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 |  | Do-It-Yourself Repairs: $2-$20 |  | Do-It-Yourself: $150-$250 per room |  | High: $4,400-$8,600 for a small home |
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Also called wallboard, plasterboard or sheetrock, drywall is simply factory-made sheets of paper-wrapped gypsum plaster installed to create a flat, firm wall or ceiling as a foundation for paint or wallpaper.
Typical costs: | - Patch kits to repair small holes in existing drywall are $2-$20; the more expensive kits contain materials to patch several holes or up to four feet of cracks. Simple repairs can also be made using joint compound ($3-$15), a drywall hand saw ($5-$16) and average household tools such as a hammer, drill and utility knife. Better Homes & Gardens gives directions for patching small holes up a few inches wide and larger holes up to eight inches across.
- Drywall materials (drywall sheets plus screws or nails, joint compound, tape, etc.) average 25 cents - 65 cents a square foot; professional installation is an additional 85 cents -$1.50 per square foot. Installing new drywall on the walls and ceiling of a 12x12-foot-room with 8-foot-high walls means about 530 square feet of drywall. For about 4,000 square feet of drywall on all the walls and ceilings of a small home, it's $4,400-$8,600 or more. Factors such as cathedral ceilings or irregular layouts can bump the price higher. And it's easier to install drywall in a house that's under construction, so remodeling projects tend to be at the higher end of the price range.
- Do-It-Yourselfers can bring the costs down to $150-$250 for a 12x12 room and $1,000-$3,000 for a small house, but hanging drywall requires a lot of heavy lifting by at least two people, and getting a good finish on drywall requires a lot of patience and practice. DrywallBook.com[1] sells a how-to guide with a texture tool and an e-mail answer service for $11 (including shipping).
Related articles: Kitchen Remodeling, Bathroom Remodeling, Painting an Interior, Replacement Windows
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What should be included: | - Drywall sheets are heavy, so installation often requires at least two workers or specialized skills, tools and hoists. Because each coat of joint compound has to dry thoroughly, any drywall project other than a small repair patch usually takes at least three days.
- ThisOldHouse.com gives detailed instructions for hanging[2] and properly finishing drywall[3] .
- Be sure to check with the local planning department; a drywall project make require both a permit and an inspector. Some areas have extremely specific regulations such as whether to use drywall nails or drywall screws.
- An eco-friendly drywall was introduced by Serious Materials in 2008, for about the same price as high-end drywall, and the product won a Popular Science award[4] . Among building materials, conventional drywall is the third largest producer of greenhouse gases, just behind cement and steel. Environmentally friendly drywall uses a blend of materials instead of gypsum, allowing manufacturers to skip the numerous heating and mixing stages required by standard drywall.
Additional costs: | - It can be tricky to get the final product to look just right, so do-it-yourselfers without previous drywall experience should allow a fairly high margin of wastage, adding as much as 20 percent to the overall budget.
Shopping for drywall: | - Often individuals or small contracting companies will specialize in drywall and may be hired as a subcontractor for a larger construction firm. It's also possible to hire someone who works for a large drywall company to do a small project evenings or weekends.
- Get several estimates, making clear what is (and isn't) included in each quote; understand which size sheets of drywall will be used (the larger the sheet, the fewer the seams) and if removal of the old wall and clean-up of all debris are included in the quoted price. Request and check references; ask about the contractor's length and type of experience; and be sure they're properly bonded, insured and licensed in your state.
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What People Are Paying - Recent Comments |
| Posted by: Cheryl Gleason in Taunton, MA. | Posted: April 11th, 2017 06:04AM |
| Number of Rooms: 7 | Installer: Jamco |
They plastered for the above cost, it's still not paint ready and they say there done |
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| Posted by: Cheryl Gleason in Taunton, MA. | Posted: April 11th, 2017 06:04AM |
| Number of Rooms: 7 | Installer: Jamco |
They plastered for the above cost, it's still not paint ready and they say there done |
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| Posted by: Mindy&donald at north pointe in Bossier, LA. | Posted: May 9th, 2015 06:05AM |
| Number of Rooms: 100's | Installer: Me |
That's not fair to say that a nonlicensed contractor will cut corners. There are lazy people who don't care and then there are those who do care about what their work looks like. Profit has nothing to do with it. Me and my husband do contract work and are not licensed We get paid crap and they stay on us about taking to long. But the thing is, it takes us so long because we do it right the first time they are always happy with the outcome. But we don't make enough to hire people who know what they're doing or we won't make a dollar at all. Best thing to do is ask to stop by a job and see how they work a few times. U will know if they r puting on a show cause ur there. |
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| Posted by: Demo dude in Manorville, NY. | Posted: October 2nd, 2012 09:10PM |
| Number of Rooms: Several | Installer: |
How much should a Contracter be charging per square foot to rip out drywall. Or how much p sf to rip out plaster or wire lathe or how much per sf for tile rip out or linoleum rip out or carpet rip out.. |
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| Posted by: Tami G. in Richland, WA. | Posted: September 9th, 2011 01:09PM |
| Number of Rooms: 3 | Installer: Builder |
I purchased a brand new home alittle under 5 years ago and I have the living room, kitchen and laundry room all showing cracks and lines where the sheet rock meets, what causes this and what is the approimate cost to repair ? |
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| Posted by: Board Man in Roanoke, VA. | Posted: February 2nd, 2011 05:02PM |
| Number of Rooms: 0 | Installer: None |
You can receive sloppy jobs from contractors, and great jobs from someone that has "just been a worker" all his life.
