drywall

TOOLs you'll need

for cutting drywall
* Utility Knife
* Keyhole Saw

for hanging drywall
* a Wedge (or something to hold the
drywall up off the floor)
*Hammer
*an Electric Drill

for mudding the walls
*Trowels
*Joint Knives
*Corner Trowel (no necessary but very handy)

for sanding drywall
*an Electic Sander
or
*Sand Paper

for safety
*Goggles
*Hard Hat
*Work Gloves (when handling drywall)
*Face Mask (when sanding)

MATERIALs you'll need

*Necessary Amount of Wallboard

to hang drywall
*Drywall Screws
*Drywall Corners
*Plaster
*Drywall Tape

Drywall Prep
Before you put on the sheets of drywall, you will want to make sure the frame is properly prepared. There should be an even surface or old nails sticking out of the wood. Make sure everything that should be inside of the wall is inside of the wall. This would be the electrical lines, plumbing, and insulation. This may sound like something that is so obvious but its better to be reminded before the fact! Also, make sure you leave nothing that should be in the wall.

Hanging Drywall
Hanging drywall is not rocket science but you do have to make sure you have the correct measurement. The sheets of drywall can be hung either vertically or horizontally. If you hang vertically, it allows you to avoid lifting it completely in the air. We were told that a good rule of thumb to remember is that every sheet should meet every other sheet at the middle of the stud in the frame as you go along. The best way to remember this is that there should never be a corner that is not covered by a stud.

Drywall is not hard to cut. All you have to do is simply score a line on the drywall where you want to cut. Than bend the board at the score and it will break. Don't forget to cut holes where you want the outlets, switches, or anything else that you wouldn't want to cover by the wall.


You will want to prop the wallboard onto a shim and push it next to the wall. You will want to hold it flat to the surface by starting at 3/8-inch top place nails (in groups of two) in every stud which the wall board covers. The groups of two should be 12 to 16 inch's apart along the stud's line. When pounding the nails, do it gently enough to create a slight dimple. Do not pound it so hard that the drywall crumbles.

Mudding Drywall
Mudding is a simple step by step process. Some people have called drywall mudding an art. The first thing you are going to want to do is get get a good amount of plaster onto your hod by scooping it up with your knife. Smear it onto the wall in every crease and valley in broad strokes with your knife pressed firmly to the wall. When you get to a seam in the wall where two wallboads meet, press some mud into the wall and tape over that. After you put the tape on, mud right over that. Stroke the mud until it because smooth and flat. After the mud dries, you can take a sander and smooth out the bumps.

my brother-in-law and sister mudding our house

and now your a drywalling pro!

demolition day!!!

DEMOLITION
DAY!!!!

This day was Kar's favorite day i believe. I guess it had to do with tearing down a wall and not getting in trouble for it! It was amazing to me how fast a wall can come down. My first advise... MAKE SURE ITS WHAT YOU WANT!!!

TOOLs and MATERIALs

MATERIALs
-Plastic Sheeting
-Masking Tape
-Dust Mask

TOOLs
-Claw Hammer
-3 LB. sledgehammer
-Crow Bar
-Reciprocating Saw
-Nail Puller
-Dust Pan and Broom
-Vaccum
-Screw Gun
-Chisel
-Utility Knife
-Safety Goggles
-Work Gloves

STEPS (to tear down a wall)
1. Before you start, you need to determine if the wall is a load-bearing wall or not. If it is a bearing wall, you need to make up for its supporting function.

2. Make sure you cover up or remove all the furniture in the rooms before you start. Cover the doors with plastic so the dust can be contained into the one room. Also open up a window if possible. This will help alot with the dust (and your wife will appreciate it when it comes time to clean up).

3. When you demolish a wall, it is almost like reversing the construction process! We removed the trim first which is usually followed by the dry wall or plaster. In our case it was plaster! To remove the molding and trim, we pried them off the wall. Be careful and do it gently. Remove the plumbing and electrical lines followed by the studs. To finish off remove the top and bottom plate. The reciprocating saw will help you cut through any metal.

4. Remove the nails from the molding and trim. You can use a nail puller for this. We also used the back of a hammer. Be careful with this, rusty old nails scare me!

5. If you have any fixtures on the wall, you want to first turn off the power. Unscrew the nuts or screws and disconnect the attached wires. Make sure you put electrical tape or wire nuts over the bare ends before turning the power back on. If there is electrical lines or boxes in the wall, make sure you turn the power off before its removed. Than remove the electrical boxes and remove and conduit to a point where it is no longer in the wall. After, reinstall the boxes so they are out of the way of the wall and reroute their electrical lines to them. Make sure you put wire nuts over the ends of the conductiors (wires) and a cover over the boxes.

6. Before you remove any plaster, cut along the corners of the wall so the plaster from the other walls and ceilings wont be pulled off with the plaster you are about to remove. If your walls are covered with lathe and plaster, (which ours were... love old houses!) first knock the plaster off the lathe with a small sledgehammer. Make sure you knock the wall only hard enough to break the plaster. After the plaster is removed, take the claw hammer or crowbar and pull the lathe off. If you have standard drywall, make a hole in the wall and from there use the crowbar to pull the drywall off.

7. To remove the studs, knock out any blockings and cut along the joing between the stud and the plate. You can do this by using the reciprocating saw. You can also knock the studs loose by hitting them at the base parallel to the wall and pulling them off the nails on the top plate.

and last but not least....

8. Pry the bottom and top plate up by using the crow bar. To make sure you don't damage the floor, you can use a piece of scarp wood to slip under the bar. TADA... you no longer have a wall!

plan ahead

First things first. You need to sit down and make a list of what you need and what needs to be done before getting started. This was our biggest mistake. We were not getting anything accomplished until we sat down and made a list. Our list looked a little like this...
- lay plastic down on carpets
- knock out old cabinets
- rip out old molding and doors
- measure molding and doors so we can get them ordered
- frame in new cabinets and walls
- peel off old wallpaper
- dry wall
- texture walls and ceilings
- pick our paint colors
- get primer (different colors for different paint)
- get paint sprayer to paint doors
- put in doors and molding
- prime walls
- paint
- get bathroom hardware .... etc.

This is not what your list will look like of course but it gives you a great idea on how to start. You can't just jump in without a blue print in you head of what you want. You may not also do everything that is on you list. It is just a rough draft to help get you started. It is there to give you an idea of what you want and how you want to get it accomplished. Don't let the list scare you. It may look like there is a lot that needs to be done but just start little by little. Remember... Rome wasn't built in a day!

Planning ahead is also good for your budget. When you have everything laid out on paper you will be able to figure out what is needed and what you can do without to reduce costs. Whether your flipping a home, updating, or adding on it can get expensive. Don't overdue it! Do what you can afford and go from there.

Meet the Morgans!

This is us.... the soon to be Morgan's! We are just your average poor college students who plan to get hitched August 7th.


This is our new (or not so new) house! It was built in the 1890's and needs a lot of love and tender care. Instead of throwing away our money by renting an apartment, we decided we wanted to invest our money into buying a house. Like i said before, we are poor poor college students and can't afford to do it all at once. Our sweet house needs a lot of work. We are new to this and thought we could share some tricks of the trade with you! If you have any suggestions or tricks up your sleeve we would love to hear from you. Email us at linzy_lou@hotmail.com. Hopefully our helpful hints will help you too!