Remodeling a house - tearing out the walls from the inside, laying insulation and drywalling - any tips?

Just to put my two cents in, two things not to do. Do not try to put the drywall up vertical unless you make sure the studs are 16" on center. Do not go with blown insulation in the walls. zippy is right. Take advantage of the stripped down walls, and inspect and/or replace the electric and plumbing as needed. You may also consider at this time to consider ductwork for HVAC system.

When removing the trim around baseboards, windows and doors, and you are going to re use it, any nails that remain in the trim should be taken out from the back of the trim to prevent damaging the face of the trim. I use a pair of pliers and pull them out from the rear.

Check with your local tool rental company and see if you can rent a drywall lift. It's a mechanical devise to lift and position drywall to walls and ceilings.

Remember not to store the drywall upon delivery , in the center of a room. The weight can cause structural damage. Store it close to a wall, and not all of it in the same room.

I know that when you said you are going to tear out the walls, you meant strip them of the existing drywall, not take down the framing.

One final tip. When putting the drywall on a wall that has electric outlets in them and the drywall must be cut out, spray the outlet box with some cooking spray, press the drywall in place, remove it, and you will have a perfect outline of the box. Then you can cut it out from the back.

Good luck, have fun, and DON'T FORGET TO WEAR DUST MASK, EYE AND EAR PROTECTION!!!

I am going through this. I have finished drywalling four rooms. Two rooms are sanded and two have already been painted.

I did buy a little more sheetrock then was needed. Just go at it a room at a time.

There was wallpaper on the walls already. We did remove the paper. All the walls were solid plank. This was an older home. I had a friend to help me put the sheetrock up. This work is very tiring. The worst were the ceilings. Thank goodness you don't have to do this. It should be very easy since they don't need to be drywalled. You will need sheet rock mud, sheetrock tape, and sand paper. Be sure to buy a cutter for the sheetrock. It is just a little knife to scape a line. To cut, all you do is tap when finished.

First the term you need to start using is "hanging " drywall, not laying. And say " installing " insulation , not laying.

Actually you don't need to rip out the drywall just to insulate the walls. That can actually be blown in from the inside through holes in the drywall which can easily be patched.

You are getting into a big job ripping out all the drywall.

Drywall is usually hung horizontal in houses. Start with the first sheet being hung up tight against the ceiling. For walls over 8' tall you can order 54" wide "stretch board". This is made so 2 horizontal rows = 9' walls. Put top row up full width, and cut bottom row to fit. Try to put full pcs. over top and around sides of windows and doors. Stagger joints so they don't line up. Mark and cut drywall with a utility knife and a drywall square. Put up the longest sheets that you can handle.

After you get all old torn out. Have drywall stacked on floor in each room. Take time to pull drywall apart and stack against 1 wall in each room. This lets you measure and cut drywall as it rests against the room wall. Save all cut off pcs. for closets and short return walls. Try to have a pickup truck just for leftover pcs. to throw on truck. Don't sink drywall screws in too far, just below paper surface, it's best to get used to using a screwgun - this sets the screws to the perfect depth each time.

Tearing Out A Wall

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Do not run the drywall up and down, will look like crap when you are done. I buy 12' long sheets of drywall for larger rooms, end up with fewer seams and makes for less work.

I agree with granny, if the walls are good just have the insulation blown and keep your walls up. Much cheaper and a ton less headache if youve never done sheetrock. To have it blown in they will just drill a hole and blow it in.

you need the plans to the house so that when you tear down the Sheetrock you don't hit any electric wires that are run through some of the studs. and make sure electric is shut off before you start to be on the safe side.

laying your Sheetrock.its better to run it up and down not side ways example if you run it side ways it takes 2 sheets to reach the ceiling. better run it up and down and make sure that its tight against the ceiling before you nail. try to get some wedges that helps keep it tight to the ceiling, if you use the wedges nail the 2 top corners of the Sheetrock so that you can pull the wedges out. when you start your Sheetrock start at a corner and if the sheet needs to be ripped down then move it over 2 or 3 studs to where you can fit a whole sheet. after you run your whole sheets then you can come back and fill the rest in, its easier that way because you don't have to rip a sheet then use a whole one so forth.

also check with your county building inspections office to see what kind of nailing pattern you need on the Sheetrock. some counties say 6inches on the outside and 12 inches on the inside. outside is the outer edge of Sheetrock, inside is everything else, which i know you probably know this.

if you have any more questions please feel free to e-mail me at cool_fishin_mom@yahoo.com

Let me caution you on LOAD BEARING WALLS. Don't just start ripping them out, even if you have to pay a few bucks for a contractor to tell you how to support them. Having your roof sag or cave will not improve the value of your new home.

My tip as an electrician is to be sure to put everything in the walls you want before covering, like sound system speaker wires, to phones, central vacuum,wires to outside lighting or recepticles, EVERTHING you can think of, CABLE TV etc ...alarm wires, u can go on and on ...