Needin' drywall advice

Bro. Noble · March 20, 2004, 10:54:21 AM

I just got a bid on a complete drywall job on our new house. He furnishes everything but the sheetrock for 67 cents a sq. ft.

Some of the ceilings are cathedral and some lofted so it's not a real simple job.

He has a good reputation and I would like to hire him but have no idea if this is a fair price. I need to let himknow right away.

etat · March 20, 2004, 11:29:47 AM

To me this does not sound bad, especially if he has a good rep. One thing you might want to inquire about is the finishing. There are different grades olf drywall finishing. I am finishing my ceilings and walls all with a slick finish, no texture and painting with semi-gloss paint.. Fininshing in this was is MUCH more labor intensive because if you don't blend and finish it perfectly smooth it will show through the paint. If you use texture on the ceiling finishing becomes much easier as the texture will hide the flaws.

Did I mention I HATE finishing drywall.

Bro. Noble · March 20, 2004, 11:37:47 AM

Thanks CK,

The ceilings will be left to where they don't have to be painted and the walls will have what he called an 'orange peel' finish or possibly a little rougher, I forgot what that's called.

He charges 22 cents to hang the sheet rock and 45 cents to tape and finish.

etat · March 20, 2004, 11:45:44 AM

I lost you. You're not going to paint your ceilings? I've heard of not painting plaster, but drywall needs paint to protect it.

Minnesota_boy · March 20, 2004, 12:53:02 PM

Gee, I'm real sorry to hear that ceilings have to be painted. We had our ceilings spray textured over 20 years ago and havn't painted them yet. It isn't a job I would look forward to and I'd lose the luster of the sparkley stuff if I painted over it. :( ;D :D

pasbuild · March 20, 2004, 01:20:24 PM

As far as the cost difference between smooth and textured they offset each other, the price is a little higher then in my neck of the woods but not way out of line.
Drywall and joint compound are porous and need to be sealed.

Norm · March 20, 2004, 01:45:00 PM

Noble it isn't too bad of a price, part of it is how many square feet they will be doing and how fast they will get it done. The bigger the job the less it should cost. Problem is your not in an area that has a lot of work so they will charge more, if you were near a metro area there is more competition so costs goes down.

If they are mixing paint in with the texture when they shoot the ceiling you won't need to paint it. I really don't like that method, better to spray the whole place after they're done. I also don't like the popcorn texture they use on ceilings, makes it hard to ever repaint but again it is a personal preference. Just my 2 cents.

Bro. Noble · March 20, 2004, 02:10:15 PM

M-boy,

That sparkley stuff is what the wife wants on the ceilings.

I might have used the term 'dry wall' incorrectly. I don't know much about building or anything else except eating. Now there I excell :D

Thanks for your help guys.

Jeff · March 20, 2004, 02:26:03 PM

we have textured ceilings and I HATE them. Its the kind that has lumps mixed in the paint/plaster and then sprayed on. You can wash it. If you try the bumps break off exposing the celulose or what ever those lumps are. Its hard to paint, and it collects dust (dust on the ceiling?) YES! because of the texture, over time it will accumulate and about the only way to get it off is with a shop vac, cause as I said, you cant wash it.

The new part of our house has knock down texture on the walls and ceiling. Now thats nice.

redpowerd · March 20, 2004, 02:36:28 PM

i agree with ya fully on them ceilings. they never look right.

but, whats knock down?

J_T · March 20, 2004, 03:03:37 PM

Flat paint shows less defects.Those sparkels are glitter. some mix the paint in the compound to thin thus no need to paint .Takes lot less work to blow or textuer a wall or cealing. I got a texture roler at walley world then before it set up hard I put a screan on a stick sander and knoked the humps down.Hate finishing gipson board . going to saw me some wood soon and cover it all up. :D :D

Furby · March 20, 2004, 05:21:29 PM

I think you all may be thinking of blue board and skim coating, very different from drywall and taping. In my neck of the woods anyways. :

HORSELOGGER · March 20, 2004, 07:37:58 PM

Noble, I hung the drywall in my house and had a local union finisher tape and sand it. He charged me 10 bucks a sheet to tape and sand. Your guys price works out to $9.30 a sheet. So either we both are gettin a shelacin or thats a good average price :D

SasquatchMan · March 20, 2004, 07:38:21 PM

Knockdown is a texture where you blow a goopy mix (without particles in it, unlike the usual "popcorn" ceilings) onto the ceiling, and it sticks in globs, then you go with a taping knife or trowel and "knock down" the globs, flattening the whole mess into a sort of pseudo-plaster job... not a bad look all told.

