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Attaching To Wood Framing

Where do you start installing drywall -- the wall or the ceiling? How do you hold up the ceiling panels, or shift wall panels up? What fasteners should be used and what tools are best for working with wood studs? How do you find the studs after you cover them? How do you cut out electrical boxes and get the hole in the right place? Fiberglas insulation requires some special techniques and you must plan drywall placement according to corner trim that will be used.

Learning Curve 14


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Jon on June 08, 2011 17:36

Starting on a Thursday with a couple of coats of joint compound and three coats of paint before Sunday -- not a lot of time for anything to actually dry out. No paint must be put on until the compound is not only surface dry but no moisture left in it. When paint is put on while there is still water in the compound it washes out the paint and you end up wondering if you forgot to paint the corners.How long to wait depends a great deal on the consistency and type of compound, on the temperature and humidity of the air and sometimes even on the moisture content in the wood behind the drywall. Building quickly with wet wood will always create cracks in the unforgiving drywall compound. The studs need to dry before attempting to tape the joints, and the joint compound needs to dry before attempting to paint. Your movement sounds more like wet studs that certainly didn't help the compound to dry and by the time everything shrunk, you got cracks. Rapidity in construction is not always a good thing.

bern carpenter { by name only} on June 07, 2011 13:54

had a 1200 square foot house plasered. plasterer started on a thursday and finished on a sunday. this included primer and two finished coats of paint for the ceiling. on sunday the plaster said their are cracks appearing on the ceiling and in the walls running along the seams of drywall.of course the plasterer said it wasn't his fault. tell me what you think happened.

Gordon C. Davey on June 05, 2011 06:06

Fewer joints when hung horizontally if using 10 or 12 foot sheets, also your joints are at a nice working level for filling and sanding if horizontal . Only 4 feet for knowing where the studs are as opposed to 8 feet when installed vertically. Course thread screws for wood . On a ceiling it is always best to start screws in the centre of the 8 feet to take up any sag ,and work toward the ends from the center. there will almost always be a little sag and if the ends are scewed first the sheet will not pull up .

jon on December 15, 2010 20:22

Thane, you can see my answer to that in video if you look to the left of this page and click on "Panel Layout Patterns".  Both techniques work and although pros almost always put them on horizontally there are good reasons for someone inexperienced, especially in making wide butt joints, to put it on vertically.  You get all "valley" joints. Jon

thane k on December 02, 2010 18:49

Every house that I have every seen dry wall in they hang in horizontally, but resently on canada's worst handyman I believe that the host mentioned that it should be hung vertically. What are your thoughts on this.

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