Tile, Flooring, Drywall

How to Measure, Estimate, Tally, Load, and Stack Drywall: 9 Tips

daniel morrison — Mon, 13 Mar 2023 10:00:00 +0000

How to Measure, Estimate, Tally, Load, and Stack Drywall: 9 Tips daniel morrison Mon, 03/13/2023 - 05:00

At least nine tips and a fun fact about drywall estimating, ordering, storage, and stacking

Everyone loves videos about how to install drywall right because everyone has to install drywall at some point, and no one is any good at it. Except for drywall professionals like Myron Ferguson. The hard part of installing drywall is installing 16-foot-long sheets of 5/8-inch thick drywall to the ceiling.

The other hard part is ordering it, storing, and stacking it in the house, you're going to hang it in. Unless you get some pro insight from someone like Myron.

Stacking and storing

The safest way to store drywall is by laying it flat on the floor. This is difficult in residential construction, so it is typically stored leaning against a wall.
Separate drywall sheets by length when stacking them
Don't lean too much because it can put too much pressure on the wall, and don't lean too little because it can tip over. Spacing the bottom of the sheet about six inches from the wall is a good amount of lean.
Try not to block access to a doorway because it may encourage people to climb over it.

Ordering Drywall

Order the lengths you want, not what is convenient for the drywall supply company.

In residential construction, drywall is installed horizontally on the walls*. Ceilings are installed with drywall sheets running perpendicular to the framing. Whatever the length of the ceiling is, is the length of drywall Myron will order. Likewise, whatever length the ceiling is, is the length he will order.

Sensing a pattern? Me too.

Measuring a room for drywall

Always use sheets that are as long as possible. Eliminating butt joints on walls and ceilings eliminates a lot of taping and makes the path to a smooth surface a LOT faster and easier.
For smaller walls, like closets, he uses smaller sizes, such as seven and eight-foot sheets. For walls under 48 inches long, stand the sheets vertically. This will avoid all seams. Eight-foot sheets are the right choice for these spots.
If all of these lengths are not available in your area, use the longest sheets so that you can. This allows you to hide seams near corners instead of placing them in the middle of the wall.
He does not tally each room separately because it is not necessary.

If the room is taller than eight feet, order 54-inch wide drywall, not 48-inch wide drywall (I'm not bulletining this because I don't feel like it is really a tip as much as just stating the obvious).

Make a tally sheet

Myron has a simple word doc tally sheet template which is separated into six boxes, one of which is blank. Each box represents a type of drywall: regular, moisture resistant, fire rated, other, and corner bead.

Under each heading is a series of dimensions: 8', 10', 12', 14', 16', 54" and a line afterward for the tally marks. Finally, there is a total column at the right edge of the box.

Myron uses the "dot-line-box-cross" tally method instead of the "four-sticks-and-a-slash" method. A box with an X in it represents ten sheets of drywall and takes up less room than four ticks and a slash.

*Fun fact: Hanging drywall horizontally instead of vertically on walls in houses reduces the lineal footage of seams by 25%.

—Myron Ferguson, aka, @thatdrywallguy, is an old friend of ProTradeCraft. He loves drywall so the rest of us don't have to (thank you, Myron). You can watch more of his videos on his YouTube channel or at ThisIsDrywall.com

How To Install Corner Bead to an Outside Drywall Corner

daniel morrison — Mon, 23 Jan 2023 15:20:00 +0000

How To Install Corner Bead to an Outside Drywall Corner daniel morrison Mon, 01/23/2023 - 09:20

A beginner's tip for straight drywall corners from a drywall pro

Outside corner bead is available in many sizes, 8 feet, 10 feet, 12 feet, etc. Obviously, the first step is buying the right size. Other than that, here's the step by step.

Step by step:

Install it a couple of inches above the floor, but low enough on the wall that the baseboard will cover the corner.
Make sure the edges of the drywall forming the corner are cut cleanly and not overhanging. You can trim back minor imperfections by running a putty knife down the adjacent wall surfaces.
Apply joint compound to both sides of the corner. It should be thick enough that you cannot see drywall paper through the mud and it should extend out from the edge enough so that the bead will fully bed into the compound.
Bed the corner bead into the compound and gently squeeze it into the corner, keeping the center straight.
Wipe the compound up from the bottom to remove the excess mud.
Use a wide knife, at least six in., to check the plane of the wall moving into the corner. You should be able to see daylight between the blade and the wall on both sides of the corner bead.
If you cannot see daylight on one side, bed the corner slightly deeper.
Wipe the joint clean with a knife.
After the compound dries, feather the edge using a wide knife, filling the concave daylight divot.

