Hanging Sheetrock Question

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Sparky617

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When you hang sheetrock on a wall horizontally do you start with the bottom piece or the top piece?

We were doing some volunteer work in Appalachia this weekend. The house had the finished laminate floor in so the walls were just shy of 8' tall. I was installing the top sheet first. The other team installed the bottom sheet first so they could rest the top sheet on the bottom. I always figured it was better to make any width adjustments at the bottom.

I've seen pro-rockers do it where one guy can hang a 12' by himself. He'd start a nail or two in the top of the sheet that would hit the top plate. He'd lift it into place and then drive the nails he started to hold the sheet. Then they'd finish it off with drywall screws. As a 50 something desk jockey doing this as a volunteer we typically use 8's and two people to install them. Though had they bought us 12's I could have installed them.
 
That is a great question. It seems much easier to lay the first piece on the floor, then work your way up. I was having some drywall work done once, and the professionals started at the top. When I posed this question to them, they looked at me like I was stupid and said they always install the top piece first, because this is the way it was done. As you can see, they really didn't answer my question either.
 
If I were doing a commercial space with a drop ceiling, I could see doing the bottom first since the top would likely go above the drop ceiling once it was installed.

I think the pros do it that way because it is easier to trim at the bottom and they want to get the drywall tight to the ceiling drywall. Even without the finished floor in place if your walls are framed at exactly 8' you'll need to trim something off the bottom of the rock since you'll loose a half an inch from the ceiling rock.
 
If you have trusses you don't nail the ceiling drywall to close the wall in some cases. Then wall board will hold it up, then the trusses can move with out breaking the joint.
But often a room is just over 8 ft so to get everything tight after having the top piece in place they can use a foot jack under the lower one to squeeze it up tight.
Cutting the bottom of the lower sheet leaves all the taping tapers in place.
 
Top sheet first for me that way you have the depressed edge against the ceiling and easier to mud and tape. In the center of the wall two depressed edges and at floor where baseboard will cover the cut edge.
 
Up here our wall with pre-cut studs our wall is 8' 3/4"
Your walls should be 8' 1 1/8"


This was a volunteer build. I only came in for a couple of days to hang sheet rock. Framing the walls a little higher than 8' makes sense.

I don't build for a living, I've done more of it than your average DIYer, but never professionally. I'd starve.
 
This was a volunteer build. I only came in for a couple of days to hang sheet rock. Framing the walls a little higher than 8' makes sense.

I don't build for a living, I've done more of it than your average DIYer, but never professionally. I'd starve.

Most everyone uses pre-cut studs but in old building fix up you never know some times there is more than just a sub floor sometimes things are adjusted for roof lines or what ever but the pros will try to use sheets long enough to get no more than one but joint in a long wall or ceiling if they can.
I've used 14 ft sheets in a basement suite and never had one but joint.
Thought I would drop off a photo of a foot jack.

27.jpg
 
We didn't have a foot jack, but found a flat bar will do in a pinch.
 
Top sheet first for me that way you have the depressed edge against the ceiling and easier to mud and tape. In the center of the wall two depressed edges and at floor where baseboard will cover the cut edge.

Bud, this seems the most logical reason for why they would do it. :trophy:
 
That's all I have ever used too, right after finishing my last drywall job I found a jack on the side of the road, 8 years later still never used it.
 
Thought I would drop off a photo of a foot jack.

So that’s what a real foot jack looks like. I always made one out of a 2X4 and a thin piece of something steel or aluminum for the toe screwed on and then a strip of wood 1x1 for the fulcrum. If you cant find a strip of steel you can just cut a notch in the 2X4.

This house I just did I put all my sheets up and down not sideways. Just a little easier to do alone.
 
If I was doing horizontal seams alone even in 8 footers I would measure down from the ceiling 48” and screw a piece of 2X4 to the studs in the middle of the length and then rest the sheet on that to get my first few screws started. The guys that do this for a living toss them around like nothing for me they are still heavy. Only takes a minute to screw a block on.

Any such convenience item my dad always called it “The old man”.
 
When I was younger I have put 16 footers on the wall alone, for the top sheet I used a piece of door jam screwed to the wall to set it in.
 
When I was younger I have put 16 footers on the wall alone, for the top sheet I used a piece of door jam screwed to the wall to set it in.

Then you had an old man also. :rofl:
 
This house I just did I put all my sheets up and down not sideways. Just a little easier to do alone.

If your framing lines up perfectly, yes it can be. I've rarely seen framing line up that well all across a wall. I prefer to use longer sheets like Neal and avoid butt joints if at all possible. Can't say I've ever used a 14 footer though. If I'm doing a wall that is 4' or less in width I'll hang it vertically, no need to do a seam.
 
I always wondered if my dad and grandfather just made things up or not and in my youth google was not invented to fact check. On whim I googled my above post and found an interesting thing someone typed up in the day before computers and printers. I will attach a link most of you I think will find it an enjoyable read.

http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3420&context=wordways

That is a good write up, should be good for people here that will drag a thread in all kinds of directions over the meaning of a word.
Same is true in every industries, just like framing a window.
Out here a cripple holds up a header or beam, jacks holds up the sill, blocks are above are below the header, which is different than anywhere else.
 
Here is a link to some pictures of our work this past weekend and the college kids that worked on the house before us. They lined up all the butt joints on the ceiling, which I wouldn't have done. I had to sink probably 50% of their screws before I could start taping. We were using the perforated self adhesive tape, until we ran out, on the butt and tapered joints. I was only using regular tape on the corners. I used mesh when I ran out of the perforated tape. The homeowner started building this place about 8 years ago. Nice one bedroom cabin that could easily have 2 bedrooms. ASP came in and helped move the project along by doing the drywall work. Nice guy, used to work in the coal mines, but those jobs are drying up. The coal mined here is used in steel making not electrical generation.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.957593697652215.1073741927.255971031147822&type=3
 
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