Putting Up Sheet Rock on The Ceiling

[Dennis McDonaugh]

is hard! I'm doing it by myself so I came up with the idea to buy 4X8 sheets and cut them in half so I could handle them easier. The trouble is, the ceiling joists in my workshop are not evenly spaced. They are spaced farther apart on the ends of the building and closer together in the middle which seems odd. Right in the middle of the building the are two joists nailed side by side. The wall studs under the joined ceiling joists are two 2X6's sideways instead of 2X4s.

The building is 16X32. If I run the 8 foot sheets length wise down the building, they don't end up on a joist. I can't run them across the short side of the building because there is no joist 4' from the end of the building to line up with the side of the sheet.

After measuring every way I can think of, it looks like the joists are laid out so you can have a 12' sheet at both ends and an 8' in the middle which won't work at all for me. The best I can come up with is to measure from the end of the building to the last joist which an 8 foot sheet will span and then cut the sheet there. It looks like I'll waste about 6 to 10 inches on every sheet, more at the end and less in the middle of the building.

Any ideas?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Dennis,

If you are planning on mudding and taping the joints, the fewer joints you have, the less the trouble of mudding and taping!

2ndly, when I sheetrocked my ceiling I rented a sheet rock hoist. Well worth the money!

[Ole Anderson]

Rent a drywall lift, they will handle 12 footers. You just need some help getting them on the lift. If you cut 4x4 footers, even if the hit a joist, you only have 3/4" of crumbly material to screw to the joist. You want to minimize that by using sheets as large as you can handle. Plus more taping with four footers. Rock is cheap, don't worry about wasting a foot on either end. And 5/8" is better on the ceiling with the sag factor and 24" joist spacing. Heavier to handle though. If I had to do it by my self, I would call in a pro. Do yourself a favor and at least get a price.

[Tom M King]

Some simple suggestions for putting sheetrock on a ceiling. Use the longest possible sheets. Only do butt joints with a factory end on a 2x joist. Measure and mark where the fasteners go before the sheet gets lifted overhead. Get a lift some kind of way, but if the only way is to buy one, you might as well pay pros to hang it. Hanging sheetrock is the easy, and fast part. Find some help, life is too short to hang sheetrock overhead by yourself, and that may even make it shorter.

Also, never put a butt joint on either side of a door or window opening-absolute worst is on both sides.

There is nothing dumber about a sheetrock job than cutting corners on the hanging.

[Jim Dwight]

I've done it two ways and both worked. I built I shaped frames out of 2x4s with 2x4 stretchers to space them around 6 or 7 feet apart. I had them maybe 4 inches lower than the ceiling. I lifted each sheet onto these frames and then screwed them starting at one end. It worked but getting the sheets onto the frames, which were wobbly, wasn't easy.

For my last job, I built a lift. I saw a design in an old fine woodworking. It was built of some milled 2x4s, pieces of angle iron, some rope, electrical conduit, casters and other bits. Unlike commercial lifts, I could lift from the floor. I used it to put up 12 foot sheets and also used it on the walls (horizontal seams). Much easier. And I didn't have to get it done quickly unlike with using a rental.

[Scott Dorrer]

Fur out the ceiling first to get a standard spacing {12", 16", 24"). Then rent a drywall lift. Both of these costs are well worth the money in saving frustration.

[Lon Crosby]

Lots of approaches. Run furring strips and change thedirection of hang. Let your butt ends run wild and stick a 3 or 4 inch by 4 foot backersupport over the joint after the fact. See the following for a way to make seamless butt joints in the process. http://www.butthanger.com/rock_splicer.html Cut the 4 foot sections down to fit. Or cut a 12 foot sheet in “half” (approximately - to reach a joist) for less waste andless weight.

[John K Jordan]

I bought a panel lift/jack from Northern Tool, about $150. Very little cost compared to the utility. I put 1/2" plywood on my 24-62' shop ceiling. No way I could have done it safely myself without this thing.

Well worth it, especially since I was doing it a little at a time. I would feel pressured by repeated or lengthy rental periods. I've had several offers to sell it so I'm sure I could get most of my money back. But I decided to keep it to lend out - so far I've made two people very happy! I'll also use it to mount a Jet air cleaner on the ceiling and keep it in case I need to remove a sheet one day.

[Marty Tippin]

I don't think anyone else said it yet, but the long edge of the Sheetrock should be perpendicular to the joists, not run along them. Hopefully you're already doing that.

If you're considering hiring a contractor to tape and mud, you may find it difficult to get someone who will do it reasonably - they absolutely hate finishing Sheetrock that was hung by a homeowner who doesn't know what he's doing.

I finished the basement of my fist house myself. That was enough to learn that it's money well spent to let a professional do it...

[Jack Jackson]

Can't tell if this would work without seeing a picture but something to think about - just add in extra ceiling joists if possible so that they end on 8 ft centers. Then rent/buy a lift. I put 5/8" OSB on my 10 ft ceiling by myself with no lift, it was a hassle and took me a week to do the 16X35 area but not impossible and it saved me $150-200 on a lift. Spending a day adding joists would be WAY easier than cutting to fit and having a ton of mud joints.

And yes, I know the new joists wouldnt be part of a truss but they could easily be strengthened and braced in order to hold the small amount of weight they'd be responsible for (a couple feet of drywall) - but I'm no structural engineer so only do that if you're comfortable.

[roger wiegand]

Furring strips 16" OC is how the pros would do it. Doesn't cost much and makes your life much easier.

