Every building project starts with a foundation, and a home is no exception. Whether you’re framing out a new build, renovating an existing home or making repairs, using drywall for interior walls and ceilings is a must.

What Is Drywall?

Drywall, also known as plasterboard, wallboard, gypsum board and Sheetrock forms the walls and ceilings of many homes, which it is consists of gypsum wrapped with a paper facing. The panels are cut to size and designed to be fastened to wall studs or ceiling joists.

Drywall thicknesses range from 0.25 inch to 5/8 inch. Building codes may specify a thickness for a specific application, but here are some common uses.

And 0.25inch drywall isn't strong enough to provide good support alone, but you can install it over a surface that's already in place, such as for a repair. It's thin enough to bend so it works in arches or curved walls. Double it up to create a 0.5-inch-thick surface.

3/8-inch drywall was common in interior walls at one time but is no longer the standard. Like 0.25-inch panels, it can be used over existing panels for repair and in some curved applications but doesn't offer the strength of 0.5-inch panels.

0.5-inch drywall is the most versatile board and common thickness for the 16-inch on-center interior walls in most homes. It offers a good balance between strength and weight. 5/8-inch drywall is a heavier product that resists sagging in ceilings and in 24-inch on-center walls. The-added-thickness also improves soundproofing.

You’ll often find fire-rated drywall in 5/8-inch panels. Because of its excellent soundproofing qualities, 5/8-inch works well in bedrooms and living areas, however, it’s costlier than drywall that's 0.5-inch thick and smaller. The standard size for drywall panels is 4 feet wide by 8 feet long, and usually you won't find panels that are longer.

Some DIY drywall tools you need to have in your collection

The right DIY drywall tools can make the difference between an easy, successful drywall project and a frustrating, error-filled train-wreck. Knowing which tools to add to your collection and understanding how to use them properly are both components of becoming a better home improver.

Here are some must-have DIY drywall tools that can help equip you for anything your next project throws at you.

1.Jab saw:

The jab saw noticed is essentially solely beneficial for slicing drywall and is consequently relatively specialised inside your series – however when you want it, you truly want it.

It is surely a serrated knife with a tip sharp ample to effortlessly penetrate drywall however no longer so sharp that it will reduce your finger when you practice mild pressure. The jab noticed is made for slicing holes in drywall and for cuts from six to eight inches in length.

2.Electric drywall saw:

This is certainly not possible to exchange the effectivity of an electric powered drywall saw. It’s capacity to without problems reduce via a sheet of drywall makes it priceless on large-scale projects. It may also now not constantly be needed, however when it is, its velocity and precision make an extremely good difference.

Some suppose a jab noticed can replacement for an electric powered drywall noticed on most occasions, however that’s genuinely no longer the case. When you want a fast, clean, effective cut, you want an electric powered drywall saw.

3.Drywall knives:

We all know that, drywall knives are a distinctly specialised item, so other sorts of putty knives sincerely won’t work as a replacement. These are as a substitute cheaper and consequently can be without difficulty changed when worn or damaged. The shorter 4- and 6-inch sizes are best for slopping mud into location and for taping, whilst the longer 12-inch measurement is used for feathering and ultimate coats.

4.Cordless drill:

Drywall used to be fixed nearly completely with a hammer and nail. Today, screw weapons supply tons larger effectivity and are in a position to mechanically load up the subsequent screw when the job is equipped for it.

The multiplied energy of an 18-volt drill (versus 12-volt) effortlessly attracts screws into wooden studs barring any subject of durability. A drill with a take hold of helps the bit cease turning when screws are totally pushed in and prevents stripping of the screw head. Cordless drills grant a torque-control gain over their corded counterparts, as well.

5.Utility knife:

There is a properly danger a utility knife is already a staple inside your device series and can be a extremely good asset to drywall work. Be positive to now not use a utility knife with snap-off blades, however as a substitute use one with interchangeable blades that set into a screw-down handle. This offers larger balance and protection during the job.

6.Drywall screws:

Drywall screws are now the fastener of desire – no longer nails – and come in each coarse-thread and fine-thread varieties. Coarse-thread screws draw without problems into timber studs and are usable for a vast vary of different domestic improvement projects, whilst fine-thread screws are best-suited for steel framing.

Some people are going to use the best drywall sander for DIY, drywall lift homemade or DIY drywall lift, tape buddy drywall taping tool or buddy tools tape-buddy drywall taping tool, DIY drywall sander and DIY pole sander.

Guide to Drywall Sizes

Drywall modified the constructing enterprise when it got here on the scene about a century ago. While it took a few many years for drywall to entirely take root in domestic construction, this pre-sized wallboard ultimately supposed no extra nailing of thousands of lath boards and troweling of moist plaster.

Along with its many advantages, fashionable sizing is one of drywall's nice features. With every sheet of drywall, you understand in enhance its specific size, down to the millimeter. Predictable sizing approves builders and house owners to diagram their initiatives with entire accuracy.

The most common size of drywall is 4 feet wide and 8 feet long. Since 0.5-inch-thick sheets of 4- by way of 8-foot drywall tip the scales at fifty-seven pounds, this measurement tends to be the largest sheet that most do-it-yourselfers can raise and elevate into place.

The 4-foot by 8-foot size allows for either vertical or horizontal installation. Typically 4 by 8-foot panels come attached in pairs—two sheets face to face, with paper strips binding the two sheets. Most people find it extremely difficult to carry these sandwiched panels by themselves. For solo transport, you can pull off the binding paper to separate the panels.

