# couple of drywall questions



## scottktmrider (Jul 1, 2012)

Why don't use stretch board? 54" than you will only have one seam
Or get 9' board and hang vertical. but if you hang vertically you're stud layout will have to be dead on. I dought that old of a house that it is


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## Davejss (May 14, 2012)

You're on the right track. Keep your long seams in the center so taping and finishing is at a convenient height.


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## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

I would look for 54" drywall. Barring that, I would look to hang vertically, but do not attach to the studs. Float them using a premade product
http://butthanger.com/rock_splicer.html
http://butthanger.com/butthanger.html

or make your own
http://www.ce.berkeley.edu/~tommelein/pokayokegrout/PokaYokeExamples/index.15.jpg


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## ccbs1 (Jun 2, 2014)

I get good pricing on 4' sheets, not so good on 54" sheets, so I'm planning on using 4' if at all possible. I did look into 54" very wishfully but just couldn't get a good price on it.

Vertical would not be easy. The studs are at least 2" off level from top to bottom and the walls are spray foamed so any splices on the back side of the drywall would require carving out the foam.


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## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

But the top and bottom plates must be a straight line, basically. And surely the spray foam is not a solid block in the stud bay - there must be a half inch of space in there in the middle of the bay.


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## ToolSeeker (Sep 19, 2012)

You are better off putting your 1' piece in the middle, it's called a belly band. And yes since your using 5/8" the band should be 1/2". But why are you using 5/8 on the walls. Get 12" 1/2" 54" and forget the aggravation of the belly band. By the time you get done with trying to make the band look good the price difference will look like a heck of a deal.


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## gunner666 (Jul 16, 2014)

get metal L strips found near the metal framing studs at the store, a couple dollars each. level up and down and shim left to right if needed. Then screw them to the old studs. on an 8 foot 4 inch wall use 4" base moulding. stick some strips of drywall on the floor where there's 4" of no drywall for spacing because you installed the 8 footer tight to the ceiling. raise your base moulding a quarter inch above the floor so it slightly overlaps the 8 foot sheet. if you have carpet this will work but if on wood floors and want to avoid that half inch space under the base moulding, then maybe just fill that 4" with a few coats of setting type compound. It won't adhere to bare wood so tack some drywall paper tape to the sill plate first or something like that.


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## gunner666 (Jul 16, 2014)

I mean tuck the L metal in between the spray foam and the old studs, then screw through the spray foam to screw the metal to the old studs, make sure no wires etc in the way. The tops will be out of line with the header plate if the studs are 2" unlevel in places, so you will need some shims in places so when you screw the drywall to the header plate you hit something, but you can just leave those screws out anyway. 

You won't be able to ever hang anything on the metal studs by using a stud finder but if you remember how you oriented them or take a picture, you will know where the woods studs are (but there might be a 2" air space between them and the drywall. 

You might also be able to get a nail puller and pull the nails out the top studs and make them plumb again. If they're nailed through the back where you have no access, you might press your luck with a sawsall or multitool and try and cut that one nail and hope you don't hit a wire or something. If it's 2" unplumb at the top, then pulling the stud out towards you would leave only 1.5" of the studs under the load of the header 2x4, but you can cut away some of the ceiling drywall and bang in another 2" rip of 2x4 so that the wall is actually holding the load, that's the right way to do it, just hope if there are joists sistered together above there that they are correctly overlapped at least 12" so the new placement of the header is holding the end of both joists, and not happens to be that the joists ends were joined over that header plate only about an inch or so. 

yes if you run the boards horizontally and the wall's over 8", do the belly band thing.


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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

i had the same problem. i put the 10"ish piece down at the floor. my reasoning = that i would not have to finish it "nicely" as it would be behind furniture most of the time.


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## ToolSeeker (Sep 19, 2012)

Fix'n it said:


> i had the same problem. i put the 10"ish piece down at the floor. my reasoning = that i would not have to finish it "nicely" as it would be behind furniture most of the time.


The problem with this is when you feather out the seam on both sides you are close to where your baseboard goes and unless you did a heck of a mud job it can make your base look wavy.


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## ron45 (Feb 25, 2014)

Maybe too late...
Is the house balloon framing.?


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## ccbs1 (Jun 2, 2014)

ron45 said:


> Maybe too late...
> Is the house balloon framing.?


Sure is.


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