New Drywall poorly installed

Question

I am having a basement bedroom finished for my daughter. I just found out the person installing the drywall has never done it before, and there are some obvious issues with the first few sheets he put up. I will probably have to do it myself, and I was hoping for guidance.

For one, he put the drywall tight to the floor, which is concrete. I know it needs to be off the ground 3/8 inch or so. Can the wall be trimmed in place or do I need to take it down first? He has only put 2 screws per stud and very few of them are at the floor level. (When I suggested he would need more, he said it was overkill. )

Several sheets were cut very raggedly, but all the sheets are tight together, whereas I thought there should be an 1/8 inch gap between sheets. Is there any way to fix this or should I just hang new sheets with the gap?

It looks like in some cases he put the screw too near the end of the drywall, which has caused them to be dislodged and some of the screws are sunk in quite deep, and look to have gone through the drywall. Can I add screws and cover errors with tape and mud?

Answer 1

Hopefully we can get you back on track

he put the drywall flush to the floor. I know it needs to be off the ground 3/8 inch or so

I tend to hang drywall from the top down for this reason. It sounds like he might have started from the bottom up and left them sitting on the floor. You're right about needing a gap from the floor (I use a super bar myself to lift up when mounting)

Can the wall be trimmed in place or do I need to take it down first?

You can trim it in place. I would suggest buying some chalk string and snapping a line around the room, then take a box cutter and cut along the line. You could also use a drywall saw, it's just harder to cut around the studs.

He has only put 2 screws per stud and very few of them are at the floor level.

I assume we're talking 4' x 8' sheets. Two per stud is really slim. I would want a fastener (nail or screw) every 6 - 8". Two per stud can hold it up, but you don't want the board to move and that's not enough to keep it from doing that.

all the sheets are flush together, whereas I thought there should be an 1/8 inch gap between sheets. Is there any way to fix this or should I just hang new sheets with the gap?

Nope. In this case your installer is right. The sheets should butt up to one another. You can leave a gap, but that's just more mud you'll need to apply.

some of the screws are sunk in quite deep

Sounds like he's driving screws using a regular drill instead of a drywall screw gun (which is designed to sink them to the correct depth and no further). You want your screws to sink into the surface some, but just enough for you to fill the hole in later. If they've gone most of the way through the board then they're useless.

If you don't feel confident enough driving screws yourself (it's a bit of an art without screw gun) then use drywall nails instead. They're faster and cheaper. Just bash the heads in enough to make a dimple in the drywall (makes skimming over them easy).

Can I add screws and cover errors with tape and mud?

Regardless of whatever fastener you use, you should mud all the holes. That's more or less what mud is for. Even if you make a mistake, mud covers all sins in this case.

Answer 2

Dry wall sheets should always be hung tight at the joints, PERIOD. NO GAPS. Wherever there's gaps there's a potential area for the mud to crack underneath the tape. The only time you intentionally leave a gap is on the bottom between the floor and the bottom of the sheet. Even when doing Expansion joints they don't leave a gap. It's cut into the drywall board and installed. Usually every 25 to 30' on a continuous run. As far as residential goes As long as you do it correctly you don't need a lot of screws. You should be gluing your studs when you hang the board.

The reason for this is because wood isn't perfectly straight and flat like steel. So what can actually happen by screwing off every stud is you can get a wavy look to the drywall because it follows the studs and if they're not straight and the studs are crowned or waned you'll have trouble with the screws blowing out.

That's why you use drywall glue. It holds way better than just screws and if you put a nice thick bead of that on all the studs you barely have to screw it off you can actually skip a stud every other stud. The glue alone by itself is strong enough as long as you put enough on. It will hold the drywall without screws after its fully cured. It is less work when you're hanging and less screws to mud when you're finishing which results in a better looking finished product.