For tall or long walls, drywall is available in lengths of 12 or 16 feet. One advantage of these longer sheets is that you can create a smooth vertical surface to meet higher ceilings, creating a smooth surface that is completely unbroken from floor to ceiling.

16-foot-long drywall, when installed horizontally on a wall, produces fewer butt joints than with 8-foot-long sheets. If you are intending to work with 16-foot lengths of drywall, you need to have several people on hand to help you with the installation.

The 2-foot by 2-foot square of drywall is not a stock sheet size. However, cut-down pieces of drywall are often available at most home centers and especially at smaller local hardware stores. These small sheets can be useful for patching jobs or wall-boarding small nooks and alcoves.

When wall panels come in lengths and widths other than these multiples of 4 feet, they are usually not drywall panels but are instead cement board or a drywall alternative. While not common on the consumer market, 4-1/2-foot-wide drywall sheets can be special-ordered. They are not stocked in home improvement centers and are rarely used except by professionals.

Common drywall thicknesses are 1/4-inch, 1/2-inch, and 5/8-inch. Building codes do have some requirements when it comes to the thickness of drywall panels. The thickness required for each application is dictated by the building code.

Not a common thickness, 1/4-inch-thick drywall is used as a skimming (or double-wall) material for placing over an existing surface. These thin drywall sheets are also valuable when you need to install drywall on slightly curved surfaces. If the drywall is not quite meeting the curve, you can slightly dampen the drywall to make it more flexible.

Half-inch drywall panels are the standard thickness for interior walls, as well as ceilings. These panels are easy to carry and hang. Even easier to carry are ultra-light 1/2-inch panels, which are 13 pounds lighter than conventional 1/2-inch drywall. Thicker drywall may be required by code for any wall or ceiling covered with a texture or skim coat where studs or joists are spaced 24 inches on-center rather than 16 inches.

This thicker drywall is frequently known as fire-resistant drywall. Common partitions between residential residing areas and connected garages, for example, require a fire-resistant construction, as do furnace rooms. This furnace resistance can additionally be accomplished via putting in a couple of layers of thinner drywall panels.

The Solutions of Drywall Problems

Drywall finishing—including DIY drywall—is by far the most challenging part of drywall installation. And it is where some do-it-yourselfers run into the most problems. While the ability of best ending comes solely via practice, there are quite a few frequent problems that are without difficulty corrected with a higher approach or materials, or both.

Instead of creasing the all-paper tape that you might be used to, try metal-reinforced corner tape. Metal-reinforced tape combines a metal angle with paper flanges for a perfectly shaped and smooth inside corner: The tape does the creasing for you. The metal also gives your drywall knife a smooth, rigid surface to ride along when taping the corner.

Instead of using standard paper tape on outside corners, use metal or plastic outside corner bead. The best practice is to use corner bead because it is more durable and easier to install than paper-only corners. Save the paper tape for outside corners that never receive any traffic, such as bulkheads or skylight shafts. Any outside corner within reach should use a rigid bead.

Before you apply the joint compound or mud, cut your paper tape to length and pre-crease it. You'll save yourself a crucial-few-seconds. If you're using metal-reinforced tape, cut it to length and have it at the ready before mudding the corner. In either case, it's also easier to measure for your tape length before there's mud on the wall.

Use three layers: tape coat, filler coat, and final coat. The tape actually should show through the filler coat. If it doesn't, your filler coat is too thick. Covering the tape comes only with the final coat or coats. If your initial final coat doesn't cover the tape, apply more coats, but keep them thin.

Mesh tape shows through butt joints, which it is can be hard to fix and it's why a lot of drywall workers prefer paper tape on butt joints. Butt joints are seams where two panels meet at their square (not tapered) edges, so there's no recess for the tape and mud.

If you've already used mesh tape and mudded over it and it's still showing, keep applying thin final coats with a 10- or 12-inch drywall knife. Gradually build up the joint in the middle—to cover the tape—and feather it at both sides to make it all look flat.

Butt joints are difficult to cover, even with paper tape. Since you have no edge tapers creating a recess, the tape and mud are riding on top of the drywall.

Carefully apply the final coat or coats and feather it out well with the 10- or 12-inch knife. One error with butt joints is to use too much mud under the tape, creating a hump that is hard to hide with all of the thin final coats.

Applying some pressure to the knife when smoothing the tape over the initial layer of mud helps to squeeze out excess mud from behind the tape. Ideally, though, don't put too much mud there to begin with.

Drywall joints crack for many extraordinary reasons. Over the door and window openings, joints can crack due to motion in the wall framing. The motion is unavoidable, so the pleasant answer is to make the taped joints as sturdy as possible.

The paper tape itself is much less robust than mesh tape, and paper is additionally much less elastic and would not stretch as mesh tape does. This is why some drywallers select paper for these high-stress joints.

If you do figure out to use mesh tape in these areas, constantly use a setting-type mud for the first coat over the tape. Setting mud is more desirable than pre-mixed all-purpose mud and helps compensate for the elasticity of mesh tape.

Any drywall joint can additionally crack if the mud is utilized too thick or too quickly. To forestall cracking, do not use greater mud than you want for any of the coats, and let every coat dry absolutely earlier than including the next. To cut down on dust, use a wet sponge—instead of sanding with sand paper—between coats.