I picked up three 5-gal buckets of premixed joint compound two years ago on sale, then my refurb project got put on hold. Never opened until yesterday, there is no bad smell to the compound. More like just a slight paint/putty smell. The mud is light greyish in color. I know mud has a shelf life, and I don't want to use stuff that really isn't good. I haven't yet tried mixing this up to check consistency, but if consistency is good, no smell, no mold, etc. is the mud really not usable being this old? I hate to throw money away, but I also don't want to spend time and effort using the stuff if it is somehow compromised. I have seen other forums talking about mold, smelly compound, etc. in partially used containers. That, I totally understand, would indicate that one wouldn't want to use the stuff. But I have only seen one suggestion that the holding power of the compound suffers with age. Is this true? Along the same lines, does even the powdered stuff go bad? I already used some setting compound, about the same age, to do my tape embedding. Seemed to be ok, but I'm new to this. Want to find out for sure before having to redo all my work! :-)

hello i am new to taping drywall seams and have done a fair amount of internet searching and youtubing to get as much info as i can before i start. my question is, can i tape my seams with the first coat of joint compound and then wait multiple weeks before adding the second and third (and possibly 4th or 5th) coat of joint compound? I will be using paper tape and USG all purpose joint compound (green lid) for the first coat to imbed the tape and the lightweight all purpose (blue lid) for subsequent coats. I want to get started on the project ASAP but am curious if there will be a problem with me waiting 1-3 weeks between coats (brothers wedding, out of town for work etc is the reason for the large gap). Thanks for reading and thanks for the help! James