—This video is from Kody Horvey's YouTube channel. Kody is a carpenter in Red Deer, Alberta.

The Top Ten Construction and Remodeling Videos of 2022

daniel morrison — Mon, 26 Dec 2022 11:06:06 +0000

The Top Ten Construction and Remodeling Videos of 2022 daniel morrison Mon, 12/26/2022 - 05:06

Turns out, tying in a patio roof, drywall, drip edge, crown molding, mini splits, house wrap, and peel-and-stick roof membrane are still hot topics.

How to Patch Drywall The RIGHT Way (and the Wrong Way, Too)

daniel morrison — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 14:15:05 +0000

How to Patch Drywall The RIGHT Way (and the Wrong Way, Too) daniel morrison Tue, 09/06/2022 - 09:15

For multiple holes in drywall, a unipatch is better than eyebrows

Ben Degros is the self-proclaimed "drywalleriest carpenter on the internet." We have not found any evidence to dispute that, but we'll keep looking.

In the meantime, here's a video of his showing how most people think multiple patches in drywall should be made and how it should actually be done. Fortunately, if you're doing it all wrong, you're actually doing it half right, so it's not too late.

The wrong way to patch multiple holes in drywall:

Covering the tape is the typical approach: the patch coat is wider than the tape coat, edges are feathered, and then a few finish passes over the middle of the patch smooths the surface. Do that over each drywall hole that was patched.

Why is this wrong? Because it creates humps on the wall. In the video, Ben patched three adjacent holes in the drywall, and those patches will 100% create three humps in the wall. This will be visible when the wall is painted, and it will look cruddy.

Especially if you install a countertop against it.

Think of drywall compound as liquid-wall, not tape-hider

The best way to hide the patches is to think like an old-school plasterer, not like a tape-hiding drywaller.

Create a surface with your bucket of liquid-wall rather than just covering the tape.

In order to blend the humps into the wall, add mud between the humps for a 'unipatch' rather than 'eyebrows.'

After applying drywall compound to the valleys, go back to the tape-hiding method: feather the edges and smooth the center.

When feathering the edge, he tilts the trowel toward the outer edge so that the edge is scraped clean and the field is left thicker.

When smoothing the center, he slightly tilts the trowel the opposite way to avoid 'liftoff' lines, the crest of mud that's left after the trowel pulls mud from the pile.

Why feather the edges?

Feathering the edge of a patch removes any drywall compound buildup that may dry out before you can get back to it.

The edge will be more difficult to sand smooth than the center, so focus on smooth edges first.

Sanding is part of the strategy, too

However, simply building up the valleys between the humps will just create a mountain out of three molehills, so sand the unipatch strategically, too.

Sanding the dried compound is another key part of the process. Sand mostly over the humps, not in the alleys between humps.

To avoid wavy walls, "stop not unipatching you guys."

—Ben Degros is the Vancouver Carpenter on YouTube and probably Ben Degros in real life.

How to Coat Drywall Corner Bead With a Hawk and Trowel

daniel morrison — Mon, 06 Sep 2021 10:00:00 +0000

How to Coat Drywall Corner Bead With a Hawk and Trowel daniel morrison Mon, 09/06/2021 - 05:00

Coating the corner bead around a cased opening in three passes

Before jumping into the mudslinging, Matt talks a little about his hawk and trowel. He uses a 15-inch hawk and a 12-inch by 5-inch stainless steel trowel. The 5-inch trowel saves your knuckles when working in a corner. They also hold more mud for longer passes.

Hawk and trowel tip: use gravity

Another tip: use all-purpose mud for steel corner bead because it contains a lot of glue.

When loading the trowel, consider which edge to load (the knuckle edge or the digit edge) and which side of the trowel to load. In this case, Matt loads the left edge of the knuckle side because he'll apply mud to the right side of the opening, moving upward.

First pass: loading mud into the corner bead

Trowel up, arcing the trowel toward the opening as you lift it. Cover about 2-1/2 feet per swipe.

When you get to the top of the opening, don't continue to push up because you'll leave blobs on the horizontal bead. When you are about a foot from the horizontal, push the trowel down and from the side.

Notice that he loads the digit side of the blade for pulling down.

