If you’re constructing a room or remodeling it, chances are you are using drywall. And like many, you probably don’t know how to install it.
If you do know how to install it however, you may not know how to do it as the pros do. Doing as the pros do makes everything more efficient and potentially even safer depending on your own personal methods.
It’s not impossible to install drywall as an amateur or even as someone that does not know entirely what they are doing, nor does it need to be difficult. Hiring Drywall Contractors are pretty affordable and they get the job done.
In general, drywall sheets usually come in around at 4×8 ft and can weigh between 50 and 75 lbs. Therefore, you must be careful when installing as well as carrying them.
What you’re reading now will help you but it is a good idea to do more research to ensure that you will not be making a mistake, which is to say that this will not be all-encompassing and may not cover your particular needs if any.
But it will cover the basics, and one of those basics includes first starting with the ceiling.
Table of Contents
Start With The Ceiling
As a baseline, drywall installation should be based on the pros, and what the pros do is focus on the ceiling first. Doing so will ensure that nothing goes wrong in the process of your project either currently or down the line.
As a standard, drywall meant for a ceiling should be about 5/8-inch thick; and just to cover it now, walls should be 1/2-inch thick.
Place the respective drywall against the ceiling in one corner of the room, then install 1 5/8-inch drywall screws through the drywall into the classic ceiling hoists, do this for every 8 inches.
After doing this, you’ll want to measure the next ceiling section, this is where the second piece of drywall will go. For this, you’ll want to use either a carpenter’s pencil or snap line.
Use a utility knife to easily cut drywall to fit into a gap. Run the knife’s blade along the marked lines and then snap the drywall on the opposite side to the marks, and then to separate you’ll need to cut along the inner crease.
Use a Drywall Bit
Using a drywall bit applies to drywall screws, a big shock there. What the bit does though is that it ensures that the screw doesn’t sink through the wall enough to tear it, but it also ensures that it does get deep enough so that it can later be mudded easily.
Which is something that will come up later on. Regardless, be sure not to push the drill too hard.
Continue With The Wall
After the ceiling has been covered, the time to do the walls has come. To begin, it’s important that you first make note of any wall obstructions, this being outlets or really anything that requires a hole in the wall.
You then want to measure these from the studs and transfer said measurements to the actual drywall piece and mark them.
From there, drill a starter hole in the drywall and then proceed to cut around the measurements, which can be done with a keyhole saw.
After this, screw the drywall to the wall studs, making the screws sink below the surface while also spacing out each screw 12 to 16 inches. This will finish the wall if you need it to be bare.
Mud It
However, there’s a good chance that you want to do something more with the wall, such as paint it or apply texture to it, or just make it look seamless. And that’s where mudding comes in.
Mudding gives the wall a seamless finish and also allows you to give it texture and paint since the wall is essentially a blank canvas.
To mud a wall, first ensure that all drywall screws are sunk beneath the surface of the wall. After this, with a 4-inch mud knife, load a small amount of mud onto it and cover the screw dimples to make it flush with the wall.
After this is completed, use a 6-inch mud knife and run it along the seam of the wall, which should fill the crease completely.
After you’ve done this, the above should apply, which is to say that the wall should look seamless and everything is flush with everything; flat and clean. After this, you’re going to want to tape the joints.
Tape The Joints
As just introduced, you should tape the joints. This needs to be done before the mud on the seam dries and here’s how. For this part though you’re going to need another person unless you’re feeling inventive.
Something to add here as well is that after this step, you should mud everything once more after a day to ensure smoothness, but it can be a lighter coat.
To tape the joints, you need to hold one end of the paper tape while your assistant stretches the paper across the seam.
While that’s happening, follow them while smoothing the tape into the wet mud made by the 6-inch mud knife as mentioned above. After this, use a 10-inch mud knife to go over the tape with more mud.
Installing Drywall
Installing drywall doesn’t need to be difficult even if it does seem intimidating at first. You don’t need to be a pro nor a knowledgeable amateur, just someone who is willing to do their research to ensure that they achieve a job well done.
Getting a job well done though can be helped if not achieved using this article. Be sure to first do the ceiling and then move on to the walls.
When doing either be sure to use a drywall bit. Doing so ensures that the screw is neither too shallow nor too deep which is critical. After installing the walls, mud them.
Mudding the walls allows them to have a seamless finish that can be painted over or given texture. After this, tape the joints before the mud on the seam dries and then after all of this, do another final layer of mud.
What really matters is that after this everything looks smooth and clean. It doesn’t take a pro to put up drywall, just be sure that you won’t need one.
