me, where I'm working. Silly of me" *Leaves it there* 🤣🤣 what would we do without you, VC? 🤣

Thank you so much for this video. I bought one of these from level five and gave up on it. Tried again after watching this and did five walls in 2.5 hours with great results!

I'm 65, I remodel a house once every 5-7 years. Just finishing up house #4 since I retired 20 years. Planning to move to SE Asia and building a house without any drywall. What a nice feeling to never use drywall again. In this house I did one wall with MDF shiplap...was a pain too, result not super great. But then I decided to cheap out and make my own shiplap using some scrap 3/8 and 1/2 CDX plywood I had. Ripped to 6" widths but I could even very the width if needed to use up scrap. Hand sand the edges rounding them over, 80 grit. Ripped 2" strips of 1/8 panel to make the lap, Glued the strip to the back of the ply on one side. Prime, even paint, before installing. Brad nail to install. Wow, I loved the result. Way easier to install than the MDF shiplap I had brought. It's the rough surface of the CDX that I think helped. The perfect edges of the MDF showed any issues. I ended up doing 2 more walls in this pjy shiplap and 2 closets. The closets had AC lines and cables so I screwed the ply, not painting over screws, so I could access in the future. For sure pre-painted is needed for access. Anywho, next house all teak and/or mahogany. Bye bye drywall. I won't miss you.

Did 20000 sq ft with a two in knife, it’s what the home owner wanted, my index figure was soar for a year. Rolled on just like your doing, no direction just back and fourth motions, homeowner was an artist, after it was high low painted turned out amazing. I would charge 3.50 a sq ft to even think about ever doing again.

Rolling it on?!?!?! Genius! Masterful work dude.

I use a similar product. I us the Ox pro speed skim, I now use the 18" on my tape seams, I love it.

Thank you man. So much useful information. 👍

I dont do and never did any work like that but i just like to watch ben talk and do whatever. Luv u ben

Your videos are super helpful thank you so much. Quick idea on the rolling. I am not sure but perhaps starting in the center of the spot on the wall your working on then going up and down it wil leave a more even amount with your roller without having to drag it down

THANK YOU BEN !! Been hoping for this video ! I do popcorn ceiling flattening and was wondering if a wider tool would help. No question, gonna move over to Columbia tools, local co, gotta support them. I also work in older 1900 - 1940 homes w / plaster walls, this will help the plaster drywall interface before sponge floating. Bet I can smooth structolite with this as well ! Looking for a good light, as always, anybody have a good modern drywall light that has that good shadow and great colour ? Hope all is well, best from Victoria !

Hello, nice video. To speed up the work, putty is also applied with devices such as Graco Mark 5-7-10. Then the applied mixture is removed, smoothed with spatulas. The main thing is to wash the device properly after work. Good luck

Damn 😎! I enjoy watching your videos. Keep it up 👍🏽

I am gonna do a room makeover before 2023 and this is a huuuuge help for me!

Another nice video Tig!

Awesome work bob ! The bidet would have been the cherry on top ! I got one , the best investment I’ve ever made ! It’s the highlight of my new bathroom . Why no outlets for the vanity ?Leviton makes great gfi with cell port charging . Have a awesome weekend !

Thanks for the tutorial. One thing I've learned from all the videos is that I need to get a pair of Stan Smiths.😊

within your first 51 seconds you nailed the issue of skimming. We have the Level 5 set and the 24 and 36 are extremely tough to get good skims if the wall is uneven, if only by a tiny bit. I have found I can skim those walls much better with my 13" soft flex Nela trowel.

Love that beautiful wall.

Ben, just picked up a few Level5 skimmers to do some skim coating work (even though this is not my profession [I'm a bit OCD in terms of perfection]) and was wondering what roller cover you suggest if bought brand new? I know in previous videos you "demoted" and old paint roller for this, but unfortunately I don't have any of those. Appreciate the videos more than you know! Keep up the solid work!

Vancouver Carpenter and Paul Peck stepped up my game in finish work. I was able to recoat very heavy ceiling and wall texture to a smooth finish. I was unable to rerock the room because of the thick plaster.

We did our bedroom, master bath, and another 11:30 room so far with the 50's style roll on and leave it. It kinda reminds me of tree bark. We love it. 11:30

I used the big one to level and then skim a ceiling. It was hard work but the ceiling looked great.

You're skilled . I like this

Well if it isn't another drywalling video by my favourite ol' drywaller from way back. The honourable, and true; Uncle Ben.

I love watching your videos. You have such positive attitude, that i am trying to emulate. Trying. I like the way you say "pigeon" when you get a blob fall. My comment usually starts with an s. Keep up the great videos, You are a true master.

I love my Marshalltown skimming blades. I have a 12” 24” and 30”. I have skimmed hundreds of sf of ceilings and walls and they do a great job. They are fantastic for large butt joints. Mate, I love your work and videos 😎

All of my Drywall tools are Level 5....their stuff is just A+++ Best warranty in the business and the tools are rock solid.

Just in time for my skimming project 😌👏🏾

I have a 32" TapeTech purchased after a recommendation from another contractor. He described it as "the cheat code for butt joints". The only recommendation I've been as grateful for is my Festool MIDI. These two tools make me a lot of money. A *big* thanks you to PatchBoyz here in Ottawa Canada, and to Scott Brown Carpentry in NZ.

I've got the Level5 blades on my shopping list for my next skimming project.

Vancouver drywaller strikes again! Great work and thanks for the info on those. Oh, and you really need to go ahead and switch it on up to Vancouver drywaller, cause you’ve became the main drywaller on the tube of you’s 😂

Full weight plasters used basically the same tool but thicker aluminum for the putty coat it is called a darby I used them for tile mud on walls and ceilings once in while to slick down messes.

