Drywall or Sheetrock
Drywall is a material that is used to put walls in your home. You can do this when you are building new, remodeling, or just patching a portion of your home. This material is also called gypsum board, sheetrock, and wallboard.
You can find drywall in many different home improvement stores or lumberyards. You can also talk to a Drywall San Diego Pro to see what they have to tell you. They might have more information for you than the stores.
This article will share some tips from drywall contractors that can help you. If you are putting up drywall on your own, this article can help you. You can also watch YouTube videos to get more information.
Tips About Drywall
- Gypsum Wall Board – It is often better for you to use gypsum wall board, or GWB, that is 5/8 inches thick rather than GWB that is ½ inches thick: https://www.ehow.com/info_12197741_thickness-gypsum-ceiling-walls.html. It is sturdier and will hide any imperfections that you might have. This will help you when you are close to finishing because you won’t need to redo the small imperfections.
- Reflective Lighting – Reflective lighting will show all those imperfections. Usually, the lighting is put in much later, but if you want to see those imperfections before you are finished you could use portable lighting. This way you can fix them as they come up.
- Alignment Issues – You want to make sure that everything lines up, especially around doors and windows. You want them to line up as well as they do outside, including areas that line up with other materials such as brick or paneling. You might have to offset portions of the sheetrock so that it looks good and lines up as it should.
- Check Flatness – You need to check the flatness of the wallboard, especially near any cabinets that are going to be installed. Once the cabinets are installed, any imperfections will show up very clearly. Make sure that any tape and compound that you use helps to even out the wallboard so that it matches the cabinets.
- Devil in the Details – The door liners will need to be placed in before the sheetrock is put up. You need to make sure all the details are checked out before you do the wallboard. See here to learn more about door liners. If these are not done correctly, you will see the imperfections when the sheetrock goes in.
- Window Liners – You want to make sure the window liners are done as well as the doors. There are many ways that you can make sure that the windows are done correctly, such as L-metal, zip strips, and mdf liners. These items will help you to make sure the windows are square and look good after drywall.
- Flush Base – The flash base is where the wall meets the floor. You want this to be flush just like you want the walls and other materials. You can use z-metal at the bottom to make it look good.
- Medium Density Overlay – This is used when an area needs a little more protection – maybe around the dining room where you have chairs bumping into the walls. This material is harder than most GWB. Once you put it in for your walls, you can’t tell the difference between it and the GWB.
- Drywall – Drywall is called what it is because of the way it is installed. In the old days, wet plaster would be put over boards called laths. The drywall is paper covered gypsum, so it goes on dry.
- A Product of Mining – Gypsum comes from mines as rocks that are then grinded into a powder. This powder is then mixed with some water and other things to make a slurry. This slurry is then poured over a backing and dries to the sheetrock that we all know.
- Backing Material – The backing material for GWB can be paper or fiberglass. Fiberglass is more resistant to mold and mildew, even though a lot of water can still harm it. All wallboard has the ability to be ruined by water.
- Different Varieties – There are different varieties of sheetrock that help protect against different things. There is Type X that will protect you from fire damage for about an hour because it is laced with fiberglass. It is thicker than ½ inch drywall and therefore will last longer in a fire.
- Easy Maintenance – Drywall is easy to maintain because it is usually painted over. It is better than wet plaster and lath boards because of this. You will also be able to cover the corner pieces and screws with compound to hide those pieces before you paint.
- Popping Nails – Nails popping out is the number one reason for damage to wallboard. If this happens, don’t just hammer the nail back in – this could cause more damage. Instead, pull the nail completely out and put it in an area close by so that it is sealed better.
- Scuffs by Furniture – Another way to damage your drywall is to scruff it up with your furniture. This can be taken care of easily with a cleaning sponge. If the scuffs are deeper than that, you might need to replace the piece of drywall, or at least patch the area that is affected.
Conclusion
Drywall is a material that you want to use to make the walls in your home. It is easier to deal with than wet plaster and laths. It can also save you from issues from mold and mildew and from fire.
Drywall needs to be put in your home so that you don’t see any imperfections. You want the wallboard to meet up at the corners, windows, and door. You need to be careful when you put the drywall in so that you can easily paint it and make it look nice in your home.
Drywall is very common in homes nowadays and is easy to work with. It is easy to install and easier to maintain. If you paint it, it makes it even easier to maintain.
