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Drywall in the Basement

| Posted in General Discussion on January 4, 2000 11:49am

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I am remodeling a basement family room. I will be installing new 5/8 dry wall on existing stud wall framed next to the exterior concrete wall. The wall height, concrete floor to bottom of overhead floor trusses is 7 feet 4 inches. I am planning to us a flush mounted ceiling system such as CEILING MAX i.e. not more permanent drywall.

Okay, here’s my question.
Is it a bad idea to install the drywall vertical, instead of the horizontal method?

Vertical would eliminate a fair amount of joints to mud. remember, no ceiling joint. I could also cut one end for height instead of many full length cuts. This will also leave factory edges for most of the joints.

Reply

Replies

  1. Guest_ | Dec 01, 1999 10:10am | #1

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    Art,

    Yes, you can hang it vertically. Before you do, however, you need to talk to the person who is going to mud the job. Most of the finishers I know prefer horizontally hung boards. Minimizes bending over and streching up. Remember, if you go vertical you do not have much room for error in spacing your studs. Consider studs on 24" centers and horizontal 1x strapping every 16".

  2. Kevin_Adams | Dec 01, 1999 04:04pm | #2

    *
    Hi Art,

    Under the conditions you described, I have always hung drywall vertical. I have never had any problems doing this, but as the other reply stated, you have to make sure your stud spacing is correct.

    Rather than installing horizontal strapping, just scab extra material to the side of the studs at seams. This will give you a good seam area without making the living area smaller. Even though 3/4 inch strapping may seam like a trivial amout of area, it is surprising what an effect it could have.

    Good luck,

    Kevin Adams

  3. Guest_ | Dec 01, 1999 04:31pm | #3

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    As I see it, the tapered joint gives you more strength where the drywall spans from stud to stud, so if you don't have un-backed butt edge joints then you can run the drywall any way you like. By the way, I usually use water-resistant drywall for the first 4' of any basement, they've been known to leak sometimes.

  4. Art | Jan 04, 2000 11:49pm | #4

    *
    I am remodeling a basement family room. I will be installing new 5/8 dry wall on existing stud wall framed next to the exterior concrete wall. The wall height, concrete floor to bottom of overhead floor trusses is 7 feet 4 inches. I am planning to us a flush mounted ceiling system such as CEILING MAX i.e. not more permanent drywall.

    Okay, here's my question.
    Is it a bad idea to install the drywall vertical, instead of the horizontal method?

    Vertical would eliminate a fair amount of joints to mud. remember, no ceiling joint. I could also cut one end for height instead of many full length cuts. This will also leave factory edges for most of the joints.

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