Before you start reading this you may want to catch-up with:
Part 1 – Why Build a Maker Space
Part 2 – Walls Going Up
Part 3 – Framed!
Part 4 – Insulated!
It’s like a puzzle! A horrible, heavy puzzle. With special rules like don’t install the sheets vertically, don’t end a sheet with a seam around a door, pieces should be hung from the top down, and so on and so forth…
Tools for this part of the build:
- Figure your SqFt for your drywall and over buy by about 10%-20%.
- A bucket of drywall screws.
- at least 2 cordless drills, I used the Milwaukee M12 brushless drill
- Help! you will need hands for this, beyond yours.
- a Dremel with a router attachment and a drywall bits
(Not a must have but made cutting out electrical box opening a breeze!)
- Tape measure, pens, a brain and probably another brain to check your brains math before you cut.
- Utility Knife
for scoring the drywall
- a long straight 2″x4″x8′ or longer to break the drywall on
- Drywall Screw Setter Bits
make sure your screws are inset enough to be filled with mud later. Get some!
- Steel corner bead for nice sharp corners
This part had lots of math, lots and lots of hands, and dear god, was it hard carrying all the drywall down from the driveway to the basement. I bought 10′ long sheets and it was delivered by the Building supply on a truck with a forklift. Unfortunately I have a steep rock walkway that leads down to my basement that no forklift could ever traverse so the pallet of material had to be taken down 2 sheets at a time.
Once down there we started at the top and by top I mean the ceiling. Do yourself a favor and take a spare 2″x4″x12′ and some scrap 2×4 cut to about 3 feet long as a prop for holding the drywall up to the ceiling from the ground. This worked great and save backs and sheets by keeping one of the helpers on the ground. th ceiling is the hardest part and I now understand why folks like drop ceilings. You never end up holding 30 pounds over your head while you screw it into a floor joist 10 feet above the ground with drop ceilings.
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- My Dad came to help this day!
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- Coming together!
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- cutting out the light cans and the outlets with the dremmel is easy. get one and do it!
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- Awesome! Ceiling is up!
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- My Father in law carefully cuts each piece.
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- My Father in Law is like the Foreman that knows what he is doing, without him this project would not have happened.
Once the ceiling is done, you have to do the walls with boards starting in a corner and staggered so you don’t have a single long seam running from top to bottom. Also, it is important though it may seem wasteful at the time, not to have a seam running up from a door edge either. It is best to put a sheet over the door and cut out the door hole. Over time the seam can crack due to the door opening and closing.
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- Wow, it looks like a room!
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- cutting out the outlets as you go ensures you don’t forget one!!
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- Note the lines where each stud was. this makes life so easy!
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- We used metal corner bead because this corner might take a beating. though i put wainscoting here with a solid wood corner piece.
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- It is best to have an even seam near the bottom where your baseboards will go.
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- staggered and secured.
It looks like a real, actual, room now. It is also looking like a really nice room that could easily be a theatre instead of a workshop. But what the heck, i want to feel comfortable while i toil! But before it can be a 5 star workshop retreat, there must be mud. Lots and Lots of mud.
Check out part 6 – Let’s Go Muddin’
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