3 sides beveled?

House Repair Talk

Help Support House Repair Talk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

slownsteady

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2009
Messages
7,197
Reaction score
1,471
Location
South Hills, Pittsburgh, PA
The drywall that you get at the big box store usually has a bevel on the two long sides to make it easier to tape. But what if you need to join sheets lengthwise? Is there a tool that you can get to add a bevel on the third edge?

edit: bevel = taper
 
Last edited:
It all has to do with how it is manufactured. The sheets are made in a continuous process lengthwise. Putting bevels on the sides isn't any problem, putting it on the cut ends would not allow the drywall to be made in a continuous ribbon that is cut to length. In the US they make several widths to allow walls with 8, 9 and 10 foot ceilings to be done with two sheets laid horizontally. The best way to handle butt joints is to reduce the need for them by using longer sheets that can go wall to wall without a seam. Otherwise, it is just a matter of good taping and mudding skills to make the seams look smooth.


http://www.madehow.com/Volume-2/Drywall.html
 
Wow, that is alot of work, especially chiseling out a concave gap in the sill plate. Seems the manufacturer could recess the butt joints during the cutting and curing process?
 
Wow, that is alot of work, especially chiseling out a concave gap in the sill plate. Seems the manufacturer could recess the butt joints during the cutting and curing process?

The chance that the beveled edges would line up are slim to none. One of several reasons for hanging drywall horizontally is you can cut it to length when the ends don't land on a stud. Framing is never perfect, and even when it is, it is only perfect on one side of an interior wall. Crosscutting it doesn't waste a beveled edge, ripping it will eliminate a beveled edge. Lengthwise across the studs is also stronger as the drywall lands on multiple studs, where vertically it lands on 2 full studs and half of two (0, 16, 32, 48). I suppose in a much slower operation they might be able to create beveled edges all around, but it would completely change the manufacturing process. Bud's link provides a much easier way to handle the butt joints with less mud and the ability to deliver a flatter joint.
 
And this is why I ALWAYS sub out the mudding!
 
I have made my own version of the butt-boards also with strips of plywood and a thin strip of wood glued along each edge.


The thing with a ceiling is if you are going over a existing ceiling you need to use furring strips to make room for the butt-boards.


I did all the ceilings in our old fixer-upper by going over the plaster with .5 drywall. For 1-2 guys 4x8 is about all that is practical to get up without a lift. being cheap I didn’t rent a lift as I would have had to rent it a bunch of times or for a long period of time. I took a step ladder and built a frame I clamped to the top step that was short of the ceiling about 10”. I would carry in the 4x8 sheet and load it up on top of the frame about where I wanted it. then I had two T props I would get one under each end or each side and shove them over to get it against the furring or ceiling. Once I got the edges touching I would kick the props in tight and remove the ladder and screw it up.


If you use furring and butt-boards attach them to one end before you put it up. Nice thing about furring is I ran my new wiring in the space and also filled the space with foam strips I cut from 4x8 sheets. Also furring allows you to correct for any dips.
 
You can buy one at Northern Tool for about the cost of 3 rentals. We picked up one for our church disaster recovery trailer that we use when we go do hurricane repairs in Eastern NC or ASP projects in Appalachia. A deadman is helpful when installing rock on the ceiling too.
 
And this is why I ALWAYS sub out the mudding!
The rolls of paper are about 2000 ft long and the sheets are just cut to length as it comes off the end of the belt. The old plant here could ship 40 foot sheets or something close to that. .
 
When the sheets are cut the board is already set. The edges are formed while the gypsum is still soft I've been to several board plants and it's a pretty cool process. The board takes the initial set in just a couple minutes. Final set happens in a kiln and takes some time
 
The butt board looks pretty interesting. The extra carpentry of installing blocks seems like more work than it's worth. I have considered building a rig based on an old crank-style bumper jack that I have, but it seems that the time and effort of that won't be worth it either if I can find a good deal on a hoist.
 
A drywall jack is definitely a worthwhile expenditure. I rented one to do 4'x12' sheets on the vaulted ceilings in the living room. The jack made easy (relatively speaking) work of it.

Tape and mud with a wide mud knife makes quick work of end seams. (At least it seams to :D ). Feather out additional coats until it's flat. If a seam is painted with a gloss paint (say like a car paint job) the build up would show, but interior walls with latex, not so much.
 
Last edited:
If you don't like doing but joints resilient channel or strapping might allow for one sheet going the other way.
 
Hoist rental at HD = $39/day
Probably two days by myself, or one day if I can get a helper. No hassles of then trying to sell it.

haven't ruled out the butt boards yet.

Always liked the look of a good butt ;-)

I put up about 24 sheets over the course of a week with a helper. He was in his 80’s so it was mostly moral support. We didn’t have a lift and would start when I got home from work about 5pm and work till 8pm. Without a lift that’s about all I wanted to do. The worst room was the kitchen and it required a lot of shimming and furring ahead of time, but then the sheets went up fast. The other 2 rooms the plaster was flat and it was just a cover up but the screwing took longer as I needed to use long screws and finding the joists took more effort. The other thing I found is those 150 year old yellow pine joist were as hard as a rock. I was snapping regular screws right and left and had to switch to thicker screws. Looking back on it I would have done better to fur all the ceilings and using butt boards would have made the mudding and sanding time less.


If you can get all yours done in a day or two rental sounds good. I rented my floor sander on Saturday afternoon and that gave me till Monday morning on a one day rental. We ran it till midnight Saturday and all day Sunday.


If you are like me I normally plan for a day but end up being 4 days.
 
Back
Top