Drywall myself or not??

[geomanks]

I have a office I built in my basement. It is a 12x10 room. It has passed the roughin inspection so I am ready to drywall. I have hung the drywall vertically (4 x 8 sheets) and have NO butt joints except in the

4 corners of course.

I have found a drywall guy who does this for a living for a big company who works on weekends. He will tape/mud and finsh it and I want to get an estimate from him.

My question is what should this cost? There are 14 seams (8 foot high, including the corners) and no butt joints. I am wondering how long this would take a sheetrock guy who know what he is doing to do this room. I want to make sure the estimate he gives me is close. I don;t know if this is a 12 hour job over two days (to allow for drying) or one hour today and one hour tomorrow.

Thanks for any feedback!!

[Martik]

If you have never done this type of work and want a pro job pay the man. Hack drywall jobs look awful. If you have the time, do some research (google), attend a Home Depot drywall course and try to finish one joint. View from all angles with a good light, many defects may not show until the joint is painted. If you are happy with the results, finish the job yourself. no butt joints in a big plus!

[geomanks]

[frank-in-toronto]

These guys work fast. Where the time is wasted is in setup and cleanup. Unfortunately, drywall work is full of that.

If it were me and I wanted a nice job, I would pay someone else to do it. How much? I'd figure on 6 hours not including his travel time. He'd probably like to make some money for travel too.

So, 8 hours pay at whatever is the rate in your area. If he makes

30 bucks an hour for the company, i would pay him 20/hour cash. He would supply all material.

Are the screws all flush or better? Are all edges supported? Are the electrical boxes nicely flush too? Any no answers and you've given him a tougher job. I might even bump it up to $200. ...thehick

[Colbyt]

Think of it this way. You are buying the quality of the workmanship and the replacement time it would take you to do it. How cheap do you work? What is your time worth? I think you are looking at two long hard weekends and a not quite right job if you do it yourself.

The guy is going to need to be there 2 days (trips). 112 feet of joints and

32 foot of corners. What about ceiling joints? Using a dropped ceiling? For a pro a short day (2-3 coats with quickset mud)and a follow up visit to finish it off.. Call it a day and half because the rest of both of those days is shot for him.

Personally I think you screwed up with the vertical joints. I find the horizontal ones much easier to finish.

Colbyt

[geomanks]

Thanks for the help. There is no ceiling to do.

I did vertical because I could not get 12 foot sheets in my basement, only 8 feet and I did not want any butt seams and the walls are just over 12 feel long. 12' 6" actually.. Just a decision I made incase I decided to do the work myself.

Colbyt wrote:

[geomanks]

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, the screws are set with a drywall driver and all joints are supported.

Heck, if he will do it for $200 I'll hire him for sure! It is worth that not to mess with it and to get it done right. I was afraid it would be 500.

[Phisherman]

This is a quick job. Most of the cost will be the "house call." I'd expect something under $100.

If you decide to do it yourself, use a trouble light and head held against the wall with the seam in between. This inspection trick will save you headaches later.

[R.Smyth]

If you have the time, you probably can do an adequate job yourself. It's the kind of job you can get quite good at with a little practice. My biggest problem is the drywall panels themselves. They're awkwardly big, very heavy and quite fragile and that's a bad combination. But I've done a bit of it and although the results are not perfect, they're still okay. ds

[davefr]

Do it yourself. Hanging the sheets is the hardest part and that's already done.

Go to the USG website they'll have a DIY guide to taping/mudding/finishing.

The pros can do it a lot faster but a newbie can do just as good a job if you pay attention to detail. It'll just take you longer.

[Harry K]

Best thing is to go to a job where it is being done and observe the pros. 15minutes of watching is a great education, both for -how- to do it and reasons for you -not- to do it.

Harry K

[effi]

in addition to what others have posted about doing it yourself, factor in the possibility of permanently injuring your back if you are moving the 4' x 8' drywall pieces by yourself and make a wrong move...

i've heard some drywall companies now require x-rays of employees' backs if they're gonna hang drywall, if there are bone spurs present in the x-ray they don't get hired due to the possibility of back damage from lifting/working with drywall

[davefr]

He said the drywall's already hung!!

I doubt he needs an back X-Ray to hold a roll of jo>in addition to what others have posted about doing it yourself,

[Pop]

That's a lot better than drywalling yourself! As your subject said; "drywalling myself ... ". Kinda messy & don't sit still too long!

Pop

[geomanks]

For anyone interested, I decided to do it myself. The two estimates I got were one for $350 which I thought was a joke. And the other was for $200 but he could not start for two weeks. Both estimates did not including sanding which they said I had to do. I decided that I would do it myself over the xmas break.

It was not as bad as I was thinking it would be. But I was really slow and took my time. I guarantee it was the slowest drywall going on that day in the USA. I bought the supplies (including the knifes (6,8,12 inches) for $50. It took me a total of 8 hours to do it including sanding. Since I had only tapered joints it was much easier. The inside corner joints were what I was worried about and they were actually easy. I used the stick on mesh tape which was easy and seemed to work great. The sanding is the worst part. But I finished sanding today and wiped the walls down with a damp rag to wipe the dust off. I am painting tomorrow.

Thanks to every> Do it yourself. Hanging the sheets is the hardest part and that's > already done.