OT Drywall hanging

[krw]

Water shed areas are marked, sure, but that doesn't help much when there's 2'-3' of rain and 100MPH winds.

[Clare Snyder]

Getting less than full flats of anything but 4X8 around here virtually impossible - and full flats are special order. A few "trade only" yards MAY have the special sizes in stock - if you are lucky.

[russellseaton1]

I'll have to admit to making a mistake. There is apparently no 5 foot wide drywall. Just 4 and 4.5 foot wide sheets. Lengths of 8 to 16 feet. 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 5/8 thicknesses. I was sure I had seen 5 foot wide drywall somewhere. But maybe not. I live in a metro of about 400,000. We have the three big homeowner stores. Plus lots of drywall supply places too. Lot of house building here. I'm sure you could find one of the drywall supply places to sell you sheets even if you are not a commercial business customer. You don't have to go to HomeDepot, Lowes, Menards.

Apparently on this 10 foot tall wall he will have to put in a narrow filler strip at the bottom.

Standard or Regular Drywall Standard drywall is the most commonly used material and is characterized by a white surface on both sides. It is typically available in thicknesses ranging from 1/4?to 5/8? with 1/2? most often used for residential applications and 5/8? for commercial projects. The lengths vary from 8? to 16? and widths of 48? to 54?.

[Puckdropper]

knuttle <keith [e-mail] wrote in news:sjn6qs$q40$ [e-mail]:

I felt the same way about our house. It was on top of a small hill above a large plane that fed down to a 30-40' drop off. By the time our house was affected by rising flood waters, someone would have built an Ark! (The houses down below would have been completely under water.)

We did have some minor flooding once, though. A storm system dropped like

6" of rain and overwhelmed the soil so water couldn't drain away so it came in. Two 20 inch box fans and a dehumidifier fixed things right up.

Puckdropper

[krw]

When you say "came in" are you talking about a basement or first floor?

Builders now do a piss poor job of foundation drainage. I shouldn't say "now". They weren't doing a great job 60 years ago. My parents' house did have a sump and pump to deal with foundation drains but the pump just dumped the water outside on the lawn, where it found its way back to the foundation drains. At times the pump would run continuously. The basement in our current house is walk-out so only buried half way. Drainage isn't a problem.

[Leon]

But the concern is YOUR house, not the neighbors.

There you go! High elevations are not a guarantee.

[John Grossbohlin]

I attribute my actions to being a fine woodworker doing carpentry. ;~)

[John Grossbohlin]

Just came across this video related to prefilling joints.

[Puckdropper]

[e-mail] wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Basement.

Any time you rely on a sump pump, you've got a problem. I just wish more people would take the time to water proof the basements properly when building--when it's easy to get at. The new side of the house has plastic "pebble" board (I don't remember the name), a passive foundation drain that drains away from the house, and I'm not sure if the cinder block has a waterproof coating, but that side never gets water in it. It sure didn't add a whole lot to the cost of the build.

Puckdropper

[krw]

Makes sense but does "pre-filling" mean that you go around and put mud in all of the joints, then go back and tape or does it mean that you load the joint with mud then tape over it immediately?

[krw]

That's what I thought. This isn't a "flood" problem, rather a ground water problem. This can happen anywhere except on top of a mountain of gravel perhaps. OTOH, insurance companies won't care. Rising water is rising water.

The house can turn into a boat, which isn't good either. Sump pumps are bad but sometimes there isn't a better choice. Battery backup is kinda important. Power outages and rising water tend to come at the same time.

[Markem618]

The pros who redid the sunroom, with the framing being a bit wonky taped after filling sanding a first coat but starting with a flat surface made for a great job.

YMMV as may your walls.

[krw]

Odd. I thought the tapered edge was to hide the tape and first layer. It sounds like it didn't matter if it was a tapered or butt joint, they all got treated as butt joints.

No kidding.

[DerbyDad03]

Years ago I hired a guy to mud & tape a basement bathroom for me. Way too many corners, inside and out. Small, cramped areas above the shower stall, a small bulkhead to hide a gas pipe, even a shelf where the block foundation narrowed from 12" to 8". No way I could do it right. Still couldn't.

