Building or fixing a space? You’ll need drywall. It makes your walls look smooth. It’s also strong and lasts long. Let’s talk about how to install and tape drywall.
Why Drywall?
Drywall is great for walls and ceilings. It’s fire-safe. It keeps noise down. It’s the top choice for most projects.
Installing Drywall
Measure and Cut: Get the wall size. Cut the drywall to fit.
Attach Panels: Use screws. Put them into wall studs. Make sure they’re even.
Line Up Edges: Make the edges meet. This makes taping easy.
Taping Drywall
Use Mud: Mud fills gaps. Put a thin layer on the seams.
Tape: Put tape over the seams. This stops cracks.
Sand: When mud is dry, sand it. This makes it smooth.
Finish: Add primer and paint. Now you’re done!
Get a Pro
DIY is an option. But pros save you time and stress. They get it right the first time.
Building or remodeling an office, a commercial plaza, a restaurant, or your own home often involves the use of drywall. There are a lot of good reasons why. The wall system is high performing and durable. The majority of them are gypsum-based, though there are variations. Meaning, you’ll find several options available depending on your environment – moisture, fire prone, etc.
For those who are planning renovations and want to know whether drywall installation is a good option for them, consider the following these five reasons below.
Drywall installation is quick
Compared to other construction materials, drywall can be installed faster. The time you spend on fitting walls will be at least five times less if you hire a professional drywall contractor in Toronto. The buildout and installation of drywall varies according to its size and how many walls are involved.
Their weight also varies depending on the material they’re made of and the size of their walls. If you want the installation done by a drywall installation contractor, you will undoubtedly need their assistance.
The reason for that is that drywall finishing and taping require experience. The corners are especially susceptible to cracking if it is not done right. However, that can’t be considered as a disadvantage. All properties are structurally based on their walls. They influence the aesthetics and stability of any surface with their excellent drywall installation.
Easily repairable
Drywall plastering reduces impact resistance and therefore cracks and dents. Because such problems are often unavoidable, it’s a good thing that drywall can be fixed quickly.
Large holes can be patched even if they are enormous. The drywall in your home is not likely to need to be replaced unless it has been damaged by fire or water. In a matter of minutes, you can fix the drywall problem with a few simple repairs.
Drywall offers a variety of solutions
Walls and ceilings can be covered with drywall. When you combine lighting and the right painting service with wall and ceiling ideas, you can come up with hundreds of plans. A drywall partition can be used when you remodel a basement, split the office into several sections, or need space to accommodate the newborn.
The dry wall is soundproof
Soundproofing solutions can be provided by a drywall contractor if you are concerned about noise at your property. Wallboard can be actually used to isolate internal noises without increasing the wall’s thickness if the street is too noisy or if there is too much traffic noise coming from the street.
Fire-resistant Drywall
You should know that drywall is not fireproof, but it is fire resistant. As a result, it will continue to burn, but will slow down any further spreading of fire. The importance of this cannot be overstated. This will allow you to evacuate the building in time and, in turn, save your life.
Drywalls have many benefits beyond these, but these are the most important ones. An experienced drywall service company can offer a variety of options to meet all your needs. With the right interior painting service, drywall can also provide excellent thermal insulation, increased protection from mold, and stunning aesthetic results.
At Dry Wall Taping, we are dedicated to providing you with quality workmanship and dependable services at a reasonable cost. We have years of experience in the drywall industry and specialize in all types of drywalls taping for residential, commercial, and industrial contractors. Our family-owned company is diligently committed to customer satisfaction and making sure that our clients are 100% satisfied with our projects.
For a full list of premium services that Drywallaid provides, kindly visit the portofolio page, fill out the form here, or simply call 416-639-2445 to ask any questions you have about an upcoming project or to get a FREE estimate!
Making updates and changes to your home or building a new one is stressful enough, without having to worry about cowboy contractors ruining your experience and wallet. A few simple questions before you hire someone could save you a lot of headache.
A highly qualified drywall contractor takes away a lot of the potential for frustration but can turn your dream home experience into a bottomless money pit. I’ve heard a lot of stories from many of my friends and clients about some terrible experiences with dodgy contractors who cut corners, avoid responsibility and are generally a pain to deal with.
