Hanging Drywall Question

[Mike Robinson]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

I'm in the planning stage of drywalling my basement workshop. I have one interior wall and 3 exterior walls. The interior wall already has drywall hung so I could keep dust out of the other half of the basement. I've read that you're supposed to do the ceiling first. Would it be better to hang the ceiling drywall before I do the 3 exterior walls or is it too late to matter?

Renting a drywall lift make the job easier, especially the ceiling.

 

[i386]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

Renting a drywall lift make the job easier, especially the ceiling.

Yea I was thinking about that since I'd rather do it by myself. I was talking about it with someone at work today and he said he had one I could use.

 

[rbh]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

I HATE DRYWALLING, but its winter here and I will "HELP"dry wall for a green pass in a nice sunny climate and all I can eat and drink. hahaha
rob

 

[paulspaddle]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

Yea I was thinking about that since I'd rather do it by myself. I was talking about it with someone at work today and he said he had one I could use.

You can typically rent one at Home Depot for cheap (I think I paid less than $20 for a day).....and yes they make the job much easier.

 

[Bigprairie1]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

Really good tips. Thanks. It's little things like that you don't think of.

I've got some photos of my work in progress here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mmullis/Workshop?feat=directlink

The interior wall is a little strange but I did the best I could. On both ends of the wall are steel pipes anchored to the concrete floor. The span between them is a double 2x10 sandwiched between steel. The steel is welded to the top of the two pipes. There are bolts all through the steel/2x10 sandwich squeezing it all together. This load bearing structure is thicker than a standard wall so I added strips to attach the drywall and clear the steel plate. It's the same on the back side of the wall too though I haven't hung drywall in there yet. Because of the thick wall, I'm going to have to get creative when installing the other side of the door casing (pre-hung door).

I built the framing around the ductwork. There's some empty space at the end. I'm going to turn that into a cubby/cabinet for a TV and XM radio. Probably build some kind of clear plexi door so I can see the TV but keep the shop dust out. I already ran power to that area and will pull some TV cable in before I seal it up.

The 3 exterior walls just need insulation, drywall, and window/door trim.

I'm tickled to finally have a shop and am enjoying all the work I'm doing down there. Learning a lot along the way too.

Great pics i386!! Thats going to be a nice space, I'm envious. We have an older (30's) and my basement workshop is dying for expansion like what you have going there.
Keep up the nice work!!
BP

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

no need for straping here if everythings 16 inch on center.

Strapping reduces the chance of cracks developing, and gives a better surface area contact for the drywall.

You can do it without strapping, but unless the joist framing is perfect, which I have never seen, you will get an inferior job.
.

 

[jlinder]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

When you run wires think of running ethernet at the same time.

 

[rbh]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

Strapping reduces the chance of cracks developing, and gives a better surface area contact for the drywall.

You can do it without strapping, but unless the joist framing is perfect, which I have never seen, you will get an inferior job.
.

The only time you see strapping here any more is when they are wrecking out the old stuff, lathe and plaster I think it was called?

 

[rjlipscomb]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

Strapping is typically used on ceilings where the roof trusses or floor joists are 24" o/c. It's also used where the joists do not fall at 48" o/c from the perimeter walls (most don't) - here it's used for convenience. If your floor joists (ceiling) are 16" o/c and flat and the spacing works for the installation of 48" wide sheet rock, strapping is not required.

 

[itsaboattime]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

Depending on how high your ceiling is, you may want to run your wall sheets vertically. This way you have no butt joints to mud in.

 

[i386]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

Depending on how high your ceiling is, you may want to run your wall sheets vertically. This way you have no butt joints to mud in.

That was my original thinking. I have 8' ceilings so I was going to do the remaining walls with vertical 4x8 sheets. Then I found out that walls can flex at the studs so installing it that was can cause cracks.

A previous owner built a room in part of my carport. We use it as a "mud room". We keep the cat's box and food in there as well as our recycling stuff. Anyway I was looking around in there last night and noticed that every 4 feet there's a vertical crack from floor to ceiling. I'm going to assume he installed the drywall vertically.

My drywall book doesn't mention this and even shows vertical installation as one way to do it. It does say that horizontal joints are preferred because they are much easier to tape since you don't have to stoop.

One of my upcoming projects is to redo that room since my neurotic weimeriner ate the drywall around the bottom of one wall. I'm going to go staggered horizontal this time.

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

Strapping reduces the chance of cracks developing, and gives a better surface area contact for the drywall.

You can do it without strapping, but unless the joist framing is perfect, which I have never seen, you will get an inferior job.
.

There are all sorts of shortcuts taken with construction these days,. for all sorts of reasons.
I'm not disputing that you can do this without strapping, just pointing out that if you are doing the job yourself that not only will you get a better job, but your life will be much easier while you attach the drywall sheets.
Cost of 1x3 strapping is low, and you end up with a three inch nailing/screwing target instead of 1-1/2 to 1-5/8, which when you are butting two sheets means that you have a bit of safety margin and you will be sinking fasteners a decent gap from the sheet edge.
Strapping also allows fine tuning of the ceiling plane so that it does not end up looking like the lake on a rough day.

Of course if you are going to stipple or texture the ceiling it doesn't really matter as much.

 

[rjlipscomb]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

Tim's point about being able to shim the strapping is a good one to remember. Absolutely required when working off of trusses. TJI's and dimensioned lumber tend to be more uniform in depth and sit on a plate without shimming therefore providing a flatter plane to attach the drywall. And, nothing wrong with the additional attachment space.

Also, remember to leave a gap between the gypsum wallboard and concrete floor.

 

[Bigprairie1]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

Lots of good feedback in this posting. Here is another one I remembered: Always try to put all the full or large sheets first, then fill in the smaller gaps, strips, etc later.
This is good practice even if it means not finishing a complete wall or corner, etc at first. There will be plenty of smaller pieces and parts of sheets to do these smaller areas later. Things go a lot faster doing it this way and the 'wastage' is lower.
My two bits
BP

 

[marlboro180]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

OK,

On yer butt joints, imagine your seam at the center of 1 stud. Now, look at the studs on either side. Add a stapled on cardboard shimstock to each one on either side of the butt joint.....Available at any drywall supplier....

It allows room for a good feathered joint at the butt, and will fool the eye, which is all it is anyways...