What is the advantage of hanging drywall parallel to the floor? I can’t figure it out. It just gives me a bunch of non-tapered edges to mud.
Mike
What is the advantage of hanging drywall parallel to the floor? I can’t figure it out. It just gives me a bunch of non-tapered edges to mud.
Mike
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Replies
What in the world are you talking about?
You coverin the floor with drywall?
Ive been here too long today.
Are you asking if you can hang drywall with the long axis running from floor to ceiling?
If this is your question, two reasons:
1) The strength axis of the drywall is the long axis and it is intended to span across the framing, not run parallel to studs or joists.
2) Taping joints that run from floor to ceiling is a much bigger pain than running tape & mud at 4' (parallel to the floor).
Basic math. Hang an 11' wall vertically with 8's or horizontal with 12's. Which has less seams to be finished?
In that case yeah, but I would assume from the question mike has < 8' < 10' walls.
I am afraid of heights so I'd rather finish the horizontal seam 4' from the floor, let the other guys do the ceiling seams.
There aren't supposed to be any butt joints. That's why they sell 12' and 16' drywall. If there are butt joints, they're not supposed to land on a stud. They should fall between the studs, so you can use a butt splicer to pull the ends down below the surface. That way, you have room for tape and mud, just like on the tapered edges. Here's a link to a commercial product. You can to the same thing with a strip of plywood and a couple pieces of lath or drywall shims.
http://www.butthanger.com/butthanger.html
If you have no butthanger, you can land the butt joint on a stud and tack drywall shims to the studs on either side of the joint creating a gently sloping tapered joint 32 inches wide.
Ahhhh- now I see said the blind man. It never occured to me the ends didn't land on studs. Those butthanger things look easily duplicated. Thanks everyone
Mike
Thanks Dunc,
I forgot about that, I dont drywall often so the little details... I guess its time to get Myrons video at the library again.
-zen
Just occurred to me, what if its a patch in an existing wall? If its smaller than a sheet -all butt joints, do you recess the patch and fill to height, or do you try to transition the mud far enough not to see it?
I usually do the later, but always looking for better practices.
-zen
>> ... what if its a patch in an existing wall?Better stick with Myron. I'm not a drywall expert, just a computer programmer with a flypaper memory. :)
just a computer programmer with a flypaper memory
I dont get the "just part". Programmer in Boulder, theres no just about it.
Youve done well my friend.
-zen
If you hang drywall vertically, you will end up with more linear feet of joints that need to be taped and mudded--it’s a matter of simple math. You also reduce the number and length of any butt joints that you might need to reinforce and finish. Justin Fink
FHB Editorial
still faster and a better job in the end..
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
double check yur math..
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Here is the doublecheck:
You have a wall that is 12 ft long by 8 ft. tall:
-Hanging drywall horizontally will give you one long seam that equals 12 linear feet.
-Hanging drywall vertically will give you two 8 ft. seams, totalling 16 linear feet.
Justin Fink
FHB Editorial
once.... in an ideal world...
and all walls are not 12'...
and how come there are so many butts in DW work....
take the whole mission in to perpective...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
All walls are not 12', but most residential walls are something less than that. With 12' rock you can do most homes horizontally with very few butt joints.
IMERC
J Fink is right on this one, I know that most hangers seem like gorrillas but they are smart enough to know that if they hung an entire house vert they would be back charged by the finishers for the extra labor to finish... if they could even find a finisher.
having said that i would rather run one long seam at waist level than a floor to ceiling seam.
james
as to which is better... well just do what works for you and your customers.
Need to work on the math thing. Using the 26' wall as an example hanging 8's vertical gives you 48' of seam....hanging 12's horizontal gives 42'... Now throw a door in that wall and you really start looking bad on the vertical hang.
