Drywall question

I’m finishing an office and a bathroom in my basement and am trying to do most of it myself (other than the plumbing and electric). I’m about a week away from hanging drywall (with some help from friends) and my question is on whether or not I should try to do the mud, tape, and texture myself or spare the hassle and hire a professional to come in and do it.

Some folks have told me that it is not too difficult, but others have said that it will drive one insane. I’ve never done this type of work before, but like to think that I am fairly competent at following instructions and advice. The bathroom is 10 by 6 with an 8 foot celling, and the office is 14 by 13 with a 9 foot ceiling.

My follow-up question would be how much I might expect to pay someone to do this work.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Curt

Most of the “Big Box” hardware super stores have “How To” videos that they rent, check out or give away. Might want to look into that.

-J.

doing the mudding and texturing isn’t all that hard, but making sure that you get your drywall seems tight together so when you do tape you are getting a great finish. but the flip side of hiring it out, it will look nice and be done right without you having to learn that you put the mud on to thick, or to thin and you have a warranty. rooms that size, i would ahve to say some where around $800 i am thinking. stick boy would have a bettter idea on that cost.

shane

Taping, mudding, and Texture, are all easy, it is the sanding that is the pain. As long as you sand it smooth, or smooth enough depending on how rough the texture, you won’t have any problems. It will be well worth saving the money and doing it yourself.

Willeye,

Mudding and taping is really not that difficult at all. If you can master the corners to some extent, then the rest will be a piece of cake. Also hitting the seams 2-3 time is something that is done as well.

Not sure how you want to do the finish? You want a smooth fisnish, which involves alot of sanding the mud down or a orange peel texture type finish? Their are plenty of different ways to do this, so finding the easiest one is cleary up to you. Not a pro by any means in this catagory, but I have helped a buddy do a few houses in my day. If doing it yourself and it being your first time I would go with the orange peel texture finish. Orange peel breaks the wall up with little chunks, where sanding (smooth finish) tends to leave more visiable cracks or seams……..I know you can rent a hopper at pretty much any rental place fairly cheap.

Not sure the going rate, but hanging the drywall yourself will save you a nice junk of change. Put it this way how visible are these rooms going to be to people and who will actually be seeing them? If it doesn’t matter to you then give it a try and see how you do or like it, if it isn’t for you a professional should be able to fix pretty much any mistakes………………check out the net or books, you might be able to find a how to or steps book on doing this.

GOOD LUCK!!!

I worked construction for a few years in high school and college over the summers and recently did a room from scratch block wall.. Ill tell you first hand, its not that bad.
My biggest thing I can tell you is this.

USE SCREWS….
If you insist on using nails you best be damm sure that if you miss a stud hanging the rock , to pull out the nail or screw. Have you ever seen someones wall that has little bubble like things in the rock? thats from a screw or nail working back out that was never anchored to anything.

Mudding isnt that bad either. First use the mesh tape and tape the seams, steel the corners… Then just mud down that seam in the middle there.. If you have a cut edge against a tapered edge just be careful not to mud the cut edge nearly as much as the tapered.. The tapered edge is there to hold mud to make it flush, the cut edge is already flush. but of course you do have to blend it.

Once youre done mudding, take a rough sanding block and just start working all the rough edges of the mud down to to being smooth… Dont worry about oversanding here because youre going to mud again…
When you are satisfyed its smooth.. mud again, and sand again, this time after running it with a rough block, run it with a finer block to make it smooth.

Then simply rent a texturing machine and spray it on… The beauty of these machines is they are sporatic on purpose.. You cant screw it up, unless you just point and shoot at the same spot for an hour.

Hope that helps.

If you have never done it before, and you want it to look good have it done by someone. The cost will far out weigh the headaches you will have spending time to sand and get to look smooth. My first time looked like a little kid did it ended up calling someone. Just watch how they do it so next time you can try it.

My $.02 here. I just bought a house where the basement was finished by the previous owner — drywall, tape, bed, texture, paint, the whole nine yards.

I have to tear it all down and re-do it (or in my case, have it re-done).

The wall textures are bad/uneven, the ceiling texture is spotty and irregular, and lots of the tape is pulling away from the walls, corners and ceilings. Now I don’t know what the guy’s “handyman” level was, but it probably looked OK for the first few years. Eventually, the problems surfaced.

I am planning to hang the drywall myself (with help from buddies that have done several basements) but I am going to hire out for the tape & bedding & texturing. I want to have someone to call if it shoots craps.

again, my $.02

You can do it yourself, But by the time you get the tools and materials and consider your time (away from fishing) it is probably just as cheap to have it done and the results will be something you can enjoy for years to come. Look at the top of the page for contractors, I know Nate Cadwell is a drywall contractor,and does Excellent work

I’m with Duckwiz. I have many friends in the taping business and know that to do a GOOD job with QUALITY results it take someone with knowledge. Hire it out. The basics of taping are easy. It is an art to do a quality job though. You would see a major difference between the two. Thats my take. Just off the top of my head I think they get .40 a sq. foot or something like that.

I agree with the duckwiz. Hire it out. I am a general contractor and I have seen many times where we come in to fix a first timers mistakes. It is not all that hard, but in my estimation not worth the hassel. It is a learned skill that not everyone has (myself mostly). If you do hire it out, you can expect to pay about $.30 to hang and about $.35 to tape. On a small job like that however you will have to pay a premium as the taper has to return 4 times to finish the project. Also your costs will vary based on availabilty and where you live. Good luck.

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Look at the top of the page for contractors, I know Nate Cadwell is a drywall contractor,and does Excellent work

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Nate did the texturing in my basement bathroom. Did the work quick, cleaned up after himself, and it looks great! I’d highly reccomend him!

willeye, ive been in the drywall business for 20 years and there are a few rules of thumb that is nice to stick by. Shoot me a message and i’ll tell you the easiest way of both hanging and finishing. Finishing is not that hard but you need to know a few things that will make it a whole lot easier for the first time. Message me and i’ll tell you everything you need to know, maybe when you get the rock up call me and i’ll tell you how to do the finish work, this is the more difficult of the two but can be done easier with someone on the phone and the right directions.

Exactly the opposite for me: I did all the plumbing and electrical, but am hiring out the real painful/difficult/detailed stuff like drywall & trim.

Figure on $1.15/sq ft (figure out how many sheets and multiply by 48), hung, taped, textured, primed, and ready for paint.