Drywall on 9 foot walls
Allen Oser
framing with 16 " O.C. The walls are just about 9 feet tall. The overall
room dimensions are about 15 ft by 30 ft. What's the best way to orient
the drywall? What size drywall panels should be used?
Thanks for the help.
-AO
Marshall S. DeGraw
repeating it.
I recently drywalled a small area (16x20x7') where the ceiling was at 7'.
I started at the BOTTOM with horizontally applied drywall.
Due to the taper of the drywall, when it was time to install baseboard, I
had to shim them away from the drywall. Had I started at the top, the
foot I threw away would've been the tapered edge and no shim would have
been needed..
Also, don't use the self-stick tape in the corners, use regular paper
tape and mud it well. The self-stick is not recommended for corners.
MSD
Calvin Henry-Cotnam
For a long time, I always preferred to orient drywall vertical so that
all joints would be on tapered edges. 9' walls is no problem as you can
purchase drywall in 10 and 12 foot lengths. (Theoretically, you can get
drywall as loooooong as you want, but you will need a way to transport
it from the factory!)
However, by orienting drywall horizontally, any slight uneven joint will
be less likely to be seen. Also, with drywall sheets as long as 12',
one can reduce, if not eliminate, any butt-end joints. Doing this, I
would still add a piece of blocking in the studs where a horizontal
joint might be subject to any rough play. (Orient the blocking so as
to keep the wall cavity open if there is even the remotest possibility
of having to fish a cable through it later)
--
Calvin Henry-Cotnam, CATE | "If the women don't find you handsome,
Ryerson Polytechnic University | they should at least find you handy."
Toronto, Ontario, Canada | - Red Green
Franklin Gingrich
Oser) writes:
>
>I am putting up walls in a basement finishing project. I'm using a 2X4
>framing with 16 " O.C. The walls are just about 9 feet tall. The
overall
>room dimensions are about 15 ft by 30 ft. What's the best way to
orient
>the drywall? What size drywall panels should be used?
>
>
>-AO
sheets are placed horizontally. Might as well put one 4-footer up, one
down, and fill the 1-ft space in the middle, keeping all those extra
joints where they're easy to reach. That's what the full-timers do.
Frank
Franklin Gingrich
>Also, don't use the self-stick tape in the corners, use regular paper
>tape and mud it well. The self-stick is not recommended for corners.
>
>MSD
>
Eh? Why's that?
Frank
Anthony Calabro
rock tie a horizontal ribbon of 3/8". Procedure: 4'x 12'x 1/2"
perpendicular to the studs. Next, a 1'x 12'x 3/8" placed perpendicular to
studs also stagger verticle butt joints. Next, another 4'x 12'x 1/2"
perpendicular to the studs again staggering verticle butt joints. Next is
left to the finisher. You leave him a nice factory edge on both side of
the sandwich 3/8" rock that will be taped and fill and a nice smooth
surface should result.
Tony-Valparaiso, In.
Note: I'm assuming that an accoustical suspended ceiling. If your
rocking the ceiling, rock ceiling first and applied your first sheet to
the ceiling and work down.
Richard Saro
>..I am putting up walls in a basement finishing project. I'm using a 2X4
>..framing with 16 " O.C. The walls are just about 9 feet tall. The overall
>..room dimensions are about 15 ft by 30 ft. What's the best way to orient
>..the drywall?
On walls greater than 8 feet high, the pros that I've hired oriented
the sheetrock horizontally and put the fill piece in the center, to
make it easier for the crew doing the taping and plastering. When I
hang the sheetrock on walls greater than 8 feet I put the fill piece
at the floor to reduce the visability of the seams. The plasterers
grumble about having to bend over, but they do it.
>..What size drywall panels should be used?
The size that minimizes the number of seams (assuming you have help
with 12 foot sheets).
Regards,
--
Richard Saro
rgs...@infonet.isl.net
Patrick J. Horne
the following information may not agree with how a "professional" would
do it.
There are many differing views as to how to install drywall.
In general, commercial jobs run their drywall vertically and residential
run horizontally.
I prefer to run my drywall horizontally also. There are a number of sizes
of drywall that can be used. Most home centers carry drywall in 4' wide by
8, 10 or 12' lengths, sometimes longer.
Since your ceilings are 9', 4' wide drywall is not your best choice.
Drywall suppliers sell 4 1/2' wide drywall that will allow you to not have
to put in a narrow piece. The second way to handle the 9' ceiling is to
install a 4' wide sheet against the ceiling, a 1' wide piece in the middle
of the wall, and another 4' piece on the bottom. This allows for a single
mudding area, which is cheaper and generally less work than working 2 horizontal
joints, even though the center joint will not have tapered edges on both
sides.
The cost of having someone else tape your finished wall will depend on how
much work they have to do. The main reason for installing the drywall
horizontally is that the taper doesn't have to work near the floor or at the
ceiling, but 4~5' off the floor, hence the wide center of wall joint, rather
than putting the 1' wide piece at the floor. It is also wise to leave about
1/2" of clearance between the floor and the bottom of the wallboard in case of a
water leak that could damage the drywall if it is sitting on the floor.
Also, before you order your drywall, measure your room. If the walls are
shorter than the longest available drywall, buy drywall that will cover a wall
from corner to corner, this will get rid of all vertical joints in the wall
(see cost of taping above). If you have to splice drywall on a wall try to
position the splice in the center of a window or doorway so that the amount of
mudding will be reduced. If possible do not have the splice at the edge of a
window or doorway because there is a tendency for the joints to crack there.
