The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
As a drywaller, your work speaks for itself. You should expect potential clients to hire you based on previous jobs you’ve completed. They’ll want to see pictures and hear references. Leave a good impression after every job by implementing these expert tips professional drywallers should remember.
Assess the Current Structure
Before starting any job, you need to assess the current situation. Get all the details about the home before setting out to make it over. You’ll need to run thorough inspections before preparing to lay new drywall.
Specifically, you need to check for any moisture issues. Warped walls and cracks in the foundation could be a clear sign of water damage. Use your moisture detector to run readings on the wall. You’ll need to conduct more than one reading to ensure accuracy. If you detect too much moisture in the walls, you’ll need to manage that before taking any further steps.
You can attach drywall to wall studs via nails or screws. Getting the fasteners just right is crucial because the wrong placement could damage or skew the progress of the remaining job. Nails tend to pull away from the studs, causing sags in ceilings and cracks and holes in the spackle.
Your best bet is going with screws. Drive the screws right below the face of the drywall without breaking through the surface paper. A drywall screw gun is the best tool for the job because it’s fast and sets every screw at a predetermined depth.
Mind the Electrical Boxes
Cutting the drywall for electrical devices means lining up the electrical boxes just right. Be very meticulous during this process because homeowners can tell when there are gaps and mistakes in the Sheetrock. It’s OK if you need to slow down during this time.
Trying to cover up mistakes made in a previous cut will be frustrating and obvious. Take the time to measure the exact outline of the electrical box and trace the lining with a pencil. Remember that it’s always better to measure 10 times and cut once than to measure once and cut 10 times. Plus, you don’t want to run through several pieces of Sheetrock.
Sweat Every Detail
The most important expert tip of all is to sweat every single detail. If you don’t, flaws will show up later, and that could have a negative effect on your reputation as a professional drywaller.
Tape troublesome butt joints by embedding your tape in a thin first coat, about 1/8 inch thick. Once that first coat dries, draw a second, third, and fourth coating to hide the ridge. Make each coat smooth and flat with a 12-inch taping knife.