But how do you know what to ask and where to start if you have never dealt with a drywall contractor before? The following 10 simple questions will help you choose the right drywall contractor and get the job done right the first time.
1. Do you have Liability Insurance?
You need to make sure your drywall contractor provides you a proof they have Liability Insurance before you pay them anything. This covers you for financial loss should the drywall contractor die, become insolvent or run away.
2. Are there any current or past disputes underway with the relevant construction authorities in your province or with a former client?
This will let you know about the drywall contractor’s general reliability and professionalism as well as the overall quality of their work.
3. Have you ever been declared bankrupt?
If your drywall contractor went bankrupt at some point it may mean a quick eject button on your project should they not have the financial resources to finish the job. A bankrupt company may disappear without warning leaving you with a half finished drywall project and the need for you to search for another drywall contractor willing to complete the job.
It seems self-explanatory, yet many people never ask this question. Your drywall contractor may not be interested in a project far from their office, where they have to travel. The drywall contractor may also need to hire sub-contractors they are not familiar with and these people may not be up to standard.
5. How long is your warranty and what does it cover?
A drywall contractor agrees to perform quality drywall installation and taping job and warrants against any defects in workmanship or materials supplied. Since it is not always possible to find these defects on the spot, such a warranty should extend to one year for residential units and sometimes longer for commercial properties.
6. Who supervises the drywall project?
This is important because the supervisor or project manager is the person who keeps everyone honest and insures the drywall job goes smoothly. When a project manager is onsite, higher quality work is performed. Look into their track record including past experiences and duration at current employer.
7. What about your drywall installers and tapers and their long-term employment?
A consistent and reliable trade base is essential to making certain the job will be finished on time with high quality results.
8. Can provide us with references of your recently finished projects?
This is absolutely a no-brainer. Try to see for yourself the drywall contractors’ recently completed work or at the very least talk with their clients. This way you can understand if the drywall contractor is doing the type of job you want for your home. Check out the quality of materials they use for their drywall projects. This way you can get feedback about customer experience and satisfaction.
9. What other projects will you be involved with while installing my drywall?
You don’t want the drywall contractor to take on more jobs than they can handle. The more they can concentrate on your job, the faster it will be completed and with a fewer mistakes.
And finally… 10. Reviews?
Remember, being involved in a new construction or a renovation project is a huge financial and emotional investment. Take the extra time to do a thorough check on any prospective drywall contractor, their workmanship, references and credentials. There are several places on the web where you can read reviews about their qualification. Such as Homestars.com, Google places or even Facebook.
Speaking of quality, check out the speed the taping job is done by our drywall taping team member.
Installing drywall on the ceiling can be challenging when working alone, but with a few minor adjustment to the working process, you can easily accomplish this task on your own. Follow these simple steps as you learn how to install drywall on the ceiling in your house.
Check if the area where you are going to install drywall is clear from electrical wires, ductwork, or protruding pipes. Install furring strips to the framing in order to create a flat, even surface for drywall installation around these obstacles.
To keep it easier mark the wall studs to indicate the locations of the ceiling joists for reference when installing drywall. Also mark the placement of light fixtures and electrical boxes.
To get some leverage and support for raising the drywall sheets to the ceiling when you’re working alone, build a T-brace. Use a 2 foot piece of 1 by 4 and nail it to a 2 by 4. It should be 1 foot higher than the length from the floor to the ceiling.
Start hanging drywall in the corner, where you can use a full sheet. Raise the first sheet to the ceiling so you can get an idea of the placement in relation to the joists.
If you have a friend, ask him to assist you, or alternatively use the T-brace that you have build in the step 3. Raise the first sheet of drywall to the ceiling and slide it snugly into the corner. Install drywall in the way that tapered edges of the sheet are facing the floor.
Screw in the drywall sheets permanently to the ceiling joists using screws. The heads of the screws you choose should come in contact with the paper, sinking in slightly without breaking through the paper.
Proceed to install drywall along the first wall, always make sure that the tapered edges abut one another and are facing down. The tapered edges are designed to make the taping, mudding and sanding process easier.
