I'm talking about the process of getting drywall up and attached to our ceilings and walls. Nancy and I've done this before (in an amateur way) for our old house in Denver and one house was enough. Professionals that do this have special tools such as stilts, drywall jacks, and scaffolding that make it easier, but its still no picnic.
Evergreen Products of Sequim delivered 16,000 sq. ft of drywall (aka rock; roughly 320 sheets) to the house yesterday (Wed). Two scrawny guys and two big trucks. In 2 hours, they hand packed the rock to various rooms and stood it up according to usage. 5/8" on the ceilings and 1/2" on the walls, all in 12 ft long sheets. Since the walls are 9 ft tall, they supplied 54" wide drywall so you only have one seem along the middle of the walls (2 x 54"= 9'). Rock for the second story rooms (garage loft and second bedroom) were delivered back in June before we put the last windows in place (see blog Day 236). For those keeping track of our declining nickel jar, the drywall job was bid at about $17,500 or roughly $1/sq ft with $1500 of that going to application of light texture and priming all rock with a vapor barrier paint. An alternate way of calculating the square footage cost is that the house is about 2700 sq. ft, the garage and loft are about 1200 sq. ft, and the basement is about 750 sq. ft. This adds up to 4650 sq. ft of drywalled space, or about $3.50 per sq. ft.
The rockers (not to be confused with Led Zeppelin) say it'll take 5 days to do the house, basement, garage, and loft. They start with the lids (ceilings), putting up the 5/8" rock first. These 4' x 12' sheets weigh about 75 pounds each, so they are tough to lift and position. This is where the drywall lift comes in. John, the big guy, says that this device alone has saved him a lot of back aches and allowed him to keep hanging drywall at 45 when he should have quit 10 years ago. Bob, the small guy, does most of the cutting on the ground, whereas John is the fastener. They tack the sheet in with a couple of drywall nails, then use a drywall gun (power screw driver with special bit) to secure the sheet it to the ceiling or wall. They told me they're getting $0.18 per sq. ft, which equates to about $9 per large sheet or about $3000 for the whole hanging job
The finishers, which in a caste system would be several notches higher than the hangers, will take about the same time to make it all smooth. So for now, it looks like we should have a White House on the inside by about the first of Oct. The hardwood flooring should sit inside at ambient temperature and moisture for at least two weeks, preferably longer. Meanwhile, Fredricks Appliances wants to offload our stuff ASAP, which means after the garage drywall is finished and before the driveway gets poured.We've reoccupied the garage for the shingle dipping ceremonies. Nancy hasn't dipped one in two weeks and is starting to act surely; surely a sign of her addition to dipping.
All of these issues makes moving in by Halloween more of a trick than a treat.
