Patching and Plastering - Tinting Drywall Mud

I've noticed on commercial jobs that tapers have been using a tinted mud for their second coat. I just finished the first coat on a room I'm remodeling and would like to tint the mud for the second coat. Is there something around the house that I could use? I was thinking about possibly food coloring or powdered chalk..... I don't know if this matters, but I plan on using an acrylic latex paint.

Thanks

You can tint the mud with latex paint. I used to work with a drywall touch up guy who liked to tint his mud because of poor eyesight - made it easier to find the repairs when he went back. Other than that I know of no good reason to tint the mud if the wall is going to be painted.

I just wanted to tint it for the same reason - so that I can easily tell where my second coat is and don't miss any spots. The lighting in the room isn't the best at this point (waiting to paint before installing new light fixtures). I didn't plan on using the paint to tint the mud. I only mentioned to inform any responders. Obviously I don't want any of the tinting to bleed through the paint.... I was actually thinking of using some powdered chalk or food coloring as a tint. Just looking for some advice.

My friend always bummed some dark paint off of me to tint his mud. It works and won't bleed thru the primer or paint. I don't know if food coloring would be potent enough to make a difference but I don't think it would hurt it.

Oh you CAN tint it with paint. I thought that you said CAN'T. Hmmm, I guess I'll just try that then. Thanks. I won't be getting to it for a day or 2, so if anybody has any further input, I'd like to hear it.

It won't work the same with paint and it might be very jhard top sand. If you add only enough to change the shade it might not be too bad. use a deep color so it takes less to get a tint.

That's kind of what my thoughts were.... What do you think about using powdered chalk?

I've seen it done it done using chalk line chalk. It was on a Habitat for Humanity job and was helpful for the volunteers to know where a particular coat had been done. They just changed the color of the chalk for each coat

That's exactly my plan! Although I only plan on needing a second coat. :D Thanks for the input.

In some markets they sell mud that is yellow. I recently bought some plus 3 in colorado and it had a yellow tint to it. Here in Kansas city its all white. Also you can go to the paint store and buy universal tint to do the job. A couple drops of that goes a long way.

Yeah, I figured I could buy it somewhere, but I wanted to use up the mud I had left. I ended up going with chalk. I got a gallon-sized jug for $4. I used up the rest of the premixed mud and had to finish up with some 20 min. powder mix I had left over. I added in the chalk and some extra water, leaving it kind of soupy. The chalk tended to dry it out fast, so it turned kind of pastey. I was actually very happy with the texture. My main concern with adding the chalk was whether or not it would crack. I'm happy to say that it did not. Thanks all for the advice.

Why not just buy some tint that you tint paint with?

Usually available at your big box stores.

Jim

I already finished mudding before it was suggested.