I think we are going to be 150 sheets or more. We have to do 5/8 fire rated drywall walls and ceilings in 650 sq ft of garage and workshop. Then there is 1250 sq ft new construction addition on two floors in 1/2 drywall plus two staircases which are tricky with a lot of cuts.
Then there is kitchen which has the difficult ceiling that has to be done a certain way with lots of cuts. And powder room. Thats probably another 200sq ft.
My guys are going to do all the hanging and repairs in living room, dining room, hallway and back bedroom. They’ve got so many details to work on (kitchens and baths) that I need another team to come in for the drywall.
So we are talking ocer 2000 sq ft of drywall and the main floor is 10 ft tall so more sheets than normal. That’s pretty much a whole new house of drywall.
I look at it as hourly rate. The guy estimates 2 1/2 to 3 weeks. I’m guessing 3 guys working so that is $25/hr. I think that’s a bit high because I know 1 or 2 of the guys are laborers and probably only 1 experienced guy.
I cannot hire the guy who did Liberace house because he just showed up with his girlfriend. Did a great job but took too long. I need this to get done as fast as possible:)
I’ve done roofing (rolled and shingle) and tiling and grouting, and floor sanding and refinishing, and shingle siding, insulation or several types, and lots and lots of painting, but the one thing I’ve vowed I will NEVER, EVER do again is drywall. NEVER. Especially in old construction where things aren’t necessarily square and regular.
Yes, it’s going to be easy in the new construction areas but the kitchen and the old areas are a total mess. Not to mention that I’m beyond picky about keeping the coved ceilings in the entry area and dining room and the arches everywhere.
I’m desperate to get moving in the old areas because I want to get moving on sanding and refinishing those floors. Unfortunately there are a lot of obstacles to get there.
Building inspection for structural changes, new electrical and plumbing. It’s all done but I don’t think he’s going to appreciate calling for an inspection on a portion of the main floor.
Insulation of walls and ceilings and then another inspection.
Then drywall sheets installed and another inspection
Then mudding and texture
Then painting
Hardest part is we have to get all the doors and windows moved out of the back bedroom to finish the painting and there’s nowhere to take them right now. Plus the guys will not be happy about moving them all around again:)
I have two more drywall guys coming on Wednesday to give estimates. We will see how it all goes. I would prefer to hire the first guy because he is highly recommended by two contractors and I’ve seen his work at a recent remodel. I know he will do a good job
Well a quality drywall job is important. Do they do smooth finish? Or knock-down (easier/cheaper) like our house? (I’m fine with it, but others in the neighborhood paid more for smooth finish.
We did pay a little bit extra from rounded corners. I’m not sure if that gives any buy appeal. But for us it was really great, because it’s more forgiving to energetic kid activity./mishaps.
I personally prefer the practicality of the non-smooth “peel” finish because it hides ouches and scratches better. We too have rounded corners and love them.
I made some decisions about the drywall. Its going to be a smooth finish but with just a bit of skip trowel texture to emulate the texture of the original plaster. If we went totally smooth it would be too contemporary and would not continue the thick plaster character of the house.
We are going to mimic the original plaster corners in the house. The large rounded bullnose does not fit the character of the house, its more of an 80s style. Straight corners are too contemporary. So I have to special ($$) order corner beads that are called Baby Bullnose. Just a slight rounded to match the plaster corners. Also going to match the rounded recessed plaster around the windows - no trim.
Well, I’m striking the 2nd group of drywallers off the list. Showed up with no warning and framing lead wouldn’t let them come into the house because they looked like meth addicts or something (framing lead’s words, not mine). First thing they asked “who’s going to carry all that drywall upstairs? We don’t do that” Are you kidding me?? Already whining. They did know their stuff because they discussed some corner and blocking issues.
You may have to ask for referrals, I suffered a lot by choosing construction workers at random. One electrician turned out to be a criminal, he disappeared for three weeks because he was in jail.
Well, I received the bid from the 2nd set of drywallers. He sent a text at 11pm last night and told me to call him before midnight. He typed in $1,823 and emphasized that someone else had to bring all the drywall sheets up to each floor. I thought that it was crazy so I responded with “Do you realize that this is over 150 sheets of drywall?” He calls back this morning and says that he missed a decimal point. $18,230 was his bid. That makes me feel better about knocking him off the list
I just loaded a couple of photos to the Flickr group of our progress. Interior walls of main floor going up.
The plumbing is taking forever because it is very complicated. We have to drop the toilet and sink drains down to garage ceiling and run them 20’ across the garage ceiling to the big drains that were set into the foundation on the west side of the garage. Proper slope of drains is 1/4" per foot and that means we have to slope down about 6" during the run across garage ceiling. We have 14" of ceiling joist, but toilet drain drop with 90 degree sweep turn below the floor takes up about 10" of space so it is getting ridiculous trying to make it across the ceiling below. We had to put the drain lines on the west side of garage because we couldn’t pull them up through the tall retaining wall on east side. But all the bathrooms upstairs are on the east side of the house! And then trying to vent these toilets properly with a 45 degree angle up from the drain line is proving impossible so we are having to pull vent pipes up from drain line about 4’ away (the max allowed by code) into the outer wall of the bathrooms.
Finally finished the ABS black drain line and vent plumbing. We have mapped out where the copper water lines are going to thread through the house. We are going to bring them up through the ceiling of the main floor and drop lines down for the bathrooms and washing machine. Then use those same lines to go up to top floor bathroom. Because the ceiling joists are not set yet, copper plumbing has to wait until next week.
So today my carpenter is going to make all the custom window sills to set into each window. They will match the original thick window sill plates in existing house.
Large versalam beams going into ceiling today that support under the decks and balcony of top floor. Then we will finish out the dumbwaiter and laundry room framing. Next week the scaffolding comes to nail on shear panels around the exterior of the new main floor and we will set the windows and doors into place and finish the plumbing. Also, have to do all the electrical wiring, but that is waiting for ceiling joists also. I think I am about one week away from calling for inspection on main floor.
One of the key things I need to design is that we will need to run heating ducts through the ceiling to heat the rooms. This means that I have to build dropped ceilings in some rooms to allow for thick insulated ducts to get through. Unfortunately our ceiling joists run east/west and the main trunk of the heating has to run north / south so it has to be strapped under the ceiling joists. Kind of a key design issue as we press forward. Probably going to have to spend time and money putting in drop ceiling joists in the pantry area, laundry room and possibly the entire hallway
The bottom of the dumbwaiter is located in the back of the garage in SW corner. Motor is mounted at bottom of shaft and first door is set about waist height. Then it goes to 2nd stop at top of stairs inside a pantry area next to kitchen with door opening to south.
Then it travels to top floor and stops under cabinets on covered deck
Just met the buyer of the house next door to us. You guessed it–he’s a high end flipper! He paid a bit under $1mm --CASH and will be tearing down the house and vegetation and putting up something brand new. I hope he and his crew are considerate and don’t make too much dust and noise. He doesn’t want to overbuild so will likely keep to the modest character of he neighborhood. He will likely increase our neighborhood’s property taxes. :-(, but hopefully build something tasteful.
