Rockin’ the Walls

We began hanging sheet rock on the walls. Thankfully it is much quicker than doing the ceilings, with the exception of interior closets. They seem to slow the process down with the many smaller sections and cuts. Using the Roto-Zip tool on the wall edges, door and window frames saves the heartache of making exacting measurements on the edges. In those areas I simply add a bit of overhang and zip the excess off. Many of our walls are slightly less than 12′ wide, so the need to match edges along a 1 1/2″ edge was minimized. It also will make the mud/tape process easier since there will be fewer vertical seams to feather out. I began on the top section with as long a section of 4×12 as I could fit and covered the window openings. I used the Roto-Zip to cut out the windows. This gave me a continuous section with no seams above the window headers. I was able to use the cut out section for the inside top window edge after filling the window-wall gap with open cell foam for added insulation. I then rocked the window inside edges left and right.

I found the most time consuming process to be the measuring and layout. Looking at the image of the rock tools you can see I drew a 3D diagram of two walls and laid out the studs and windows ensuring I maximized a 12″ length where possible. This way i only had to measure once. On a few occasions I failed to locate and mark the electrical outlets. Bummer, but if you guess right, you can find em pretty easy as the rock bulges out and the electricians usually place the socket at a standard height.

We loaded all of our rock into the largest central room and used the stack as our layout and cutting table. I did not buy any saw horses. It was only problematic when measuring and cutting the last few pieces as the stack is close to the ground and one has to kneel down to measure and cut.