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Q. I have cathedral ceilings that straight flex tape was used on originaly which is cracking. I've been looking at magic corner and wanted to know since there is spackle already in place can you use the spray adhesive and staples or would you just use spackle again with mudd max added to adhere the magic corner. What do you recommend?
- Gary

A.The first step is to remove the lose Strait Flex and then spray two coats of Trim-Tex 847 on the drywall and staple with 1/2'' by 1/2'' staples every 6''. Mud as usual preferably with a light weight compound. When painting the center of the Magic Corner use as little primer and paint as possible for they are not as flexible as the Magic Corner.
- Noe

Q. When refinishing either plaster or painted drywall I have the mud bubbling during and after drying. Is there something I can put in the mud to keep the mud from bubbling?
- Paul

A.There isn't anything that I am aware of that can be used to get rid of the bubbling. I typically get rid of my bubbles by applying three thin coats of mud, instead of a two coat system, making sure that my final coat goes on tight, squeezing the mud on the surface to fill the voids.
- Noe

Q. What is the best way to get the homeowner or contractor to visualize what you see, such as ideas for an entryway or master bedroom? What is the best way to charge for these services?
- Kyle, North Carolina

A.I have used the Trim-Tex website as an idea place for customers. I also photograph my work. I am going to look at a ceiling job this afternoon and I will bring my book of 8x11 job photos with me. I plan on trying to sell them on the tray ceiling with some possible layering along the edge of the walls. I also ask my customers if I can use them as a reference and possibility show a potential customer the work I did for them. Most people are happy to help out. I stick with arches, layers and commonly just changing from a square edged bead to bullnose or chamfered bead. On someone's living room ceiling a few years ago I added another layer along the edge and capped the edge with a chamfer stop. I can't tell you the amount of decorative work I generated from this happy customer and this simple look.

Pricing drywall work really is not as simple as multiplying the square footage by a sq ft price, unless you are bidding on track style homes. Some homes have 10 corner beads some have 200. Some homes are very open and some are all cut up. There are high cathedral ceilings, 9 and 10 ft ceilings, and so on. The size of the job also makes a big difference. I use my sq ft price for the size of the job  and then try to estimate the time it will take me to do the extra work involved with decorative work. Whenever I do the work I keep track of my time and then I start trying to put together sq ft or lineal ft prices. For example I have done a few EZ Tray ceilings and now I have come up with a price of about $10 a lineal ft (outside dimensions of the room)for any tray ceiling jobs.
- Myron

A.I don't know if you are much of a golfer or even golf at all, but this is the best analogy I can come up with to help you.
When I am in my car on the way to the golf coarse all I can think about is how I can't wait to get to the golf coarse, tee off and see that ball go perfectly straight for 350 yards and land right in the hole for a perfect hole-in-one. 
Now what really happens is, I tee off, the ball goes perfectly to the right, misses a couple of other golfers, and lands in the water. After I calm down and grab my club out of the tree, I play it over and over in my head to try and figure out what went wrong. In my head I know exactly what I have to do to make that ball go perfectly straight, but for some reason that very rarely happens. Could it be the wind, to cold outside, to warm outside, did I have to many beers, is the sun in my eyes, did a bird chirp to loud? 
Now with the drywall business you never know what to expect from your customers. Everybody is so different it's really hard to come up with an exact price. What might totally offend one person, might make another think that they are getting a good deal. You can always go to the estimate with what you think the outcome is going to be, but just like in golf for some reason that never happens. Unless it's one of those rare days when everything goes right, all the planets are aligned and you shoot and hit that perfect hole-in-one!
So I guess the moral to my little story is... I do not have an exact answer for you. Just when I think I have an idea of a price I'm going to charge per square foot, I get thrown into a loop and charge by using the time and materials method. You really have to feel the customer out, and decide for yourself what the best method is to charge somebody without ripping them off. To me, my skilled labor is priceless. The product I give my clients is a one of a kind masterpiece that I feel I should be greatly compensated for. To everybody else I am just a drywaller who does neat stuff with drywall, a product that until just recently was used for a necessity in stead of actual art.
A good price, I feel to shoot for is $13.00 per square foot of every sheet of wallboard that you use. If you use one 4x8 sheet of drywall,no matter how much scrap is left over, you should charge $416.00. Or $50.00 an hour plus materials I feel is fair. Be prepared to be flexible, remember the more jobs you get out there the more people will want to have you work for them. Like I said feel your customer out and decide which method will work best. Always shoot for the top, because you will never know when and where those hole-in-ones might be!
As far as helping them to visualize. There is this great company called Trim-Tex and their sister website DrywallArt.com that I use for every perspective client. Also I bring a portfolio, and instead of handing them my card I give them a brochure of my work and my company. If it's going to be a multi-layer design I bring little squares of drywall to help show them the depth. Basically anything that I can think of that would impress or help make me visualize something, if somebody else was showing it to me, I bring along.
-Tom Sass

Q. I have installed rounded corner bead on all outside corners of my basement walls. What type of baseboard molding accomodates the rounded edges?
- C.J. New York

A. There are two ways to trim around the bullnose, one is to use decorative corner blocks (Trim-Tex stock # 951 or 960) which allows you to then bring the base board straight to the corner block. Or to cut a piece at 22.5 on both sides which will sit on the nose of the bead and subsequently cut a 22.5 on the two pieces butting up to the piece sitting on the nose of the bead.
- Noe