Hanging Drywall Question

[i386]

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?

 

[rbh]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

Yes hang the lids first (ceiling), remember to mark on the walls the center of the ceiling/floor joists, that way you can eyeball/lineup were the screws go.

 

[Bass Man Bruce]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

^^What he said^^

 

[Straightup]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

Do yourself a favor and get quality drywall screws from a non-big box lumberyard. I think the good ones I found were from Taiwan. I got several cases of bad ones from a big box home center and the screw tip area would strip out on almost every one. IIRC, those were made in china. Home center took them back.

 

[i386]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

Thanks guys. I think I'll take your advice and hang the ceiling as the next phase.

 

[Bigprairie1]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

Make sure that the ceiling sheets are screwed up tight around all the perimeter points. If the ceiling sheet is sagging at all it will hold the wall sheet down when you fasten the wall sheet...then when the ceiling sheet is 'sucked up' you will have a gap between the two.
I remember one guy I talked with thought (initially) that the wall sheets were installed vertically rather than installed (staggered) horizontally.
Are you going to be doing the taping yourself? Have you had a chance to do it before?
BP

 

[i386]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

Most of my hands-on experience with drywall has been with occasional repairs. I have a pretty good book on drywall installation that I've read from cover to cover a few times. I hung the drywall on the interior wall. It's a mixture of two 4x12 sheets hung horizontally and a sheet and a half of 4x8 hung vertically (adhesive and screws). I'll hang the remaining walls horizontally staggering the vertical seams. More than likely I'll use 4x8 sheets so I can solo the job. I haven't done any seams before but I'm familiar with the process. I figure the basement shop is a good place to practice. I have a few more drywall projects after I'm done with the shop. The part that worries me the most is measuring and cutting for the electrical boxes.

 

[Bigprairie1]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

The part that worries me the most is measuring and cutting for the electrical boxes.

Yeah, that catches a lot of people. The most common error is measuring from the wrong datums to the electrical box. Always try to measure from the nearest drywall edge over to the nearest point on the electrical box. Don't try to use the floor as a datum when doing vertical measurements. Measure from the upper drywall sheet down. As for lateral measurements, try to measure from the nearest vertical drywall edge over....not the wall or stud that may be on the other side of the non-drywalled area.
As for the taping and mudding always discard any excess drywall mud off your trowel or hawk or container into a completely separate bucket...never, ever, ever put it back into the original new/fresh mud bucket.
As well, I always keep a garbage can around and am constantly flinging the little bits of excess into that. When you open the drywall mud container try to immediately wash/wipe any excess mud off the inside of the lid and once you have your first hawk full of mud, quickly reinstall the lid to keep things in there moist. If it dries (and it dries quickly) it will end up as little bits falling down into the main mud which will show up as lines during your final skim coat. Another thing I do at the end of the day is pour a half a cup of water into the mud container before putting the lid back on. This keeps everything in there really moist and when I re-open I just pour off the excess water that didn't evaporate.
Good luck and post a few pics if you can.
BP

 

[i386]

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.

 

[jlinder]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

Sounds like it might be too late but one thing I did when I finished my basement is went with 5/8" drywall for the ceiling. It helped cut down on the sound going from the basement to the first floor. Might be a consideration if your making a lot of noise in your workshop, or if you want to build a little sanctuary from the kids (I was building a basement office and wanted to keep it quiet.).

 

[paulspaddle]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

Insulation? I typically put some Roxul (acoustic or safe and sound) in the walls in my own home.

Drywall gun? They are cheap, but are excellent especially if you are doing a ceiling as one hand drilling is easy.

 

[rbh]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

Sounds like it might be too late but one thing I did when I finished my basement is went with 5/8" drywall for the ceiling. It helped cut down on the sound going from the basement to the first floor. Might be a consideration if your making a lot of noise in your workshop, or if you want to build a little sanctuary from the kids (I was building a basement office and wanted to keep it quiet.).

5/8 drywall is considered fire guard as well in most places.

 

[j_martin]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

The part that worries me the most is measuring and cutting for the electrical boxes.

Tack the drywall over the boxes, then cut them in with a Rotozip. The cutter guides on the electrical box, and you cut in an opening that clears it by 1/8 inch all around, including any bumps.

Follow the directions. If you go the right way, it guides on the box. If you go the wrong way, it makes it's own track across the wall. Ask me how I know.

If you have gobs of time, you can do it with a dremmel tool and the router attachment, and a rotozip guided cutter.

hope it helps
John

 

[rbh]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

Sheets run across the joists not with them, wont make that mistake again

 

[paulspaddle]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

Tack the drywall over the boxes, then cut them in with a Rotozip. The cutter guides on the electrical box, and you cut in an opening that clears it by 1/8 inch all around, including any bumps.

Follow the directions. If you go the right way, it guides on the box. If you go the wrong way, it makes it's own track across the wall. Ask me how I know.

If you have gobs of time, you can do it with a dremmel tool and the router attachment, and a rotozip guided cutter.

hope it helps
John

If you go this way, do yourself a HUGE favour and run a shop vac (with a proper filter)....very dusty. Personally not a fan, but hey, "you can do any job 100 different ways, 90 wrong and 10 right." Do what you feel is best.

 

[slia67]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

Another thing I do at the end of the day is pour a half a cup of water into the mud container before putting the lid back on. This keeps everything in there really moist and when I re-open I just pour off the excess water that didn't evaporate.

BP

Great idea, BP! I had never thought of that.

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

Sheets run across the joists not with them, wont make that mistake again

Should be hung on strapping.

 

[rbh]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

Should be hung on strapping.

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

 

[Bigprairie1]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

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

.....always a good point Rob....and perpendicular to the wall!!
That said, I've got a couple of rooms that I have to do within the next couple of months and I'm going to strap it with the acoustic channel...set at accurate distances to allow for sheet width and length with some extra checks for parallelism and perpendicularity. I hate having to putz this stuff....its nice when it just goes up and fits with full and half sheets. Plus, its frikkin' heavy to try to hold up and see if it fits on all sides unless you have a very patient helper.
BP

 

[jlinder]

Re: Hanging Drywall Question

5/8 drywall is considered fire guard as well in most places.

Great point. I know in some states code requires certain levels of fire guard between living spaces and a garage. This can be a factor in a basement.