Drywall 9' walls

[Steve Barker]

Gonna be helping a friend build a new house after a complete burnout. His ceilings are going to be 9'. what is the standard procedure for drywalling 9' walls?

thanks

steve

[Steve Barker]

Well normally 8' walls would be hung horizontally. Hate the thought of all those vertical tape joints.

[willshak]

Steve Barker wrote the following:

Same as for 8' high walls, but you have to get 10' high panels and cut

1' off them.

[DD_BobK]

Out in SoCal, I've seen 9' ceilings done with two 4' wide sheets (hung horizontally) and a "belly band" of about 1' between the two sheets.

I was surprised at this configuration since not all belly band edges would be tapered. But I guess ease of taping (more accessible height) was more imorptant than edge tapers?

cheers Bob

[Rudy]

No, actually they sell 9 ft drywall board. I used it vertically in my basement

[Joe]

54" wide sheets hung horizontally.

[Steve Barker]

thanks for the reply. I did do one wall this way in an older house we rehabbed. I had to tear out one plaster wall to replace a sewer stack and did exactly what you said here. It worked out well having the band in the middle. At least no bending over to work it.

[Steve Barker]

NOW you're talking my game! I wasn't really sure if such a thing were available. Does it come in sheetrock brand?

[norminn]

Why the difference for commercial vs residential?

[Colbyt]

If you can't find the wider board or choose not to pay the price consider hanging 2 four foot boards. One at the top and one at the bottom.

Use 3/8" non tapered, well planned edges for the center band. By the time you finish the double joints you will have a really smooth wall and only use a little extra mud and tape. You will get 3 cuts from each 3/8" board using this method.

I have done this more than once with very pleasing results each time.

[chaniarts]

in my office, it's 10' ceilings with a 1' drop ceiling for lights/ac.

[Harry K]

Yep, I wondered if anyone would point out that such are available. May need special order though.

Hanging sheets vertically is a tapers nightmare. I learned that the first time I did my own.

Harry K

[dpb]

All major manufacturers. May not be at the box store.

[HerHusband]

We built our own house and had walls varying from 8' to 15'. I personally prefer to hang sheets vertically. This ensures all edges are supported by framing, and all edges on the wall are tapered for smoother joints (you would end up with butt joints if your walls are longer than 16', which we had many). True, it will be a bit more work to tape, but I've always done it this way and haven't found it to be a big deal.

Another advantage to hanging sheets vertically is you can use standard off the shelf drywall 4x8, 4x10, or 4x12, cut to the height of your wall. It wastes a little drywall, but can save over special order fees.

If you're working alone, hanging sheets vertically usually allows you to use smaller sheets which means less weight to carry.

If you do choose to hang sheets horizontally, and can't find wider sheets, my preference would be a 1' band at the top or the bottom, so you can maintain tapered edges. Tapered edges allow much smoother joints, and you'll really appreciate the difference if you have to mount a cabinet to the wall or something (no "bulge" in the wall from the butt joint).

I put a 1' band at the top of the wall when we remodeled my in-laws bathroom. I had to climb the ladder to do the ceiling corners anyway, so it was easy to do the seam near the top of the wall at the same time. I would normally cut down 10' sheets and hang them vertically, but in this case it was more efficient to hang the sheets horizontally (less waste).

Anthony

[Joe]

BTW, if you're not *really* good at the finishing work, but are good at taping, you can make the time vs $$ numbers work by doing the hanging, taping and 1st coat of mud yourself, then hiring someone else to do the finishing. There are good guys looking for side work, and while you might get to the same end result as they do, I can almost guarantee they'll get there faster...

My $1/50, ymmv, etc...

jc

[DanG]

Any commercial drywall supply carries 9' drywall and 54" drywall for exactly your reason. Commercial work would usually run the 9' vertical, residential would run the 54.

[bambam]

Any building materials supplier can provide 54 inch x 120 inch drywall if you wish to hang horizontally and avoid the belly band. Here at least, 54 inch board only comes in 12 footers.

Don't know if the box stores carry these or not.

Ken

[Tony]

I've been close to asking a similar question. my garage ceiling is about 9' 6" and was gong to ask about 10' drywall cut down and hung vertically. I would think the taping would be a breeze with all beveled seams instead of the butt joints? What am I missing?

[Wayne Whitney]

I don't have any direct experience, but I think the idea is that while taping, it is much easier to walk along a horizontal joint than a vertical joint. For a 4' vertical butt joint, you can probably reach the whole joint from a single location, while for a 9'6" vertical joint, you'd have to move up and down a ladder repeatedly.

Cheers, Wayne

[benick]

Ditto , that is the CORRECT way to do it...Go to any lumber or drywall place...NOT Home depot or Lowes...