Drywall help/advice needed

[shane96ranger]

Here's a pic of that tape (now that I'm not on Crapatalk).

 

[cvar]

Lots of great advice here. I agree with your viejo about the joist bracing & hanging across 'em. Sounds like he can fix it right.

Fwiw: Mesh tape isn't wrong. Mesh can work too, but thin mud over it produces rows of square humps PITA. Paper is stronger & smoother, leaving no bumps, but gotta be embedded in WET mud, otherwise it won't stay stuck. It's more personal preference, tho. Myself, I prefer folded paper for inside corners, rather than those embedded metal strips. I also find thinner mud on final coat helps avoid bubbles & also makes nicer feathered edges, for much less sanding. Wider trowel on thin final coat with long smooth strokes greatly reduces sanding. These days, I enjoy mudding. Sanding not so much. Mistakes & shortcuts become far more visible after painting, so smooth sanding is important.

Funny how some ppl fear drywalling. Practice helps to develop the smooth touch. It's simpler than fixing a truck. Fixing a truck is hard.

 

[ZMan]

I think the thing the boggles my mind the most about all this, is that 1/4" costs MORE than 1/2"...at least where i bought my drywall anyway.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I used the corner bead tape I was talking about on outer corners in my bathroom. Inner I still used regular paper. It beats the piss out if nailing the old school stuff in place and uses a lot less mud.

Sent from a Commodore 64 using a 300 baud modem

I've seen commercial mudders use spray glue and plastic outside corners. It saves one step and can be used on radiuses.

Richard

 

[Mark_88]

Hmmmmm...after reading the last few posts makes me nervous...I think I used 3/8" on the ceiling of an old farmhouse last year...but it might have been 1/4"...but so far not a crack anywhere on the ceiling of a 14 x 12' room...and we had to do quite a bit of fixing on it because it was originally plastered and the people who did plastering back then could make anything look straight...they were truly masters of the day...but to try to replace lathe and plaster with drywall takes quite a bit of work...

The woman I did the drywall for did quite a bit of the mud work herself and I went into the room a few months ago and was simply amazed at the job she did to make that room look like it was done by a pro...and the first thing I looked for were cracks...none...

 

[Mark_88]

I had a guy come look at it today who has been doing drywall for 40 years.
1. He said the plywood should've come down from the ceiling first.
2. The drywall on the ceiling is run the wrong direction. He said the long edge should be across the joists not parallel to them so the butt joints are on the joist. He also said on a ceiling you need cross braces in between the joists to tie them together as well. (I can't tell if it has any because of the insulation) He said since this was a carport there probably aren't any.
3. He said 1/4 is too thin for a ceiling. Said it isn't strong enough to hold its own weight and eventually will sag like the dickens unless he put a ton of screws in it.

...

Ooops...didn't see this part...lol

I did a 20 x 22' garage a few years back and I consulted a guy at a local building supply store...told him the joists were 24" centers (as is common on garage ceilings) and that I wanted to put strapping running lengthwise to bolster the ceiling...and the guy said yes...make it 16" centers and run the strapping across the joists...so I did it that way...this provides much better support for drywall...

We then hung the drywall with the long edge parallel to the joists and the butt joints were supported every 16" across...plus I had put 2x4s between the joists every 4' and then put strapping on the face of the 2x4 to make it flush with the other strapping...this gave reinforcement (cross bracing) and an option for even more screws where the butt joints were...

So...it would appear that regardless of how it was mudded, there may be a serious support problem for the drywall...if it was put over plywood then it actually shouldn't be a problem...unless the plywood itself wasn't secured properly to begin with...old plywood can sag just like drywall or anything else over time...

Maybe need to tear it all down and do some cross bracing and apply some strapping across the joints...unless you plan on selling soon...

 

[superdave1984]

Maybe need to tear it all down and do some cross bracing and apply some strapping across the joints...unless you plan on selling soon...

This is what is going to happen. Not selling.

I did some googling on hanging drywall on a ceiling and I saw more than one "how to" that said that the butt joints should be BETWEEN the joists and a board with shims on the edges used to secure the butt joint so that it bows slightly upward. Sounds like a bad idea to me and it sounds like a lot of extra work. http://www.finehomebuilding.com/PDF/Free/021174058.pdf

 

[PanamaExpat]

Here in the tropics we don't use anything made of wood for one simple reason; termites. We use all steel studs and support the framework with hanger wire as needed from the roofing structure. For the butt joints that wooden apparatus in my opinion would be quite costly and for the most part unnecessary. We turn a piece of steel stud sideways crimp it in place where the butt joint will lap halfway over it and shoot the screws to it. We have a home made drywall lift as they don't sell them here but trust me that is one tool that is worth its weight in gold.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

This is what is going to happen. Not selling.

I did some googling on hanging drywall on a ceiling and I saw more than one "how to" that said that the butt joints should be BETWEEN the joists and a board with shims on the edges used to secure the butt joint so that it bows slightly upward. Sounds like a bad idea to me and it sounds like a lot of extra work. http://www.finehomebuilding.com/PDF/Free/021174058.pdf

That would be a lot of extra work, and it would only really be a help if the edges of the drywall were not beveled. But since the long side edges of pretty much all drywall available are factory beveled, it's a waste of effort. The short sides don't matter so much because you should never line up joints, sheets should be cut and lapped, much like you would do sheeting on a wall or roof. Short side should end on a joist or stud and the long side should be perpendicular to the joists or studs - drywall like sheeting (plywood, osb and some paneling) has the most strength when used in that direction.

 

[Mark_88]

This is what is going to happen. Not selling.

I did some googling on hanging drywall on a ceiling and I saw more than one "how to" that said that the butt joints should be BETWEEN the joists and a board with shims on the edges used to secure the butt joint so that it bows slightly upward. Sounds like a bad idea to me and it sounds like a lot of extra work. http://www.finehomebuilding.com/PDF/Free/021174058.pdf

Wow, good article...except that part about the butt joints being away from the bracing and strapping...but I would have to read more on it to understand the logic of that...I've always seen it secured to strapping or joists directly...and thought it made much more sense to secure those ends and then work them with the mud to smooth them out...

It will be worth it though to start over and do it right...

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

That's the first time I've seen a short side hung like that. I can see the sense in that it will save a lot of mud and tape and SANDING. I hate sanding, especially overhead. If I had commercial tools I would never do that but for a home owner/small contractor using hand tools I can see that saving time [money] in the long run. One of the other tricks to prevent cracks in the ceiling to wall joint is to make sure that there are no screws/nails within ~16" of the joint on the ceiling panels. That allows the ceiling panel to float on top of the wall panel as the building moves.

Richard

 

[shane96ranger]

That is interesting. I've never seen that either.

These guys would have loved the friggin' jigsaw puzzle I found in my basement when I tore the 70's wood paneling down. After I saw that mess, I ripped every ounce of sheetrock out of that room, then proceeded to fix the framing issues, rewired, and re-insulated it. The project grew and grew.


Hey superdave, any chance you'll be getting any money back from the first guy that did it?

 

[ZMan]

Shit..iwish i would have seen that 2 months ago...the short side but joints were a pain in my ass on my kitchen ceiling, add to that i dont want to texture it..