Anyone have any drywalling tips?

[rudeguy]

I just put up a wall and need to drywall it. The wall is 24x8. I think it would be easiest to hang the drywall vertically but my bro in law is convinced horizontally would be best. Any thoughts?

Also, what about texture? I have never done a smooth wall, always textured to avoid sanding but I want to give smooth a try this time. Any tips there?


update

got the drywall hung...I am thinking about paneling instead of finishing the drywall....any thoughts?


Edited because that's how I roll

 

[EQTitan]

Horizontal is how I've always seen it done.

Spackle the holes after you screw them on spackle the joints or use the drywallers tape.

 

[zerocool84]

Smooth=sand sand sand

 

[SampSon]

You want to have the fewest possible joints and fewest number of cuts when installing drywall.
For standard height ceilings 8' you should hang horizontally. Above 8' and vertically is better.

I'm not sure what you mean by textured wall when it comes to drywall installation. A textured wall has more to do with the finish coat than the drywall itself.
Drywall is commonly hung, taped, spackled, sanded and primed.

 

[pstylesss]

If you try to be neat when you mud you'll screw it up 100% of the time. Be messy, use lots of mud.

Drywall is thinner at the ends for a reason, it creates a dip so that it holds the mud easier.

12", 16" or 18" centers will make a difference on whether or not you hang horizontally or vertically.

Go buy a drywall drill bit. It creates and indent in the drywall so that it's easier to mud over the screws. A pack of 5 should be like $3.


EDIT: You don't spackle drywall, you mud it.

 

[mizzou]

if you are by yourself, I would do it vertical. Those things are very heavy and very awkward to lift up and screw in. Vertical, you can just prop the thing up and kick it up an inch with a wedge and screw it in NO problems.

I know pro's will raise a red flag at that but TRUST me, your walls will look much cleaner if you do it that way.

If you have a friend, horizontal is the way to go because it gives you less seams to have to work with.

The only reason they vouche for horizontal is for that reason, otherwise, structurally, it doesn't matter.

Use regular drywall tape, not the mesh kind.


Sanding is a bitch. some people use wet sanding techniques, I just used a pole sander.

Don't sand too much or you will sand the paper off.

If you screw up, you can usually fix it with drywall compound anyway

And be patient =)

 

[bctbct]

if you can get 12' rock to the area get 4 pcs.

bottom- 2 sheets lay down full

top- center 1 sheet in the middle to offset the vertical joints. Cut the last sheet and put on each end of the top layer.

use "easy sand" premix compound and an 8" knfe to tape. "All pupose" compound will work but is hard to sand. Use 150 grit sandpaper.

 

[rudeguy]

Originally posted by: SampSon
You want to have the fewest possible joints and fewest number of cuts when installing drywall.
For standard height ceilings 8' you should hang horizontally. Above 8' and vertically is better.

I'm not sure what you mean by textured wall when it comes to drywall installation. A textured wall has more to do with the finish coat than the drywall itself.
Drywall is commonly hung, taped, spackled, sanded and primed.

texturing after its hung is what I meant. When we did the living room we hung, taped, spackled, then mudded the whole thing and went over it with a paint roller. After that set for a bit we knocked it down with a trowel. It looks cool but I want to try for smooth.

Thanks for the tip about how to hang it though. What you said makes sense.

 

[rudeguy]

thanks again for all the tips. I got everything pretty much done and am ready to tape and mud. I am going to leave that for next weekend though.

I found some really cool paneling that I am thinking about putting up instead of finishing the drywall. Anyone ever played with that?

 

[BackFlow]

I prefer horizontal because it is quicker to tape one long seam intead of many vertical seams.

 

[Bignate603]

I don't really like paneling. If you decide you want to change a room it's much easier to repaint than to deal with the paneling.

 

[DrPizza]

Tip? Sure, the pros use 3 coats of mud - because they're really good at it. There are no shortcuts. And, since you're not a pro, be prepared to do 4 or 5 coats of mud; sand between coats, take your time. Read plenty of how-to's. I hope you laid it horizontally. Another reason horizontal is preferable - unless your joints are absolutely perfect, people notice vertical joints a lot better than horizontal joints.

 

[SphinxnihpS]

It should look like a brick wall. I usually do a double layer. The fist layer I put in whichever way is easiest, which is usually all vertical, then put the top layer on correctly. I also usually go 1/2" on the underlayment, and 5/8" on the top layer. Much better sound proofing.

Paneling will be much easier and cleaner than tape+mud+sanding+mud+sanding+mud+sanding (if your lucky stop here, if you aren't repeat steps 2 and 3 up to an infinite number of times. LOL