Tried hand taping instead of using my bazooka on a small bathroom job

I had this little half bath to do last week in Akron, maybe 50 square feet total. Usually I just drag out my automatic taper for everything, but it was such a tight space I figured I'd mud it by hand and see how it went. Man, the difference was night and day for such a tiny room. I spent way less time cleaning the bazooka after, and the corners came out way cleaner without all that excess mud squeezing out. Plus I saved like 20 minutes just not setting up and breaking down the bigger rig. I still love my bazooka for any normal size room, but I think I gotta start doing small stuff by hand from now on. Has anyone else switched up their approach based on room size like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

gavin_kim31mo ago

Ngl when I started doing bathrooms I just assumed the bazooka was always faster, but honestly that excess mud cleanup gets old real quick especially in tight corners. Tbh switching to hand tools for small spaces saved me way more time than I expected, mainly cause I wasn't fighting the tape machine in a spot where I could barely stand. Honest mistake thinking automatic was always better, but sometimes muscle memory on the simple stuff just works cleaner.

riverhill1mo ago

Man that really hits, I did the same thing on a tiny half bath last month and felt dumb for dragging out all the gear. You ever find certain small spaces just make you rethink your whole workflow like that?