I splurged on a drywall sander - I should've bought one years ago
Bought some Mirka Abranet sanding discs too, and the dust extraction is so good now it produces virtually no dust at all. The light around the sanding head also highlights every imperfection on the wall amazingly well.
It's a bit on the heavy side - almost 7 kg - but I can deal with that. Luckily I only need it occasionally.
Robota S22 is the exact model, in case anyone's interested. Paid 170€ for it. There were cheaper and lighter ones, but those didn't have lights.
Probably still good to wear a mask even if you dont notice the dust.
Oh yeah. It's the cleanup I'm trying to avoid. And sweating.
Would you say it is faster than doing it the old-fashioned way? I always have trouble justifying cost for something like this.
Compared to doing it by hand? Well yeah, a lot faster. I do this for living so the cost is easier to justify but I don't think there's going back after you've tried one of these.
Drywall mudding, taping and sanding it the worst.
It's labor intensive.
Watching an old pro is awesome - they know exactly how much mud to use and can skim it down so neatly.
enough to make wedding cake bakers green with envy..
That's probably why so many is willing to pay for me to do it.
What are the alternatives?
I actually like mudding/taping. Sanding is hell though, I'll agree on that.
Would this work on popcorn ceilings?
FWIW , these machines often come with a head or disc that works specifically for removing popcorn ceilings.
I don't see why not. You'd just need to use a really coarse sanding disks.