Drywall, especially on a ceiling, is one of those jobs that's not worth it to DIY for me. Taping and mudding isn't so bad, but those sheets are heavy and awkward and the pros just don't charge very much relative to the pain involved. (I've done lots of DIY building and renovation and that's the only job I sub out. Around here blueboard and plaster is the norm for residential construction, watching those guys work is pure poetry in motion and there's no comparison in the finished walls. No more drywall for me.)

[William C Rogers]

Very good advice on the panel lift. I bought the HF for about $150. I didn't do drywall. I did a drop ceiling. I got the panels free from a building being renovated. There were also enough side rails, so the only thing I bought was the long rails. If I had to buy the panels it would have been expensive. I do like the fact the ceiling is accessible. Since I have 12' foot ceilings, I use the panel lift to store wood on racks that are high and also have high shelves I use it to put things up.

[Robert McNaull]

I'm in the get a drywall jack, either rented or purchased if you are going to do a lot more of this as it is also handy for hanging walls. The best thing about "jack" is that he doesn't take breaks, is never late to work, and the longer you have him the less he is willing to work for ($/time).

[Tom M King]

327717
Lots of approaches. Run furring strips and change thedirection of hang. Let your butt ends run wild and stick a 3 or 4 inch by 4 foot backersupport over the joint after the fact. See the following for a way to make seamless butt joints in the process. http://www.butthanger.com/rock_splicer.html Cut the 4 foot sections down to fit. Or cut a 12 foot sheet in “half” (approximately - to reach a joist) for less waste andless weight.
I redid a ceiling in a house done with those and every butt joint had cracked. We tried retaping, but it didn't hold. We ended up putting beaded board plywood over it with 1x6 MDF battens over all the joints. When I'm framing a house, I plan ahead for sheetrock butt joints. I take 3/32" off the framing members where the butt joint meets, so it can be finished without a hump on the wall. Please don't let your butt joints run wild!

I really don't enjoy doing sheetrock, but do have it down to a science. When I absolutely have to use drywall, Goldbond XP is my first choice for anywhere in a house. Even where the extra moisture resistance is not necessary, I like the extra stiffness, the way fasteners hold, and it's lighter than a lot of the floppy stuff. It's worth a few extra bucks to me to do a good job. The only problem with it being moisture resistant is that it's better to spray or roll a very light coat of primer on it as the first coat. A thick coat takes too long to dry since the board doesn't absorb any of the water out of the primer. I always prime after the first coat of mud is made sure to not be too high anywhere. No sanding on the board paper, only on top of primer-been doing it like that for over 30 years, and never any problem with a single house. https://nationalgypsum.com/products/Product.aspx?ProductID=2413 Big box stores have 8' sheets, but you can get 12' sheets from other places.

[Dennis McDonaugh]

Thanks for all the advice, unfortunately, I'm too far along now to have someone else finish it. I am running the sheets perpendicular to the ceiling joists so the factory finished edges will butt against each other. The ceiling joists are engineered OSB and have a full two inch surface where the ends of the sheets butt against each other. I'm just making all the seams end up on those surfaces at this point. I have put up four of the 16 sheets and only wasted about 6 inches on each sheet. I am able to put up the ceiling without moving anything out of the shop, but wouldn't have been able to do that with a lift. The lift would definitely have made this easier.

[BOB OLINGER]

As others have said, either buy or rent a lift. It's amazing how well they work; how they simplify a "pain-in-the butt" job.

[Jim Dwight]

Since you already have it half hung, I will add that while I have used both paper and fiberglass mesh tape I may not use paper again. Maybe in corners. It is too easy to get the paper too high were you sand into it. The mesh tape adheres to the drywall so it is always as low as possible. With a coat of setting compound (the stuff you mix from a bag) the joint is about as strong as paper tape and regular drying type mud. The setting compound is harder to sand so you may not want to do the whole job with it but it can be sanded, it is just more effort, and it is stronger. Nice to have around for patching too. I did three coats in a bathroom with it because it is water resistant. It's easier to just do the first coat with it and do a coat or two with drying compound you can sand a lot easier.

[Dennis McDonaugh]

I've got 8 of the 16 sheets up and I'll do the other 8 next week after I put up the insulation over these. I figure It'll be easier to do it when I have better access to the attic. I have been using the mesh tape for years as I'm not experienced or patient enough to use paper joint tape. I'm going to use 1/2" siding for the walls so I can attach things where ever I want.

[Ole Anderson]

On the wall where your rafters hit, don't screw your rock next to the wall unless your rafters are all perfectly in the same plane. Let the rock sag a bit at the wall, then when you do your walls, push the rock up with your wall boards until it hits the lowest rafter and you will have a perfectly straight joint where the wall and ceiling meet.

[Tom M King]

We redid a house done with the mesh tape where almost every joint in the house had cracked. I've never had any desire to use it after that. I've never seen a paper taped joint crack, except some we run across occasionally where all the mud was squeezed out from under it by a heavy hand. With a hawk in one hand, and the knife in the other, it goes pretty fast even with paper tape. When I do the final finish coat, I use a clip on light clipped onto the hawk, and let the light touch the wall shining across the wall right in front of me. Hold a light to a wall like that, and you can see every imperfection. Unfortunately, most sheetrock walls you see are so bad that you don't even want to point a light at it any kind of way.

[Dennis McDonaugh]

I've got the sheet rock up, I'll float and tape it later. At least now some of the heat warm air from my heater will stay out of the attic!

Ole and Tom, thanks for the advice.