To enforce the stability of your ceiling, start the second row with a half sheet of drywall in order to stagger the seams.
Measure and mark the cut line at the vertical midpoint of the drywall sheet. Use a straightedge to help guide your utility knife as you cut. Tip the panel off of the floor or table at a slight angle, then push it down to break it in half. Use the utility knife to cut through the paper backing.
Install panels over vents or light fixtures loosely at first. Use a rotary drill to cut out a border for the fixture or vent, and then fully attach the board.
Complete installation of drywall on the entire ceiling of your house and only then proceed to install drywall on the walls.
In case you don’t want to install drywall alone, you can hire professional experts. In the video below see how our installers hang drywall on the ceiling on one of our custom home projects in Toronto.
Continuing our topic of soundproofing started with this post here, we would like now to talk about the project we finished a couple of weeks ago.
We were renovating a townhouse built back in the 70’s for new owners. What we faced there was something quite common for Toronto old houses built using plaster. As we know although being a great material with pretty good sound and thermal insulating properties, it tends to age with unsightly cracks and crumbles. And once it starts to crack the problem becomes literally interminable – door slammed, heavy truck passed by – all results in more cracks. Thus repairing and patching these walls makes no sense and removing the existing plaster and replacing it with new is a very pricey option accompanied by the difficulty of finding a right contractor willing to do the job. Having said that, what are the options that house owners not willing to compromise on sound insulation have when deciding to embark on the renovating project?
You can definitely build a layer of drywall over the plaster. This way you keep the benefits of the plaster and get nice smooth walls. It’s a good option if you have some extra space you can sacrifice by loosing couple of inches to drywall. Also building drywall over plaster changes the relief between the wall and the window and door trim, and skirting boards. This will result in an unattractive change in proportion.
Another difficulty is when you have a stairwell adjacent to your neighbors’ wall. In this case you cannot afford to lose any of the stairwell’s width to an extra layer of drywall as you cannot make your stairs narrower than 36″ required by the construction code. Simple and logical replacement of the old plaster with regular drywall is not a solution either as in this case you will be losing all of the so much needed sound proofing.
That was exactly the case we had with our recent project when we were required to remove the old plaster from the stairwell wall and build the wall with excellent sound insulating properties instead as the owners were concerned about the noise coming from 4 guys in their 20’s living next door. Therefore they asked us for the maximum noise reduction. What did we do?
QuietRock and Green Glue
For this project we decided to go the tried and tested route – remove the plaster and then install one layer of QuietRock. QuietRock is a sound damped panel that offers outstanding sound proofing and sound reduction performance. We have used this product in a number of projects and got very encouraging results. We especially recommend it in the instances when the space and time are very sensitive factors.
We used QuietRock ES type X – an easy to install 5/8″ panel with acoustic rating of up to STC 55 and one hour fire rating – it ideally fitted our requirements.
Significant sound reduction cannot be achieved by using only one product, it is always a combination of methods that provides positive results. Therefore we decided to back up the QuietRock with Green Glue – high performance damping compound.
Normally we would also suggest decoupling the wall to stop the noise from traveling but this time it was impossible to do because our owners’ and neighbours’ staircases shared the same wall. To compensate for that we used two layers of Green Glue (2 tubes per 4’x8′ sheet) instead of regular one layer.
This approach allowed us to keep the staircase space and save on labour and time. The result we got in the end was not only comparable to the sound reducing capabilities of the plaster but even excedeed it.
If you are in the process of building, remodeling or renovating your house and consider increasing its value by something the price tag cannot put on – Quiet – contact us today for a quote and sound proofing solutions.
Commercial drywall usually is installed vertically standing, it’s easier to install and tape drywall seams after.
But on our recent drywall taping project on a 5000 sq. ft. condo on Wellington Street for Strathcona Construction we encounter different technic and at first were surprised with GC decision to install it two-sheets horizontally on walls plus cutting one of the sheets into two pieces.
After interesting debate we can see the point of the architect. Because the client is really concerned with the quality of finish he doesn’t mind spending more on getting a seamless wall. It is a visual trick that anybody can use on their own home’s project.
You cut one piece of drywall to make it 30’’ or so wide and install along the wall bottom. Than on top of it on the wall you install a solid regular 48’’ sheet and on top you put the rest of your bottom cut piece.
