Drywall Installation Tips and Techniques

For the last few decades, drywall panels are used to cover the inner walls and ceilings of homes across all countries. A drywall panel consists of a sheet of gypsum placed in between two heavy paper facings. It is often referred to as wallboard, gypsum board and sheetrock. A good installation of drywall can add as wall decoration and enhances the beauty of our house. They are useful for insulating the room.

Drywall Installation

Lift the drywall sheet slightly above the floor and fix to the studs of the wall with the help of drywall nails, screws or by adhesives. Usually, drywall is installed horizontally with its length perpendicular to the studs. This is done to make the wall stronger and also the number of joints become minimum. Keep a gap of 12 inches in between the screws, along the perimeter of each stud. While fixating the screws, make sure each one of them is slightly dipped into the surface so that you do not feel the screw.

Once the drywall is hung, it's time to give a finishing touch to all the joints, corners and nail heads with the help of a good quality joint compound. Apply two or three coats of compound and smoothed up each coat with a finishing knife. Next, you have to stick up the wallboard tape over the compound. Leave this tapes untouched for 24 hours so that they can dry up thoroughly. Again, apply another coat of joint compound and this time spread the compound slightly beyond the edges of the tape. Then, additional joint compound should be added, in order to give an even look to the surface of the walls.

Drywall Installation Tips and Techniques

A poor drywall installation can be identified, if you look at the corners of the drywall. You can find lift marks and holes in these areas. Usually, this happens because finishing the corners of drywall is a tedious job. Here are some tips on installing drywall that can enable you to get better finishing.

• Do not apply too much or too little joint compound under the tape, as it may give rise to many problems later on. Just after application, if you feel that it is not neatly done, wipe it off immediately and start all over again.
• In order to keep the number of joints to a minimum level, use long sheets of drywall. It will also require much lesser time to install.
• Drywall should always be installed horizontally, as it helps create a strong wall. At the same time, you will have less number of joints when giving the finishing.
• Always put the tape when the joint compound is still wet. As a result, when you press the tape lightly over the mud, the excess mud will flow out from below the tape.
• If the compound is not allowed to dry up completely, then it can cause damage to the wall. Observe the color of the compound carefully to find out if it has dried up or not. If it is wet, it will be light gray and turn white when dry.
• To hide the screws and the nails of the drywall, you can give a light touch of joint compound mud on each of them. In this way, you can avoid the ugly sight of polka dots all over your white drywall.
• If you find a hole on the drywall, do not worry. You can fix them up. Coat the under surface of a drywall tape with a thin layer of wet joint compound mud and place it over the hole. Scrape out a little bit of mud from the tape. As the mud dries up, you will see the hole disappear. To get a better result, you can put another tape in the similar manner, but at right angles to the first one.

There are three things that are important for achieving success when drywall installation. You should have a good hand-eye coordination and the right kind of tools. Last, but not the least, the joint compound should be mixed with right consistency so that you can get the desired finishing of the joints.