Same goes for a whole house fan in the ceiling because of the vibration. Some
suppliers may nave drywall longer than 12', so check with them before ordering
if your walls are longer than 12'.
Make sure that any vertical joints are supported by a stud. If you have very
long walls that will have vertical joints in them (not at windows or doors),
stagger the joints, rather than lining up the joints vertically.
When you have to cut out for doors and windows, do not cut the openings before
you install the drywall. Go ahead and nail up the top sheet (every 6" around
the edge of the sheets and 12" in the middle) and then cut out the door/window
with a hand saw or router. This way you don't have to measure the cuts, saving
time and possible errors. Then put up the bottom sheet. If a sheet ends in the
middle of a doorway you can score the back side of the drywall with a knife,
break it towards the front and then cut the front paper with the knife rather
than using the router or hand saw.
Cutting in outlets and switches (as well as ceiling boxes) takes a bit of work.
Most people measure the location of boxes and cut them into the drywall before
installing it. I prefer to measure the location of the center of the box
write it down!) and then hang the drywall without cutting the box hole. Just
put in 4~6 nails (not near the box), measure where the center of the box is,
make a hole that is big enough to get your finger into to make sure that you
are inside the box, verify location, then use a drywall saw to cut out to the
edges of the box, jump over the edge of the box, then finally, cut around the
outside of the box with the saw. That way you get an exact fit without much
chance for error. (I use a drywall router to do this, but the saw works fine.
It might be best to cut around the interior of the box so that you can tell
when to turn the corner on the outside of the box.)
Stanley makes a small hand rasp called a Surform that is great for cleaning up
the edges of doorways, windows and cut sheet edges. They are cheap and work
well.
This ended up being much longer than I expected, hope I didn't ramble too much.
If you have any further questions please let me know.
Peace,
Pat
--
- Support Habitat for Humanity, A "hand up", not a "hand out" -
Pat Horne, Network Manager, Shop Supervisor, Hardware Guru
CS Dept, University of Texas, Austin, Tx. 78712 USA
voice (512)471-9517, fax (512)471-8885, UUCP:cs.utexas.edu!horne
Robert Steele
>In article <osera-20029...@138.26.198.98>, os...@rad.uab.edu
>says...
>>
>>I am putting up walls in a basement finishing project. I'm using a 2X4
>>framing with 16 " O.C. The walls are just about 9 feet tall. The overall
>>room dimensions are about 15 ft by 30 ft. What's the best way to orient
>>the drywall? What size drywall panels should be used?
>>
>>Thanks for the help.
>>
>>-AO
>AO
>What you want to do is get 54" GWB (generic term for drywall). You might
>have to ask around a little to find it, but it's worth the effort.
>Installed horizontally, you can do the wall with just two sheets. Some
>hangers will run a half sheet, cut edge up; then a whole sheet; then the
>other half, cut edge down. They feel that this gives them better corners
>and doesn't cause extra work when baseboard is installed. Good luck.
>Dana Dawes
>Paintcraft
>dda...@moscow.com
This is good advice. Here's another viewpoint if you're interested. I bought 4x12 sheets and cut them to 4x9, then
installed them vertically. All joints are then tapered which are easier to finish. Of course the down side is you've
got several 3'x4' left over pieces. Fortunately, in my case, I used the left overs in the ceiling of my remodeled
bathroom. I didn't spend a lot of time finishing all those joints because I put redwood over the drywall. I just used
the drywall as a fire block.
Robert Steele The Harmony Ridge Woodworks. Nevada City, Ca
916-265-5436 rst...@nccn.net
Dan Hicks
>I am putting up walls in a basement finishing project. I'm using a 2X4
>framing with 16 " O.C. The walls are just about 9 feet tall. The overall
>room dimensions are about 15 ft by 30 ft. What's the best way to orient
>the drywall? What size drywall panels should be used?
I'd use 10' panels vertically. That will give you the minimum number of
joints and the minimum waste. If, however, there are A LOT of
electrical switches, etc, then you might consider running horizontally,
since in most cases the switches and outlets are confined to the lower
4' section, making fitting a little easier. But then (with 15' and 30'
walls) you'd have to seam the drywall at the ends where it isn't
beveled. The main reason horizontal placement is often recommended is
that most rooms are under 12x12 and two single 12' sheets (with one
seam) will handle an entire wall.
Dan Hicks
Unseasonable greetings: http://www.millcomm.com/~danhicks/warming.txt
Doug Vensel
>I am putting up walls in a basement finishing project. I'm using a 2X4
>framing with 16 " O.C. The walls are just about 9 feet tall. The overall
>room dimensions are about 15 ft by 30 ft. What's the best way to orient
>the drywall? What size drywall panels should be used?
>Thanks for the help.
>-AO
Buy the 10' sheets and mount them vertically. It'll eliminate one
extra joint either at the top of the sheet or the bottom. You lose 1'
but I can tell you from experience that it's well worth the cost of
the longer sheets.
Dana Dawes
>framing with 16 " O.C. The walls are just about 9 feet tall. The overall
>room dimensions are about 15 ft by 30 ft. What's the best way to orient
>the drywall? What size drywall panels should be used?
>
>Thanks for the help.
>
>-AO
AO