Next up Drywall

[Adam Carl]

Spray Foam is done. Getting set to have drywall delivered. I'm hoping to have a functional shop again by the summer.



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[John Coloccia]

You might be surprised how cheap it is to have someone come in and just do the drywall.

[Gary Pennington]

I enclosed our deck a few years ago. Researched the cost of drywall, mud, renting a lift, etc. Figured it would take me a week or more and I'd have an acceptable job after working my tail off. Hired a drywaller for exactly the estimated cost of materials and rental and went on vacation. Came home to a great job ready for paint. I'd MUCH rather paint than mud.

[Michael W. Clark]

+1 for hiring drywall done. I did this with our basement finish and have never regretted spending the money. At the very least, hire a crew to hang it. They will have 3 or 4 guys and will probably have it all hung that day. My basement is about 800 sq.ft., with a bath, and ceiling soffits, 3 guys hung it all in about 3 hours. Took about a week before I was ready for paint.

Mike

[Adam Carl]

I already own a drywall lift but you guys might be right.

[Jon McElwain]

I looked into getting spray foam insulation about 10 years ago and it was pretty expensive. Of course I could only find one contractor in my area who would do it. How is it these days? Are you pretty happy with the product?

That is going to be a sweet shop - loads of space and lots of headroom!

[Michael W. Clark]

I already own a drywall lift but you guys might be right.

I have 9' ceilings in my basement. I asked the guys that hung the drywall about using a lift and they said it was too slow. Of course, there was three of them, and only one of me. I would need a lift or T-jack if I did it by myself. Looks like you may have some taller ceilings. The ones hanging my drywall were getting paid by the sheet from the sheetrock finisher. I gave the finisher a $500 advance payment to pay the hangers. Get a quote, they are more than happy to quote you a price and you want to supply your own drywall anyway to avoid the mark-up from the finisher. I had three quotes on mine, but didn't go with the cheapest based on referrals. Of course, this is a shop, so you may not be as particular, I wasn't in mine. If you don't need a glass smooth surface, let them know, and it should deduct from the price. I have a 14x20 basement shop and had the ceiling mudded and taped for about $200, no skim coat. The basement was about $1300 for finishing and $500 for hanging, did not include the drywall, but I had some prices lower than that.

Depending on your area, you may find a crew that needs the work and will give you a good price. Personally, I hate doing drywall, so I plan on having it done most of the time. (Also hate laying carpet, I sub that out too.)

[Don Jarvie]

++ on having a crew come in and do it. Those are some high ceilings and walls to cover. They usually charge by the sheet. We redid our house 10 years ago and it was 50 bucks a sheet (110 sheets) skim coated. The guy who hung the drywall did it all in 1 1/2 days and the plasterers were in and out in 1 day.

Remember cash is king to these guys so a pile of Benjamins gets you a nice discount.

It looks like a great shop.

[Carl Beckett]

I buy drywall from a supplier that specializes in just this. If you ask, or if you look at the bulletin board, there are a number of guys posting looking for work (and by asking you get the ones that know what they are doing). Cant do it myself for what they charge (but still muck around with the smaller jobs myself)

[Chris Tsutsui]

I'm a real drywall novice and ran into a few issues on my first couple of home projects:

1. I couldn't get a cheapo drywall screw gun to work properly so I just use a regular driver and get a good feel and rhythm going.

2. If a drywall seam is off and not even, it's easier to shim/redo the seam so it's flush than to use tape and mud for a fix later.

3. Mudding perfect seams quickly is a skill that is developed through experience.

Other than that, you might want to look into hanging all the drywall yourself, then hire a dry wall contractor to do the tape and mudding of your work. This can be a savings depending on your costs.

[Adam Carl]

I looked into getting spray foam insulation about 10 years ago and it was pretty expensive. Of course I could only find one contractor in my area who would do it. How is it these days? Are you pretty happy with the product?

That is going to be a sweet shop - loads of space and lots of headroom!

It is still expensive but I am planning on staying put for the next 20 years so it should work out in the long run. In the northeast it is cold in the winter and I really wanted a place to build stuff in the winter.

Only had it for a couple weeks but so far I am really happy. It was 40 degrees today and I turned on the heat. It was a comfortable temp in no time.

The thing that amazes me about the foam is the sound. Or lack of sound. The place is so quiet now.

[Adam Carl]

FYI, the ceiling height is 14 feet.

[Jim Andrew]

When the drywallers see that high ceiling, forget cheap.

[Bob Winkler]

Very nice Adam. I too got the spray foam and my pictures look very similar to yours. Mine was done a couple of years ago and I was able to easily manage CT winters with only a 5 KW heater keeping two floors at 60°. The quiet and insulation are worth the expense in my opinion.

I understand where people are coming from with the drywall, but I did both floors myself because I'm cheap and I felt it was good therapy to stay active. My lift was a godsend and the only help I had was to carry sheets to the second floor. In addition, doing it myself allowed me to slow down the process to add alarm system wiring that I forgot to add at the beginning of the project.

Bob

[Bob Cooper]

did you guys use closed cell or open?

[Bob Winkler]

did you guys use closed cell or open?

I used open cell because it was less expensive, the contractor recommended it, and I have 2x6 walls that held a lot of foam.

Bob

[Jamie Schmitz]

Slightly off topic but...what if you have to fish an electrical wire with foam installed? I was watching a show once where the guy heated up a ball bearing and dropped it into the channel of a wall created a space for the wire that way but that technique may not work for that angled ceiling. Maybe if you used a magnet it would work.

[Phil Maddox]

That looks awesome!!!

I agree with the others that you can hire this out for not a whole lot more than you can do it yourself - especially when you consider time.

Will you be leaving the "loft" area open for storage?

PHil

[Bob Winkler]

Slightly off topic but...what if you have to fish an electrical wire with foam installed?

You're right- it can be a problem to add wires later. That's why I did 3 things:
- make sure I added all the wiring I could think of prior to the spray foam
- add empty plastic conduit between floors and going into the electrical box from the crawl space that allow wires to be fished later
- added a ceiling soffit around the perimeter of the shop to easily run wires and lights

Bob

[Greg Portland]

Slightly off topic but...what if you have to fish an electrical wire with foam installed? I was watching a show once where the guy heated up a ball bearing and dropped it into the channel of a wall created a space for the wire that way but that technique may not work for that angled ceiling. Maybe if you used a magnet it would work.
For a shop setting I would consider surface mounted conduit for the wall electrical, this eliminates the problem when moving or running new circuits.

[Adam Carl]

The loft area will be slightly open. I will have an opening on each side to get in. It will be light storage. At 14 feet in the air, not ideal to store stuff. It will mostly be a way to run new wiring and stuff.

[Adam Carl]

Open cell.

Closed cell would have have provided more R value and sealed all air leaks but the cost is much higher. The open cell was bad enough, cost wise.

[Adam Carl]

I too added a couple circuits before foam for lights and the heater. All other shop wiring will be in conduit.