Mud bottom of drywall?

[# Fred #]

On new installation do you level out the bottom 4" of the sheetrock flat to match with the rest of the surface for the new base molding?

[Joe]

Yes. Otherwise the base molding will not be vertical and coves and miters will be a b***h to prepare and look weird. That's why some installers prefer wallboard installed vertically. The choice may come down to prevailing labor rates for drywallers. Many opine that horizontal installation is cheaper and in some cases it might be. Whatever, it would be interesting to have the views of finish carpenter subs and drywaller subs on the matter. HTH

Joe

[Mike Paulsen]

(snip)

The inside and outside corners get bead or tape so they're going to be fine as long as the finisher does a decent job. I assume the OP is talking about the remainder of the wall where mating trim isn't going to be a factor.

The sheet starts to taper ~2 1/4 inches from the edge, so standard base will cover it and the angle is not likely to be noticeable. If you found that it was a problem, you could install thin shim stock along the bottom edge.

If it was important to _not_ have a tapered edge at the floor and the ceiling height was 8' or 12', I'd consider using 54" rock for the bottoms (ripping 6" off each sheet).

[Joseph Meehan]

In addition to Mikes comments (good ones) I will add that there is an additional advantage to horizontal. Most people will not notice a seem at four foot as much as they will an eight foot seem every four feet.

[The Streets]

Also, *much* easier to get a nice finished seam on a long horizontal run that is at about waist high than it is on a 8 foot vertical seam where you'll be going from being down on your knees to being several steps up a ladder.

[Harry K]

Plus around 1/3 less footage of seams for horizontal.

Harry K

[Noozer]

Why not just split the sheet down the middle and put the cut edge to the floor/ceiling?

[Rich]

Then you have two seams 4' apart. I would have gone vertical with the joint to not have the taper at the bottom.

Rich

[Harry K]

Doubles the footage of seams.

Harry K

[tksirius]

Depends on the type of molding to be used. Its its a 4" colonial base, not a problem at all.

Otherwise a nice fat flat knife can apply the extra mud needed to level it out. Its more work than necessary > On new installation do you level out the bottom 4" of the sheetrock flat to