Second pass: feather the mud into the wall surface

Feather the edge: press hard on the back corner of the blade and bend the blade to the bead. Swipe smoothly up to get a feathered edge that requires little to no sanding.

Ideally, the feather swipe should be s single pass. If you go over it repeatedly, you'll pull mud out of the corner bead, leaving the corner bead hollow.

Along the top of the opening, push the trowel from right to left on the right side and then left to right on the left side, again to avoid leaving big blobs on the bead.

He likes to work his way up the other side, too, to keep the flow.

Feather across the top and up the side.

The third pass is a finishing one

A smooth pass removing mud from the corner and filling slightly. Don't pass over the bead repeatedly on this finishing pass because you'll remove mud from the corner bead.

Two Reasons to not fill the light switch box with mud

You can electrocute yourself
It sucks for the electrician

It's good to carry a 6-inch knife, too, for small sections that need more detail.

For the 4-inch edges of openings

Load up the beads on each side of the section with mud.

Swipe a rough pass before the feathering one: Angle the blade a little as you swipe up each side, leaving a bit of a hump in the center.

Now, on the finish pass, mud will not spill off the sides (as much).

—The Vancouver carpenter is a carpenter in. Vancouver (it would seem) with a youtube channel featuring lots of carpentry (and drywall) videos worth watching.

Install a UFP-Edge Weathered Wood Accent Wall

daniel morrison — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 14:31:06 +0000

Install a UFP-Edge Weathered Wood Accent Wall daniel morrison Thu, 08/05/2021 - 09:31

SPONSOR CONTENT

A simple project that adds POP to a room

Hi, I'm Maria. Today I will show you how to install a UFP-Edge weathered wood accent wall.

There are a few things you'll need before we get started:

Paint with a roller
Pen
Tape measure
Stud finder
Level
Carpenter square
Hammer and finish nails
Construction adhesive
Brad nailer
Jigsaw
Chop saw
Safety glasses and a dust mask

Wood accent wall installation details

Start by determining how much material you need. Measure the height and width of your wall then multiply to get your square footage. Each box of weathered wood boards covers 10.3 square feet; to cover this wall, I need 11 boxes.

Wood naturally shrinks and swells with changes in temperature and humidity so buy your material a few days before you start your project and give the wood at least 48 hours to acclimate to the new
environment before installing it.

Begin by painting the wall a dark color that complements the wood. Black works best because it hides any gaps that may appear over time. Paint it a couple of days in advance so it's not sticky when you put up the accent wood.

Use a stud finder and a straight edge to mark stud locations. Determine the starting point and use a level to create a reference line. Even if you're starting at the floor, you should always use a reference line because floors and ceilings are not always level.

Since this is a permanent installation, I'll apply construction adhesive to each board before I nail it onto the wall. If you don't want this wall to be permanent, omit the adhesive.

Use the reference line to ensure a level placement, then drive finish nails through the board into the stud. Make sure your board ends meet on the center of a stud in order to fasten properly. Continue along the wall; the final board in the row will be cut to fit

Remember to stagger the seams as you go and continually check to make sure that the boards are level. When you get to the top, use your jigsaw or a table saw to create a custom fit.

As an option, you can trim out your wall by adding leftover boards. This adds a nice finishing touch.

—This video is from UFP-Edge, one of ProTradeCraft's advertisers. See all of UFP-Edge's content here.

How to Paint UFP-Edge Shiplap Wall Covering

daniel morrison — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 13:34:13 +0000

How to Paint UFP-Edge Shiplap Wall Covering daniel morrison Mon, 06/07/2021 - 08:34

SPONSOR CONTENT

You can roll or spray the wall with paint

Painting your shiplap is what makes it uniquely yours. When it comes time to paint use the square footage of your wall to determine how much paint you need. Check the paint can to see how many square feet it covers.

Before you begin painting, it's a good idea to tape off the edges of the wall and the outlets and switches. If you're using a sprayer,
you'll need to tape off significantly more than that.

If you're not using a sprayer you can use a roller to cover most of the wall and a brush to fill in the parts the roller can't get to.

You may need more than one coat to fully cover the wall.

—This video is from UFP-Edge, one of ProTradeCraft's advertisers. See all of UFP-Edge's content here.

