What is a fair price on drywall?

[Onion69420]

Hi,
My living room is around 500sqft.
It has acoustic cieling tiles that I would like removed and drywall put up.
Above the cieling tiles are furring strips, then another layer of older cieling tiles that I'm guessing are asbestos. The house was made in 1945.
I'm just looking to have the first layer removed and the drywall attached to the furing strips.
I got an estimate of 4500 all in....dumpster rental, removal, drywall, materials, mudding and painting.
Is that a good price?

 

[Snoonyb]

For that price, I'd learn a new trade.

 

[havasu]

I'd be concerned with the weight. You must secure drywall to a solid foundation. Is it there?

 

[Onion69420]

Not sure. There are furring strips presumably attached to the cieling joists. I was gonna use 1/4 inch drywall

 

[bud16415]

I know an old guy and he built his own home and is a jack of all trades. I noticed he had beautiful plastered ceilings throughout the whole house and I asked him who did them? He said he did. Then he told me a little secret that the ceilings were acoustical tiles over furring strips and he got tired of the look so he plastered right over them. He wasn’t sure how it would work but after about 20 years and no cracks he thinks it worked pretty good.

If you taped the seams with mesh drywall tape and skim coated. I don’t know why that wouldn’t work. If you can’t DIY you would have to find a plaster who would give it a try. I like both flat finish and sometimes a light swirl pattern. I find for me it is easier to do a random swirl.

 

[Bob Reynolds]

Hi,
My living room is around 500sqft.
It has acoustic cieling tiles that I would like removed and drywall put up.
Above the cieling tiles are furring strips, then another layer of older cieling tiles that I'm guessing are asbestos. The house was made in 1945.
I'm just looking to have the first layer removed and the drywall attached to the furing strips.
I got an estimate of 4500 all in....dumpster rental, removal, drywall, materials, mudding and painting.
Is that a good price?

The first thing you need to determine is how many drywall boards this is going to take. Drywall boards come in 4X8 or 4X12. Most remodels use 4X8 and most new construction uses 4X12.

If you have a 500 square foot room then it would take 11 boards on the ceiling. Are you also doing the walls or just the ceiling?

$4500 for 11 boards would be a lot of money. That would be $409 per board.

Drywall removal and replacement usually runs about $1.75 a square foot finished and ready for paint. That would be $84 (all in) per 4X8 board. Painting would run another $1 a square foot.

Furring strips and installation might run another $300-$500 depending upon the time and materials needed.

I would look at adding furring strips to the ceiling that is already up there without disturbing the existing ceiling. I would not use 1/4 inch drywall because the waves will show. We usually use 5/8 inch on the ceiling to prevent the waves.

 

[mabloodhound]

Definitely do not use 1/4" as said above. 1/2" is OK. Dumpster rental is about $400 unless the contractor has his own truck. But that quote is high. Call another contractor to give a quote.