I've been using the Level5 skim blades, and they work great. BUT, I found that it only works for me (key words: for me, since my skills aren't that good) on the absolute final coat using the larger sized blades. I saw videos of people using the the 7" and 10" blades across the first couple of coats, but I just couldn't do it. Even though they're more ergonomic than knives, I guess because of my muscle memory, I find it difficult to adjust to how you hold the smaller blades vs a drywall knife. The larger ones do make it so much easier to skim coat for me though.

Me and my husband moved to Florida, along with both daughters and their families. Well we have all been decorating our homes but we all have the orange peel walls. My daughter and her hubbie had to do a skim coat to put up wallpaper and so did I. I’ve never done it before so I watched your videos first. My daughter came over and said mine looked great and was so much better than what her husband did at their house. Her husband is so competitive with everything haha and she told him ours turned out looking a lot better than theirs. I told my husband I can guarantee my son n law is gonna come look at ours and sure enough, that evening he came by w my daughter. Me and my husband wanted to crack up because we watched our SIL stare at our walls, checking out our skim coat job 😂😂😂😂. It was hilarious. I’d never wanna do this for a job… it was a pain… but thank u for your instructions to make it as efficient as we could👌👌👌

I just gave these a go. Not a bad first attempt, but definitely revisiting this video to see how I can improve! First guess is use more mud. 😊. Level5 is the brand I chose.

P.S. I love these videos....I might attempt skimming myself as I have done in my bathroom but....it was such a pain and time consuming before applying by trowel.

I want to see a video, 30 years in the future when a new family moves in to Bens house and starts to do remodels. They are going to wonder what the random patches and multi layers of drywall mud are for.

I'm using the Marshalltown squeegee trowel. My favorite feature is how it materializes crumbs out of thin air. (maybe that's just me)

Could you go over the scenarios where you would skim like this or just patch wide?

Very satisfy watching him do the skim coat.

I bought a 36" Speed Smoother from Saint-Gobain, looks quite like yours except for the color. I do find it quite hard to get in corners without making a mess especially if there's some previous mud on it spilling out on the sides.

Me, applying hydrocortisone to a mosquito bite just now: “feather my edge”

Nice tip using the roller. You mentioned using soap. Can to talk about that but the whole set sounds like a good deal. I'll have a few rooms to skim coat at our new place. Not sure if this is happening to you but I used a mixing extension and it was leaving bucket shavings in my mud..!

Great vid amigo! Question for you. I see you're using a Marshall town 12. Do you prefer stainless over blue steel?

You got the skillz to pay the bills. 👍

Tape the receptacles. It is a whole lot easier to remove tape rather than mud from the receptacle.

Some companies make a 18 inch one, I think that'll be the one I get, it'll fit in rolling tool boxes they're usually 19 inches inside.

fantastic.....do you like the large power disk sanders that hook up to a vacuum? or do you like to sand by hand?

I have a few from level 5 love them

Love all my columbias.. happy I can replace the blades. And love the aluminum body

I used to spray USG First Coat on my walls (it took one heckuva a sprayer),, once sanded & painted, it looked like it had been skimmed.

When you use the skimming blades, do you apply pressure to the same sides as you did with the knife (for lift-offs)? Hope my wording makes sense.

22:49 Ben…..you Sir, are not the only one. My OCD doesn’t allow it either and why after it dries a bit, I can knock/peel it off the buckets. It’s also why tools look “new” compared to some, b/c I actually spend the time to really clean them ( probably way more than I should, lol), but just like fo things to be clean; and not have that “cake” layer all over everything Great vid, do love your stories, humor, and fun energetic attitude Towards the work you do👍🏻 Cheers✌🏻

I am just finished a year long renovation of my 1973 house. Looks great, but a very ugly very dated spider web design on my ceilings. Would love to have a modern knock-down. Do I need to scrap off the entire ceiling (1040 sq feet) ir can I spray over it with a hopper? If so,any tip on easing the removal? Thanks

I used the roller method for application, but ended up using a 6 inch knife and pan full of mud to slap globs of mud on the wall and ceiling then spread it with the roller. It was easier for me. I used a marshalltown 31 inch skim blade as well. No complaints with the blade.

I recently purchased a 32in skimming blade (Marshall Town) which I'll be using today to finish a wall. When I was getting it though I noticed that they had much smaller ones like 12 and 24in skim blades for sale as well. Is there really any reason to get one of these smaller blades? Do they make it much easier than just using a similarly sized trowel, joint knife, or blue steel taping knife?

Amazing videos

love your videos you got any vids with spraying mud on............i just got myself a 1040t titan wow i love it

I have a plaster and lathe ceiling with some surface cracking. Would skimcoating be a suitable easy task? Or is it too uneven?

Can you do this on top of painted walls? Or do I have to add primer to the painted walls first for the mud to adhere to?

Just ordered such a kind of tool with 80cm length. I hope, the handle gives better control than more "simple" trowels. My point is, that if you don`t have an even surface, a longer trowel (called like this) is way better to create an even surface / level it out. Have a project pretty soon, lets see how it works out.

This is how Ive been doing skim coats. The Level 5 tools are a bit expensive, but once you use it, you wont want to skim without one. I'm not a pro drywaller, but Im an advanced do it yourselfer for many things, and the Level 5 tool makes me look like I know what Im doing.

Have you used a sprayer to apply the skim coat after thinned out like you did in the beginning or perhaps just a tad thinner to thick paint consistency?