With three decades of experience working with freshly-installed drywall, the #1 mistake that Jerry sees is people applying too much joint compound. It takes some practice, but ideally you should be able to coat fresh drywall seams and screw holes in 2 to 3 coats, with sanding only necessary on the final coat. Beginners tend to overapply each coat, requiring sanding between each coat. This repeated sanding is not only inefficient, but it can also damage the drywall's paper coating, leading to a rough finish that appears sandpaper'y. When it's time to hang drywall on your next project, Hyde has all the tools you need to get a perfect finish. Peruse our drywall products at https://hydetools.com/collections/drywall (fb)

Yes, you can paint over existing wallpaper. The #1 rule is that you should start with a layer of interior oil-based -- NOT latex -- paint on top of the wallpaper. That's because latex primer is water-based; that water can reconstitute the wallpaper glue and cause the wallpaper to bubble and peel. Oil-based primer creates a waterproof barrier between the glue and your topcoat of paint (the topcoat paint can be latex.) The other problem area with wallpaper, especially older wallpaper, is the seams. Seams tend to peel over time. You can try sanding them with a high-grit sandpaper. If that doesn't work, you can smooth the seams with acrylic caulk (wait until the oil-based primer has dried before you caulk.) Another of Jerry's go-to tricks is to use super-glue to smooth the seams back down into place. Hyde carries all the tools you need to prep and paint over wallpaper, including brushes, rollers, caulk guns, paint trays and more. Buy directly from the source at HydeTools.com (fb)