Drywall question for ATOT builders.

[benzylic]

The R-vale of drywall is 0.45 for 1/2 inch and 0.56 for 5/8 inch drywall. If you have R20 insulation behind it I dont think it will matter a whole lot. If you really want to know you could figure out the area of all the joints, and figure out your heat loss with or without them sealed.

http://www.allwallsystem.com/design/RValueTable.html

 

[momeNt]

Also BTW. A garage is a great place to do it the first time, nobody will care how badly you mess up.

Mudding and taping on the other hand...

 

[Cookie]

Also BTW. A garage is a great place to do it the first time, nobody will care how badly you mess up.

Mudding and taping on the other hand...

lol

 

[alkemyst]

See, THAT I could do no problem!

Painting later could be a problem depending on the caulk. Also it may no bond well.

Many garages are taped only and never mudded in.

A contractor esp working off the clock could bang it out for probably a couple hundred bucks.

 

[Doppel]

I built a garage/shop 2 years ago. 30x24. Detached. Drywall is up, but no mudding and taping on both walls and ceiling.

I want to add a heater, but I can't figure out if it's worth the cost to do the mudding and taping first (quoted $1400). The heater will only be used to keep the garage slightly above freezing during the winter. The insulation in the walls is R20, and even with no heat last winter it didn't get below -10 to -15C very often, even when it was -30C outside.

How much heat is going to escape between the drywall cracks if I don't get the mudding and taping done? A lot? Not much?

What would you recommend? Is it going to be worth the 1400 dollars?

That is an insanely high quote especially since you don't even need to do a good job with it if you want function. If you just want the joints locked and don't care about painting it over and having the joint marks showing you can absolutely do this yourself.

 

[DrPizza]

if drywall is up mudding tapping should be relatively easy. why not just put a weekend into it?

I concur with this. Just the tape & first coat of mud is sufficient for your purposes. You just want to put it on evenly. Watch a few videos on youtube, then have at it. The first coat shouldn't take more than a couple of hours for all those seams. GET GOOD EQUIPMENT. I don't care that you're not doing finish quality work - don't go cheap and get those plastic trowels. Stainless steel. And, pay attention to sizes on the video. You graduate from shorter to medium to longer for a reason. (You'll only need a 6" knife.)

If you don't plan on "finishing" the walls, I would just tape them. Don't worry about coating them and sanding the joints.

If you want a finished wall, then hire someone. It will be cheaper than trying it yourself, then eventually calling someone to fix it.

Tape them? With duct tape or something??

I think my garage (26'x24'x10'?) cost me $300 (plus materials, which I provided) to have mud + taped + sanded. Get another estimate.

That's insanely cheap. I've "bragged" about how cheap labor is in my area before. I don't know of any areas significantly cheaper than this area. One of my friends is a drywall contractor. He was going to give me a good price for a 9x12 room (including the ceiling.) It was more than double what you paid. 3 coats; plus the final sanding = 4 trips for the contractor. That's $75 per trip. Insanely cheap if it's a good job. If it's a crappy job that's not smooth - invisible if painted, then "sanded" is pretty misleading. I can see 1 coat and then knocking down any ridges with sandpaper. But... if you have someone who will finish drywall that cheaply, send him to my house. I've been working on one room at a time. I'll just gut every remaining room & replace the electric some weekend, and would for only the 2nd time in 20-some years hire a contractor to do work for me.

 

[Gunslinger08]

I concur with this. Just the tape & first coat of mud is sufficient for your purposes. You just want to put it on evenly. Watch a few videos on youtube, then have at it. The first coat shouldn't take more than a couple of hours for all those seams. GET GOOD EQUIPMENT. I don't care that you're not doing finish quality work - don't go cheap and get those plastic trowels. Stainless steel. And, pay attention to sizes on the video. You graduate from shorter to medium to longer for a reason. (You'll only need a 6" knife.)


Tape them? With duct tape or something??



That's insanely cheap. I've "bragged" about how cheap labor is in my area before. I don't know of any areas significantly cheaper than this area. One of my friends is a drywall contractor. He was going to give me a good price for a 9x12 room (including the ceiling.) It was more than double what you paid. 3 coats; plus the final sanding = 4 trips for the contractor. That's $75 per trip. Insanely cheap if it's a good job. If it's a crappy job that's not smooth - invisible if painted, then "sanded" is pretty misleading. I can see 1 coat and then knocking down any ridges with sandpaper. But... if you have someone who will finish drywall that cheaply, send him to my house. I've been working on one room at a time. I'll just gut every remaining room & replace the electric some weekend, and would for only the 2nd time in 20-some years hire a contractor to do work for me.

He did a good job. I already had the first coat of mud on (per code in attached garages), but he did the rest. He was also hanging and finishing the drywall in my basement. I think he charged $12 per 4x12 sheet, which was about half of other quotes I got. I purchased the materials from a local building supply company and had them delivered directly into my basement for free.

 

[DaTT]

Tape them? With duct tape or something??

Drywall tape?

 

[iGas]

I wonder if you could just get some big ass tubes of that 50 year latex caulking and hit the seams with that. Just run a blade across it to smooth it out.

It will crack with out tape.

Taping isn't difficult. You will need to be patient, and add layers as it dry. Mix the mud well so it do not leave lumps and bubbles.

The garage will be a good place to learn and practice mud/tape so that you will know for a project in the house or appreciate the work of a good trade man.

 

[iGas]

Is the tape the paper type or the fiberglass mesh? Pro's usually run a skim coat down the seam and then do paper tape from a belt fed dispenser over that line.

Most DIY do mesh tape and then mud over the top of that.

fiberglass mesh tend to be use only on patch work that I have seen, but most use tape on all application as well patching.

 

[Doppel]

Drywall tape?

It's not really tape (sticky kind) per se; it still uses drywall mud to adhere.

 

[sdifox]

I have all the materials already. They came with the garage package and have been sitting there 2 years unopened. I have just heard horror stories about how much of a pain in the ass it is! My dad and 3 brothers came down to help me build the entire garage and put the drywall up, but they all said no damn way to the mudding and taping, lol.

I don't mind paying someone professional to do it, I just don't want to bother if it's not going to make a difference in keeping the heat in. Each of the drywall cracks is located where the 2x6s are, so I can't see the heat loss being that big of a deal. Especially like someone said, there are already 2 car doors, 1 man door and 4 windows to let out heat.

your drywall compound is probably mouldy by now.

 

[highland145]

It's not really tape (sticky kind) per se; it still uses drywall mud to adhere.

It's called drywall tape. IIRC, DaTT does/did sheet rock work for a living.

 

[Aharami]

DIY

 

[SandEagle]

i did the drywall in my garage. taping, mudding and all. its not that hard and it was a good learning experience. there are inconsistencies that are clearly visible, but who cares, its a garage. and i did it myself. used foam insulation too prior to putting up teh walls.

save money. do yourself.

 

[Modelworks]

You don't have to spend a lot of money if you want to give taping and mud a try. The mud is sold in small containers for patch up jobs and the tape is sold in smaller rolls too, about $10 cost to see if you want to do the finished look or not.