First, if you want a contractor, you're going to pay more, no ands and buts about it. Contrary to what some think, you may not have the actual contractor do any of your work him/her self.
Some back their work with a years guarantee while others are hard to bring back for cracks or nail pops.
Find a house under construction or apartment building, stop and ask who they use to do their drywall, or what I prefer hands down, PLASTER Bd. (Get phone numbers.) Look at their work, ask them for several jobs that they have just finished. In turn ask those people how their work was, and also ask what their charge was, and if they were satisfied.
I've worked for forty years (OK, so I'm getting old), hanging sheetrock in residential houses (piece work), so no one can tell me anything about it. Been there and done that.
Let's get back to the individual (jack leg) to hang or finish your sheetrock or plaster bd. Look for age and experience. (Hire a young boy, and who knows.)
I've hung many jobs on the side, and ones for family and friends for free. And I've not cut any slack on my quality of work with anyone. I do it just like I have in my own home. I also know Plasters and Finishers that have never gotten contractors license, and they do beautiful jobs when they do side work.
Bottom line on this. Don't ask a worker that does side work, or a contractor what kind of work they do. All like to pull their own chain, that's human nature. Ask someone else who they have done work for, and look at the quality of their work, and ask how long it took them. That will speak for itself.
(And remember, if a man passes the contractors test, he can get a contractors license, so what. Look for experience and dependability. Ask around, and then ask around again.
Experience talks and bull walks.
All the best with that sheetrock. |
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| Posted by: Patricia54 in Sacramento, CA. | Posted: January 26th, 2011 09:01AM |
| Number of Rooms: 1 | Installer: handy man |
I rented a Victorian duplex that needed a few repairs. The biggest repair was sagging drywall at the bedroom ceiling fixture. I said I would do the repair myself, but when I found the wiring was original knob and tube, I asked the landlord to bring an electrician in. He sent me the handyman from hell, who decided to rip out my drywall patch and the lath so he could install an electrical box. 3 1/2 weeks, a total demolition without so much as a drop cloth, 2 nights in a hotel, 10 days extra rent in the old apartment, 2 broken lamps, a broken vacuum, a broken window, 2 broken fans, 6 25 dollar hepa filters, a shop vac purchase, a better shop vac rental, and a broken heater later plus at least 120 hours of my labor correcting the problems caused by the handyman and his crew, plus 15 hours of hired help (my helper not the handyman's) and hundreds of my own dollars(versus the landlord's) for supplies and professional steam cleaning the room looks ok, but stinks to high heaven from air literally thick with dust.
The don'ts:
*Don't let anyone work on your drywall without making sure they have a contractors license. *Don't let them start until you verify that their license and experience qualifies them for the job (anyone can get a general contractors license).
*Don't fail to consider living with things as they are rather than put your life at risk letting some yahoo have at your home regardless of asbestos and who knows what.
*DON'T steam clean your carpet! The steam carries the dust into the air and gets it all over the newly painted/cleaned room.
*DO consider buying a new carpet if yours gets polluted by drywall. I personally sucked out more than 2 pounds of dust (not chunks or flecks which had already been swept up and vacuumed with my now defunct house vac, but just invisible to the eye dust).
DON'T let ANY hired worker remove the old carpet. Get an asbestos mask and carefully, gently pull up the carpet and pad yourself being careful to avoid kicking up the dust. |
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| Posted by: [email protected] in LANCASTER, CA. | Posted: September 4th, 2010 09:09AM |
| Number of Rooms: 0 | Installer: None |
Don't hire the night weekend guy with no insurance or license they will always short cut the work because they have no profit built into the price. |
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External Resources: | - drywallbook.com/
- www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/how-to/intro/0,,217215,00.html
- www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/how-to/intro/0,,410343,00.html
- www.ecogeek.org/architecture/2293
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