First-time remodelers often make the mistake of letting drywall rest on the floor while attaching it to the vertical wall studs with screws, rather than pushing the board up as high as possible to close the gap between it and the boards on the upper section of the wall.
Drywall aka wallboard should never go all the way to the floor . The reason is that most floors are made of concrete and concrete are potential to become damp, thereby, if the wallboard’s bottom touches the floor, the gypsum in wallboard will soak the moisture.
If you’ve already installed drywall while letting it rest on the floor, all is not lost, but you have your work cut out for you. Use a drywall knife to fill the large gaps with ready-mixed joint compound. If time is a factor, use fast-drying joint compound.
Some people I’ve met with have told me that they can hang the drywall so that it touches the floor, and the gap that’s leftover in between the top and bottom piece won’t be a problem.
How much gap should be between drywall and floor?
Gap between drywall and floor . Most of the interior walls were left untouched, and show a gap (after removing the trim), anywhere from, none, where it touches the floor already, up to about an 1″ or more in some areas – which is about how much a gap was present before the drywall was taken down.
Do you put drywall on the ceiling or walls first?
Gaps are the inevitable result of not installing drywall in the right order, which is ceilings, then upper walls, then lower walls. The reason the ceiling comes first is you want to be able to push the top portion of the wall boards against the installed ceiling, forming a tight seam that is easy to fill with joint.
One more inquiry we ran across in our research was “Do you measure and cut drywall before hanging it?”.
Then mark the center of each stud on the floor. Make note of unusual framing so you’ll know where to place screws after it’s covered with drywall. After the ceiling drywall is hung, mark the stud locations on the ceiling with a pencil before you start to hang drywall on the walls. There’s no reason to measure and cut drywall for an exact fit.
Why can’t I fasten the edge of drywall to the wall?
Framing at inside corners is often inadequate or lacking altogether, making it impossible to fasten the edge of the drywall (left). The solution is to inspect the framing before you start hanging drywall.
Wall studs whether metal or wood, are framed perpendicular to the floor. When hanging over wooden studs, sheets of drywall should always be hung perpendicular to the direction of the studs.