BASEMENT BUILDOUT : DRYWALL

It’s been a month since we finished framing and hung the drywall for our basement project. We had hoped to be sharing the final outcome with you by now, but the finishing touches have been stuck in idle as we’ve turned our focus to knocking out a few outdoor projects while the weather is nice. So, for a quick project update and to hold you over until we complete the finish work we’ll go ahead and give a glimpse of the new and improved space. Again, we’ve compiled a list of our handiest tools to complete this phase of the project.

TOOLS & MATERIALS
1. Drywall Saw
This makes quick work of cutting out holes for outlets, doorways, and the like. If we were taking on bigger projects like this, we’d probably opt for a rotary saw to cut time, but for the limited number of cuts we needed this jab saw was perfect.

2. Screw Gun
We didn’t actually use this for our project (see #6), but if we had a bigger undertaking on our hands a screw gun would speed things up considerably.

3. Roll Lifter
Definitely handy for lifting those panels off the floor and snug into place.

4. Drywall Screws
We opted for screws (1 1/4″ works well for 1/2″ drywall) rather than nails because we felt like that seemed like the secure route to go. And, as total newbies we probably used at least twice as many as we needed. If you want a better idea of proper screw spacing, you can read up on it before you start (instead of when you write a blog post about it). In our defense, there are some varying opinions on this topic so do your research and if some extra screws make you feel more comfortable, go for it.

5. Utility Knife
The saw is great for cutting holes out of the drywall as it hangs in place, but a simple utility knife makes cutting the panels to size on the floor a snap.

6. Impact Driver
The screw gun above is definitely the tool of choice, but Ashley and I both found the impact driver to out perform our standard drivers. Many people caution that impact drivers will drive the screws too deep and break the paper on the drywall, but we didn’t really have any issues with that.

7. Drywall Screw Setter
For only a dollar, this bit helps you ensure you set the screws to the perfect depth.

8. Drywall T-Square
This was probably Ashley’s favorite of all since she did a majority of the cutting. The straight edge that spans the full width of the drywall sheet makes this a must have.

9. Drywall Panels
We couldn’t be quite as crafty as we were transporting the lumber, so we settled for borrowing a truck to get the drywall panels home. With a little strategery and putting our best Tetris skills to work, we were able to maximize the scraps from each sheet and cover the whole closet with only 6 panels of drywall.

I was a little worried that the solid wall might make our basement seem a lot smaller, but containing our storage space really cleaned up the look and we are very pleased with the progress so far.

Though our new entertainment setup is very temporary until we can plan and afford a more permanent solution, we’re very excited about the new feature. Eventually, we’d like to hang our TV and get some better storage space for the nook, but first on to mudding and taping. Hopefully it doesn’t take another month to finish this off.

Just under four minutes to finish the drywall – that puts the total project at about seven and a half minutes. If only it really happened that fast…might only be another five minutes before we’re done with this thing.