Drywall and Paint

by My Husband

Framing is done and the electrical wire is in the wall. Now it’s time to put some “rock” on the walls. Before you do, be sure to check your walls for warped studs and other defects. Most can be fixed with a handplaner or by shimming, and this will make your walls look nice and straight once the sheetrock goes on.

We received 3 drywall bids and they were all very close in cost. There is a typical industry standard of pricing drywall by the square foot. So assuming the drywall contractors measure your house the same, you should see comparable figures for the base bids. You’ll want to ask the drywallers to specify what thickness of drywall they are using, if they will be using nails or screws, and finally to make sure they will be sealing the drywall before texturing.

You’ll need to specify a texture as well. A nice light orange peel is fairly common and also the least expensive. We would have liked to have had some nice hand textures throughout, but it adds considerably to the cost. We reasoned that with a light texture we could always go back and retexture in later years as a remodeling project if we really felt like it. I know it sounds funny to talk about remodeling when building a brand new house, but it’s my way of letting things go at this stage, as I am a perfectionist and like everything done just so, even though my bank account often does not agree.

We saved a little money with the drywall company by doing all of the cleanup. This was a chore, especially after the hangers got done. The drywall hangers left screws and dust and chunks of cutoff drywall everywhere - and I mean everywhere.

It took myself and son L almost a full day to get them thrown into a pile outside the house. It also took me half a day, using my tractor, to load my neighbor’s large dump trailer and haul it to the dump. It was hard earned savings.

Once the drywall is hung, the mudders come in, before they do make sure to check the hangers work. I called them and made them come back off and screw off in several places where they had gotten too light with the screws. There are codes for how many screws or nails need to be applied per feet with a given drywall thickness. I walked through the house and found a few closet walls and corners where they were missed and I could hit the wall with my fist and hear the drywall slapping on the studs behind.

The mudders will plop mud everywhere and once it dries it is no fun trying to get off the floor and bath fixtures. Be sure they mask and cover all of your tubs and showers and put down paper or drop clothes over your entire floor. The mudders will need heat or at least a decent temperature to make sure the mud dries between coats. If it is the middle of winter and your furnace is not hooked up yet, then you’ll need to rent a heater to keep the house warm.

After the drywall mud is on, your texturer will come in. If, like most, you are having a sprayed-on texture, be sure to clean your floor first. The texture gun will blow up junk, dust and dirt from your floor and into the wall texture otherwise. We had a lot by our back staircase that got on the walls and made a mess. Luckily we used a wide base board/runner up the stairs that covers it - but be prepared.

When you’re ready to start painting buy a gallon or quart of every color you intend to use. It will look different once on the walls and, as in our case, it may look too different. Anyone need 20 gallons of off-white? If you are going to paint your ceilings a different color, typically a white, then paint your walls first and then mask - it is much faster than trying to cut in (paint) the transition line from wall to ceiling.

I like flat colors and think sheen is as much of the color as the color itself. I do not like shiny walls and so we went with flat paint everywhere but in bathrooms, where we used a satin finish because of moisture. We borrowed a friend’s sprayer - you’ll want a commercial grade sprayer not a little project one. You’ll also want to be sure to backroll all of your walls. That is, after spraying a section of wall you’ll want to roll it with a paint roller. This will take out any spray lines and help even out the color. Even though this seems like a lot of work, it is much faster than hand rolling, much faster. Make sure your roller stays wet and things will go fast.

I hope this was helpful. I’ll wrap this up next week, and we’ll be just about ready to move in!

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