Edited 3/7/2005 7:47 pm ET by GEOB21
If the hole is small, you make the patch about 4" oversized, then score the back paper on the patch to fit the hole. Bend/break on the score lines, leaving the front paper intact, and peel the broken edges off the front paper.You now have a patch the size of the hole but with paper extending out on all sides about 2". Mud the wall surface around the edge of the hole, put a little mud on the broken edges of the patch, and press in place. Smooth the paper as if it were tape, then finish like tape.Sometimes you get lucky and the paper has a consistency that you can tear the edges and get a feathered edge, so that there is virtually no bump at the edge of the paper.
"If the hole is small, you make the patch about 4" oversized, then score the back paper on the patch to fit the hole. Bend/break on the score lines, leaving the front paper intact, and peel the broken edges off the front paper.You now have a patch the size of the hole but with paper extending out on all sides about 2". Mud the wall surface around the edge of the hole, put a little mud on the broken edges of the patch, and press in place. Smooth the paper as if it were tape, then finish like tape."Up in Washington D.C. we call that a "Georgia patch"....wonder what they call it in Georgia?
It's not a patch, I'm doing a basement and I have one wall 26'. All the others I can cover with the longer sheets and not worry about vertical joints. I don't do drywall and it escaped me how to make a non-tapered butt-joint flat. So now I'm either going to hang the long wall vertical or make me a couple of those butthanger things and do it the easy way. Thanx for the advice, Mike
Another way that often works is to use a straight edge to find the studs that are bowed in. If you break on these, the butt joints will be recessed. One problem is that these studs don't always hit on the layout you want. A drywall rip with a factory edge makes a usable straightedge.
The wall doesn't have to be 12' wide for it to work, it was just an example. As a general rule of thumb, any wall wider than 4' should probably get the drywall hanging horizontally--
The goal is to hang the drywall in the way which reduces the number of seams, that's all I'm saying.Justin Fink
FHB Editorial
10' ceilings here are the norm here...
10' boards... verticale....
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
You can buy drywall in 10' sheets?? well, I guess that makes sense then.Justin Fink
FHB Editorial
you know it's hang to meet the need and I'm too lazy to make extra work..
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
You can also (I'm told) buy drywall in 5' wide sheets, so you and do 10' ceilings horizontally with no waste.
i find this discussion really funny. i say go ahead and hang your boards vertical. it will be the only time you do it. butt joints dont really matter. all joints are feathered out anyway. if your a diy, i can pretty much guarantee your not looking for or going to get a ultra flat wall. if your hanging the board solo. install the lower row first then the top row. it allows you to set the top sheet up and balance it rather than struggle trying to hold it just right and screw it at the same time.
cheersTmaxxx
Urban Workshop Ltd
Vancouver B.C.
that's me...
DIY'er...
still gonna hang verticale...
but a 12x8 wall does get horizontal..
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Yeah, but then how do you get the top board tight against the ceiling board??
It goes faster, if the butts are simply mudded over and texture sprayed on afterwards.
But if you want to do it so your finish is perfect, assuming your ceiling height is not greater than 12', run them vertically. And then take your time and mud 3 times for your tapered joints. When done and primed, you can apply a gloss wall paint and it'll be perfectly flat.
BruceM
It doesnt matter. You can run it diagonally if you want to. What matters is what kind of taper you are. Are you any good with a 20 inch curved trowel?
DIYer's perspective: (I usually work alone.) An advantage of hanging 8 ft sheets vertically is that you are straining less. Getting a horizontal sheet up to the ceiling, especially a long one, can be a trip. Also, the increased time taping and finishing vertical joints (compared to horizontal) is of less concern to an HO doing the work than to a pro. On the other hand, unless the studs are perfectly vertical, unbowed and exactly 16 OC, some of the (vertical) joints may not land properly. Horizontal sheets eliminate this problem, especially if a "butthanger" type of device is used between studs. So I'm going to hang horizontal next time!
BTW, be careful if you Google "butthanger". You may end up in a site where you don't belong. I speak from experience.
On small jobs that are not cost effective to have rockers take care of I go through an anal evaluation of which makes the most sense. If there are lots of windows and doors you can end up with very little vert. seams and absolutely no butts by going vertical. I am waiting to try D-mix and my magic trowel on the next application.