We Are Definitely Not Drywall Experts
The plumber, Rich, was in the garage today running the gas line up through the rafters and back down again to connect it to the line on the other side that had already been placed. He had to leave the garage door closed, because if it were open, it would have covered the place on the ceiling where he needed to run the line. We're having a bit of a heat wave in San Diego right now, and it got up to 88 today in our neighborhood.
When Jules got home, she wanted to see where the new gas line was running, so we stepped out into the garage. It was so hot in there that we lasted about 45 seconds before we wanted to go back inside. Rich must have been out there for at least two hours in the middle of the afternoon, on a ladder, near the scorching hot roof, running that gas line through the rafters.
Since Jules spent a good part of the day on Sunday clearing out the garage where the plumber would be working, most of that wall is empty right now, so Jules was thinking we should drywall it before we pile more unfinished projects, holiday decorations, and mystery hardware along that wall.
"We should put insulation in first, and then drywall it." I said.
In classic Jules fashion, she wants to know the cost of drywall.
"It's not much."
"You and Shar are always saying 'it's not much' and then I get the bill and it's eleventy billion dollars."
"I don't think a sheet of drywall is eleventy billion dollars, but I'll look it up." I pull up my Home Depot app and search for drywall. "Yeah, a sheet of half-inch drywall is $10.27 right now."
"How big is a sheet?" She wanted to know.
"Four by eight." I said.
"Why?"
"I dunno. Probably because most walls are about eight feet tall."
"But you don't hang it vertically, you hang it horizontally."
"No you don't, you hang it vertically."
"I've always seen it hung horizontally," she insisted.
"Okay, I'll look it up."
"Use Google and do an image search."
"I know how to search!" Geez. "Oh. Well, okay, looks like most of the time it's hung horizontally."
"It's probably easier that way. And then you nail it to every stud."
"I don't think you nail it to EVERY stud."
"Why not? You want to keep it from sagging."
"Yeah, but you have to tape and mud every nail hole, and that's a pain in the ass. So you only nail it at the perimeter."
Jules is still very concerned about the sagging.
"Maybe that's why you hang it horizontally. So there's less room to sag." I'm thinking aloud.
That doesn't make sense to her, so I try to explain gravity, and how there's less drywall to sag if you hang it horizontally than if you hang it vertically, so maybe that's why you hang it vertically, because then you can just nail and mud around the perimeter. But it's still not clicking. She's just not mechanical the way I am.
"Okay," I try another explanation. "If you are hanging it vertically, and you are only nailing along the edges, then you have about eight feet between each nail, so that's eight feet of drywall that gravity is working on, so there's more chance for sagging."
"Huh?"
"But if you hang it horizontally, then there's only four feet between each nail, so there's less drywall for gravity to work on." I'm feeling very pleased with myself right now.
"That doesn't make sense," Jules says. "Explain it to me in basketball terms."
"Ummmm. Okay. If you have two players, one with four fouls, and the other with two fouls, and you need to foul someone to stop the play, who do you want fouling?"
"The player with two fouls."
"Exactly. The fouls are the nails."
"Ohhh. I get it now."
"No you don't, because that doesn't make sense. The fouls are the drywall. The players are the nails."
"No, the fouls are the nails. The players are the studs." Now she's taking over my analogy.
"That makes even less sense. Wait. The drywall is the court, and the studs are the opposing team, and the nails are the players, and they're playing a zone defense."
"So you hang the drywall horizontally."
"Exactly."
Since Jules spent a good part of the day on Sunday clearing out the garage where the plumber would be working, most of that wall is empty right now, so Jules was thinking we should drywall it before we pile more unfinished projects, holiday decorations, and mystery hardware along that wall.
"We should put insulation in first, and then drywall it." I said.
In classic Jules fashion, she wants to know the cost of drywall.
"It's not much."
"You and Shar are always saying 'it's not much' and then I get the bill and it's eleventy billion dollars."
"I don't think a sheet of drywall is eleventy billion dollars, but I'll look it up." I pull up my Home Depot app and search for drywall. "Yeah, a sheet of half-inch drywall is $10.27 right now."
"How big is a sheet?" She wanted to know.
"Four by eight." I said.
"Why?"
"I dunno. Probably because most walls are about eight feet tall."
"But you don't hang it vertically, you hang it horizontally."
"No you don't, you hang it vertically."
"I've always seen it hung horizontally," she insisted.
"Okay, I'll look it up."
"Use Google and do an image search."
"I know how to search!" Geez. "Oh. Well, okay, looks like most of the time it's hung horizontally."
"It's probably easier that way. And then you nail it to every stud."
"I don't think you nail it to EVERY stud."
"Why not? You want to keep it from sagging."
"Yeah, but you have to tape and mud every nail hole, and that's a pain in the ass. So you only nail it at the perimeter."
Jules is still very concerned about the sagging.
"Maybe that's why you hang it horizontally. So there's less room to sag." I'm thinking aloud.
That doesn't make sense to her, so I try to explain gravity, and how there's less drywall to sag if you hang it horizontally than if you hang it vertically, so maybe that's why you hang it vertically, because then you can just nail and mud around the perimeter. But it's still not clicking. She's just not mechanical the way I am.
"Okay," I try another explanation. "If you are hanging it vertically, and you are only nailing along the edges, then you have about eight feet between each nail, so that's eight feet of drywall that gravity is working on, so there's more chance for sagging."
"Huh?"
"But if you hang it horizontally, then there's only four feet between each nail, so there's less drywall for gravity to work on." I'm feeling very pleased with myself right now.
"That doesn't make sense," Jules says. "Explain it to me in basketball terms."
"Ummmm. Okay. If you have two players, one with four fouls, and the other with two fouls, and you need to foul someone to stop the play, who do you want fouling?"
"The player with two fouls."
"Exactly. The fouls are the nails."
"Ohhh. I get it now."
"No you don't, because that doesn't make sense. The fouls are the drywall. The players are the nails."
"No, the fouls are the nails. The players are the studs." Now she's taking over my analogy.
"That makes even less sense. Wait. The drywall is the court, and the studs are the opposing team, and the nails are the players, and they're playing a zone defense."
"So you hang the drywall horizontally."
"Exactly."
Dear readers,
ReplyDeleteKelly forgot the part where I was rocking myself and saying, "No more word problems! No more word problems! I don't like math!" :) You have to be in the car when most of our silly of discussions occur. Blame this on sitting in San Diego traffic, the massive amounts of coffee we consume, or the simple fact that Kelly is super right-brained and her top StrengthsFinder strength is Ideation, oh, yeah, and she is the high priestess of all things DIY. The drywall conversation was truly one of the most comedic. Neither one of us knows jack about drywall but we kept going round and round.
xoxo,
Jules