paneling versus drywall

If doing much drywalling, definitely worth looking at! Under $200.

Pretty extensive coverage

I appreciate the input. I'm not an installer but I am inside new home construction quite a bit. And for better or worse horizontal is the norm in the Houston area.

replying to Leon, Iggy wrote: Yeah, it's too bad and it's not just Houston it's the norm everywhere. I've even seen builders, quite laughably, listing horizontal as a selling point...like no-one else is doing the garbage.

Plaster is still done but they put up Blue board then plaster in two coats, cost more than just dry wall. Just go rustic log cabin and then you do not need no stinking drywall.

for a crew yeah with square plumb level walls and ceilings and separate crews to hang tape and finish

but for one man operation it is like a make work project

depends too

add coved ceilings or slanted ceilings ten foot walls

fire codes requiring thicker dry wall

if i ever have to decide on the walls i will go with lath and plaster

not wood lath of course

I can just see you half way through - totally defeated and discusted with yourself for being so stubborn - and then having to pay through the nose to get ptos to finish the job ot go back to drywall - - -

Rither that or I can see a mediocre job, finished LONG after the target date.

obviously i disagree with maintenance and ease of installation

cost not sure about but drywall requires taping and mud which are pretty cheap but still is a factor plus corner bead

this is diy

also there is corner bead to buy and install and the dust from sanding is everywhere

maybe wet sanding is the key

one pro for drywall is the fire delay factor and in some munis is a requirement

With my drywall "work" now, I always use wet sanding. Not really sanding. Just take a damp/wet cloth and rub over the dried drywall. It smoothes it out very well.

If you can't teach yourself to tape and mud drywall, you don't stand a chance with lath and plaster!!!! You can't handle a few 6-8 inch wide joints, how are you EVER going to get an 8 x 12 foot wall perfectly flat and smooth without defects?????

I'm just one man and I have hung and taped and mudded more than a few sheet s of drywall over the years. Picking up and hanging heavy sheets of drywal l is not easy or fun. But it can be done by one person. I have hung 4x12 sheets of 1/2" drywall all by myself. The mesh tape is easier for me to us e than the wet paper tape. Applying mud requires care and detail. You hav e to be careful smoothing everything out nicely. Takes some time but not a huge amount of effort or technical skill. Touch is needed, is the best wa y to describe it.

No. Its not snap your fingers easy. But its not a huge amount of work tha t requires an unbelievable amount of technical skill. No offense to anyone connected to the drywall trade, but none of the kids hanging drywall have a college degree. And its likely many did not even finish high school with a degree. Its not rocket science, to use a cliché.

Ceilings do require extra equipment to hang the drywall. And or extra peop le. Ten foot walls don't need any extra equipment. A 5 foot high seam isn 't any harder to mud than a 4 foot high seam. And both 8 foot and 10 foot ceilings both require ladders or those stilt things to tape/mud the wall-ce iling corners.

I think 5/8" drywall is fire rated. 1/2" is not. I've hung some 5/8" dryw all and it is heavier. But not a lot heavier. Its not 2, 3, 4 times heavi er. Its 25% heavier. 5/8" is 25% thicker than 4/8" (1/2").

I think you are just imagining and making up excuses to not work with drywa ll. No need to do that. Just say I don't want to use drywall and go with something else. That is it. Be done and move on. Just don't distort the real world of drywall hanging.

What about the mess involved in buttering a whole wall with plaster??? Corner bead is MANDATORY with plaster as well. I've seen many drywall installations where there has been virtually NO sanding (and therefore dust) involved. Sponge finishing of drywall compound is quite common. Using setting compound for the first coat makes it pretty fast -45 minute set is common - then finish with drywall finishing compound that takes a bit longer as it has to DRY. But it only needs to be a thin skim coat, so it still dries relatively quickly

a firm sponge is my choice of tool.

g. Just take a damp/wet cloth and rub over the dried drywall. It smoothes it out very well.

This must be baiting...True plaster work is an art form...Please, please, p lease, video-record your project and post to YT so we may all learn how eas y, cheap and expedient plaster work is (and in HD, especially while you att empt the ceiling work). Sanding, while cleaner/neater/better done wet, can be nearly avoided using several thinned finish coats of JC rather than trying to do it all in 2-3 p asses. Even resultant dust from dry sanding can be kept under control using readily available (and inexpensive) wet vacuum collection systems and sand ing screens... I installed 94 sheets for an addition I DIYed and by the ti me I was finished, I had 1 major takeaway - I wished I had thought to use 1

Good for you. Report back when you are doing the second wall and let us know what method you are using.

You're using way too much mud (I do too).

Or a wet sponge.

For some applications.

ok i will try this

sanding dust is a mess

i still will not call drywall efficient does that mean the current alternatives are more efficient nope

but there is much room for improvement and i am surprised at what a make work workflow doing drywall is

nor rocket surgery

the task does not tax me mentally and it is more that the process does have room for vast improvement

doubt improvement will come from the hangers and tapers of the world

no imagining here just the first job doing drywall larger than a patch from a stray elbow or so

but i like the idea of wiping when still wet with a wet cloth