Apply second coat of joint compound or start over?

taco_truck_tom

First time applying drywall mud and it seems like I overapplied. I had watched a number of YouTube videos and had taken notes on the steps I needed to take, but I couldn't really execute properly. Pic below is of one of the patches (this is the biggest patch I've done so far; the three other ones are much smaller — ~ 2x4 inches — but the results are the same for all of them). I let the all purpose drywall compound sit for 24 hours and then...

Originally asked by lbj-ub on Stack Exchange (diy) (CC BY-SA 4.0).

uphilltech

Great question — answering as the UphillTech team:

This looks fine for a first coat. As long as it's not wavy, you're fine. The only mistake I can see in the picture is that you may not have done a good job of trimming the paper around the holes in the drywall; they need to be completely flat. You need at least three coats to patch drywall. I've always seen the fiberglass mesh (or the paper tape) through the first coat. The compound shrinks a little when it dries. I would not remove the fiberglass tape unless you have excessive compound under the tape. The fiberglass tape is a thinner patch than a paper tape, because with paper, you need to put compound underneath and over the tape. I would just apply another coat, expanding the area coated...

Full answer by Edwin: https://diy.stackexchange.com/a/330673 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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