Before I hung the drywall I mentioned to him that I could save a lot of drywall if I didn't have to worry about eliminating all butt joints. He said "Don't worry about it. I'll just flat tape the butt joints. You won't see the difference."

He was right.

Hanging, I can do. Mudding & taping just isn't in my genes. When I asked the guy if my drywall hanging was OK, he said "I'd follow you anytime." ;-)

Tru dat!

[John Grossbohlin]

Prefilling means to fill the joints, preferably with hot mud (e.g., Durabond), allowing that to set, and then taping. Hot mud is like plaster, it hardens through a chemical process and has little to no shrinkage.

You could also prefill with All Purpose mud but, because that is an evaporative compound, big joints may take a day or more to dry and may shrink or crack. It is definitely better than not prefilling but it is slower and big gaps might need another prefill coat.

Pre-filling does a couple things for you. One is that it fills the joint so that the sheets essentially become one...the gap cannot close up. Another benefit is that the taping mud under the tape will not shrink into the gap and leave the tape with a dip. Me, I prefill anything from an 1/8" and bigger... corners, flat joints, butt joints, walls, ceilings, any thing with a gap. It goes fast and depending on the setting time of the hot mud you use you can be taping in 20, 45, 90, ... minutes.

[John Grossbohlin]

When you are the hanger and taper you watch out for yourself!

I've noticed on my current project that hanging booboos and damaged sheets don't freak me out any more. This as I've learned a lot and have gotten a lot better at taping. I still avoid butt joints when I can by using 12' sheets, but buggered up sheet edges, broken corners, and bad cuts around electrical work boxes don't phase me any more. I also don't end up with the perpetual "the sheet is 1/4" too long" hanging problem as I don't try to make it exactly fit the space any more! ;~)

[krw]

I like the 90 minute stuff for taping but it is more work. I'm a rank(est) armature and Durabond doesn't dissolve in water and it's harder making sanding actually easier. Of course there is some that's more sandable than others. My problem is mixing enough and not too much. I don't have a good way to mix it either.

When you prefill do you fill just the gap? It sounded like they were saying to fill the taper too.

>

[DerbyDad03]

I have tried taping many times over the years. I just can't get it right. Save yourself the trouble of offering tips. ;-) I've heard them all, I watched them all, I've taken live, hands-on lessons more than a few times. I just can't get it.

I've done bondo, I've done fiberglassing, I've made really nice fillets out of thickened epoxy. All of that works out fine. I just can't tape drywall.

When I recently remodeled my basement bathroom, precipitated by a leak that required the removal of some drywall, I did the drywall work myself. It took way too long and didn't come out anywhere near perfect. Tolerable, but not anything that I would have accepted had I paid for it.

[russellseaton1]

Sadly, very sadly, I have that feeling a lot when I look at the numerous drywall fixes I've done in my current house. But strangely, the full sheet drywall job I did in the basement covering whole walls, I don't see any problems with the tape or mud. Someone might happily pay for that work.

[John Grossbohlin]

Durabond isn't known for its sandability... ;~) If you use it for the prefill and taping, and make it reasonably smooth, you can always finish with all purpose. Then you can sand easily.

One advantage of using hot mud to tape is you can use the self adhesive mesh tape. Put the tape up (if it doesn't stick well use spray adhesive) and then apply the hot mud. Mesh tape is supposed to be used with setting compound, not the evaporative type. That process might be easier than using paper tape for some folks.

Me, my current method is to put thinned all purpose or ultra light weight mud on the tape and then put it in place on the wall/ceiling. At least for me, that goes much faster and you get an even layer of mud under the tape as compared to putting the mud on the joint with a knife and then putting the tape on. I found an in expensive device that works well and is simple to use... far less complicated than other devices I tried. It's called a TapeBuddy. Amazon has them.

Just the gaps. It makes no sense to me to prefill the taper before taping. If you did that it would be like taping a butt joint instead of a flat joint...