Three Solo Drywall-Hanging Tips

daniel morrison — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 14:27:33 +0000

Three Solo Drywall-Hanging Tips daniel morrison Mon, 04/05/2021 - 09:27

Using lifts and planning to make a miserable job more manageable

In these three videos, Myron demonstrates a few tips for hanging a room full of drywall alone. In the first video, Myron demonstrates how to use the HangPro Drywall Lift for hanging drywall on walls without a helper.

Use a lift to eliminate the helper

The drywall lift acts as a dolly for drywall. Set it next to the pile and place a sheet on the lift.
Wheel the sheet over to the wall that you're working on, stop about 12-inches away from the wall.
Tilt the lift forward, taking the weight off the larger wheels, and crank the drywall up until it butts the ceiling. The lift is somewhat flexible, in that if one corner of the drywall sheet touched the ceiling before the opposite corner, you can keep cranking to bring the other corner into position.
With the sheet locked in place, screw off the top of the sheet.
Remove the drywall lift and screw off the bottom of the sheet.
The HangPro Drywall Lift can also be used for installing the lower sheet. After wheeling the sheet over to the wall, lower the sheet into position under the upper sheet and fasten the top of the lower sheet.

How to cut a long rip from a drywall panel without breaking it:

Score the backside of the drywall with a knife, using a tape measure as a guide and your hand as a fence.
Flip the sheet around and bend the cut edge forward to break the gypsum core.
Score the face paper to remove the rip, BUT, do not begin scoring at the end of the drywall sheet. Begin scoring the face paper about two-0inches from the end of the drywall sheet. This two inches will hol;d the rip in place after scoring the rest of the panel.
Do not score the face of the drywall sheet all the way to the end, either, stop about two-inches short of the end again.
Now, move to the center of the panel and snap the rip back toward the back to break the two two-inch face paper sections at either end of the drywall.
This will give you a perfect rip without breaking every time.

Don't create more mud work than you need to:

Just because there are tons of studs in the wall does not mean you need to screw into them. Myron only screws into the layout studs—those 16-inches on-center. Extra studs get skipped because they just create more places that must be concealed with mud.
Fasten edges at doors and windows close to the end of the sheet, so that the screws will be hidden by the casing. If you fasten a couple of inches from the end of the sheet, you'll need to conceal those screws with drywall compound.
fasten the bottom of the sheet behind where the baseboard will be. Again, if you place the bottom screw more than 3-4 inches above the floor, you will most certainly need to conceal those screws too.

Little things add up over the course of a day, job phase, and project.

— Myron Ferguson, aka That Drywall Guy, points out on his website that over 80% of the visible interior of a home is covered with drywall, and "The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten." Amen, brother.

How to Fit Odd-Shaped Drywall with The Tick Stick Method

daniel morrison — Mon, 15 Mar 2021 14:56:11 +0000

How to Fit Odd-Shaped Drywall with The Tick Stick Method daniel morrison Mon, 03/15/2021 - 09:56

Tick sticking your way to drywall excellence—no measuring required

Here's a way to win a cup of coffee in a morning jobsite bet:

Draw an odd shape on the wall and bet that you can fit a patch to it without using a tape measure.

Here's how to cut odd-shaped patches with a tick stick:

You'll need a short piece of wood with a sharp point on it.
Place the piece you'll cut into a patch over the hold in such a way that you can see each point of the shape.
Place the point of the stick on each point of the shape and scribe along one edge and the end of the tick stick.
The sample shape Myron is demonstrating has five points, so the drywall scrap has five lines.
Remove the scrap from the wall and place it on a large sheet of drywall to transfer the shape.
Secure the scrap on the patch piece (tack it with a couple of drywall nails or screws), so the scrap doesn't move.
Lay the tick stick on the scrap, aligning the butt end and the side with the lines drawn in earlier step.
Mark each point with a dot.

"The tricky part is gonna be connecting the dots to make it the right shape. I've actually done it where I've connected the wrong dots together."

Remove the scrap and connect the dots. If the pencil lines resemble the shape on the wall, cut it out. If they don't, well, rethink your sketch.

"Medium coffee, cream, no sugar, please."

—This video is by Myron Ferguson, aka That Drywall Guy, who points out on his website that over 80% of the visible interior of a home is covered with drywall, and "The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten." Amen, brother.

The Engineering, Building Science, and Code Implications of Marijuana Grow Rooms

daniel morrison — Mon, 20 Apr 2020 08:20:00 +0000

The Engineering, Building Science, and Code Implications of Marijuana Grow Rooms daniel morrison Mon, 04/20/2020 - 03:20