This way on a regular human body height on a long wall (and walls are really long at that condo) if you are using 12’ drywall you can see very few vertical seams, which makes the wall visually seamless.
Very smart decision and nice thinking about customer satisfaction.
If the area of your BASEMENT is 700-1,200 sq. ft. you would need a budget of about $4,700 – $12,650. The package would include installation of 1/2” ceiling board, installation of 1/2” regular drywall on walls and bulkheads, installation of 1/2” water resistant drywall in the bathroom, installation of 1/2” densshield in bathroom tiled areas, installation of metal corner bids, taping and sending of new drywall, smooth ceiling, ready for primer. Labour materials and delivery included.
If the area of your HOUSE is 1,200-3,500 sq.ft. you would need a budget of about $6,800 – $36,200 The package would include installation of 1/2” ceiling board, installation of 1/2” regular drywall on walls and bulkheads, installation of 1/2” water resistant drywall in the bathrooms, installation of 1/2” densshield in bathrooms tiled areas, installation of metal corner bids, taping and sending of new drywall, smooth ceiling, ready for primer. Labour materials and delivery included.
How we price the drywall installation?
There are several methods we use when we have to price the drywall job. Preliminary quote on drywall boarding can be issued over a telephone based on the square footage of the area that needs drywall installation.
As drywall contractors we need to know the total area of drywall board for the rough quote. We usually ask over the phone total floor area and clarify if the area is an open concept or divided on section/rooms. Than we ask about ceiling height. The formula for open concept area on drywall installation total square footage is floor area square footage multiplied by 3.5 , for the area with rooms: floor area sq footage multiplied by 4.
For example, if we required to install drywall in the house that has 5000 sq foot of the floor area with 8’ ceiling height and open concept, than amount of the drywall board that we will have to install will be roughly 5000×3.5=17500 sq ft.
Than we multiply the total square footage of the drywall board by the price per square foot.
Of course it works the best if the drywalled area doesn’t have custom features like multiple custom shaped skylights, cathedral ceilings in rooms and unusually shaped entrances, amount of corner beads also play role in the drywall installation pricing. In the case of custom situation it will be the best to arrange for a visit of our certified professional drywall estimator to get more accurate quote.
To find out more you can always contact or call us at 647 866 0201 and we will be happy to help you with your drywall installation price .
2nd Floor:
· Taping of new drywall (washroom and kitchen area)
· Hallway and Staircase from second floor to first floor —skim cote on plaster 1st Floor:
· Installation of corner bids
· Skim cote on the walls
· Taping of new drywall on ceiling
· Skim cote of plaster on ceiling Basement:
· Taping of all new drywall (walls and ceiling)
· Removal of construction debris in garbage bin:
COMPLETED:
Please comment, let me know what you think, ask a question.
Here is the follow up of the ‘DEMOLITION’ project that we started at the end of January. Today, February 7th it is all set and ready for the final phase: taping of entire area
Scope of Completed Work:
2nd Floor:
Demolished all plaster from the walls,
Demolished the dropped ceiling in S/W bedroom
Demolished all doors, trims, casings, baseboards
Removed flooring in the bathroom
Installed new ½ inch regular drywall
Installed blue drywall in bathroom
Ready for TAPING
1st Floor:
Demolished plaster
Demolished all doors, trims, casings, baseboards
Demolished the non-structural wall in Easters addition space
Removed tub, sink and built-in cupboards
Removed flooring
Installed new ½ inch regular drywall
Ready for TAPING
Basement
Removed non-structural walls
Removed plaster on N/S partition wall
Installed new blue drywall on the external walls
Installed drywall on ceiling and around ducts
Ready for TAPING
Here are some photos of the site at the current phase of drywall installation completion and ready for final phase; Drywall Taping:
Please follow this blog so you are able to take a look at the finished results of our professional drywall taping team, soon to come. Feel free to ask any questions about the process of our job.
If you are looking to start your own project give us a call or email with some basic information; dates you would like to start, what type of job that needs to be done, location, ceiling heights, floor area, residential, commercial, custom work, best way to contact you, etc.