Flat (untextured) ceilings ordinarily do cost more, due to extra care required in mudding - the texture is popular with builders because customers think it looks fancy and it costs less than taping nicely.

I can't comment in price, cause I work in Canadian (pesos) so I just don't know. If the guy has a good rep, use him and pay him for his skills.

CHARLIE · March 20, 2004, 08:20:41 PM

We built our home in the summer of '95 and had all the ceilings done using "Knock Down" technique. It was fairly new in this area at the time, but looks so much nicer than the blown on stuff. Now, my contractor said that most of the houses are using the "Knock Down" technique now. I would never have anything different. It's nice.

ADfields · March 20, 2004, 08:50:32 PM

As to price ???

I do all my rock work and have found that I can roll on a great looking texture with a plane ole paint roller and watered down mud (joint compound) that looks great. Looks better then all the spray on and hides poor joint work very well. ;) I don't even sand the joint mud now, I use a spray bottle of water and a concrete trowel after it starts to set a bit and slick them right down. ;)

I'm with CK in that I "HATE" finishing sheet rock! >:( But it's good stuff and it's cheep, and so am I. :

Andy

Patty · March 21, 2004, 05:20:21 AM

We had our walls done in an orange peel, and then we had the ceilings hand troweled. The contractor bid the job with orange peel all over and wanted to charge extra for the hand troweled ceilings, as it is real labor intensive. I like to barter, so I told him the job was his but he had to throw in the hand troweling at the same price. Well he took the job, and it is really beautiful. 8) If you get the opportunity, try to check out a hand troweled job, before you make a decision.

redpowerd · March 21, 2004, 06:20:21 AM

knockdown sounds like material waste, eh?
i think i can picture it, along with a 55 gal shopvac

Buzz-sawyer · March 21, 2004, 06:36:29 AM

Naw not to bad RED
Just use a dry wall knife to flatten the sprayed on bumps down while still semi soft.....Hey I gotta a special on RED dozers this week!!!

redpowerd · March 21, 2004, 06:43:42 AM

oh-no :

i hate to ask

Buzz-sawyer · March 21, 2004, 09:14:32 AM

Yep!
Almost brand new 8) 8) 8) (mostly used up) ;) t9 dozers for sale
Best of all at a price you cant refuse ;D

Bro. Noble · March 21, 2004, 07:37:59 PM

I told the guy he had the job-----he's going to do everything 'knock down'.

Patty · March 22, 2004, 04:57:58 AM

I think you made a good choice there, Noble. As Jeff mentioned earlier, the rough texture collects dust big time. He vacumns his, we repainted ours every few years, Either way it is a real pain.
I hope yours turns out nice. The drywall finisher can really make a difference as to how your house turns out. When they are good, it really turns out nice, but when they aren't so good, boy it REALLY shows.

Bro. Noble · March 22, 2004, 06:50:56 AM

Thanks to all for the help and for possibly preventing me from making a mistake.

The guy is finishing a big church and won't start on ours for a couple of weeks. He was needing to know for sure if I wanted him, cause the manager of the lumber yard is wanting him to do his house. That makes me feel confident too.

EZ,

an aside. This drywall guy was a student of mine 25 years ago. He had some problems then and hung with the wrong croud. He is now a respected member of the comunity has a good family and is doing well. Too many times people look at youngsters and say "too bad they turned out bad" The fact is they are just starting and havn't begun to 'turn out'.

etat · March 22, 2004, 07:20:44 AM

Just gotta say, I am FIGHTIN MAD, at everybody here about this here drywall situation!!!!!!! Here I've been wearin my fingers down to the BONE, breathin untold abounts of DRYWALL DUST, tryin to get this stuff SMOOTH so's the seam's won't show, and yall tell me yall done invented a whole different better WAY!!!!!!! ??? ??? ???

;D ;D ;D ;D