Drywall contractor wants to bankrupt me!

[PILOON]

Drywall crews are slobs.

For sure!
I was on a site where if they had simply lifted their feet there would not have been an issue, but not to break their pace they simply plodded thru the wet 'mud' and tracked it all over the place.

Not my job

Fortunately they are all not of the same mould.

 

[Deere Dude]

A plaster contractor tried sticking it to me one time. I hired the guy and his helper, to Calcore or plaster my house for 47 cents a square foot. Simple enough. Day one the boss was there and thereafter the helper was there alone, but he was good and I have no problem with him. The last day or about 6 weeks later the boss comes back.

He handed me the bill and it was a lot higher than what I expected. I asked him how in the world he figured it out. His answer was, "We used more than 8 bags of mix than it should have taken. Those 8 bags would have covered 30? sheets of drywall. So, 47 cents times the number of square feet it should have covered is $xxx." I asked what the mixture cost per bag and he said $6.00. Of course I told him forget it and he whined about who was going to pay for the mixture. I ignorantly told him I will pay for that and he still squawked. I went over to my drawer and got a tape measure and said lets just go and measure walls. Then the offer was fine with him.

My problem was I could have easily went around and measured every wall to verify exactly what it will cost but I didn't. I am sure I got a haircut anyway.

 

[MossRoad]

When I do drywall, I always end up putting too much mud on the seams and sanding too much off. No matter how much I try, I end up sanding a lot. I finally bought a sander with a dust pickup and that took care of the sanding mess. I put my shop vac outside of the nearest window and hook up a 25' swimming pool vacuum hose to the sander and can hit the whole room. I don't do it often enough to be proficient, but I do get good results, just a lot of extra work.

 

[dragoneggs]

When I do drywall, I always end up putting too much mud on the seams and sanding too much off. No matter how much I try, I end up sanding a lot. I finally bought a sander with a dust pickup and that took care of the sanding mess. I put my shop vac outside of the nearest window and hook up a 25' swimming pool vacuum hose to the sander and can hit the whole room. I don't do it often enough to be proficient, but I do get good results, just a lot of extra work.

I'm a horrible drywalled too. Even once I learned to start with a narrow trowel and work up with 2nd and 3rd coats. Somehow I touch the job too much and in trying to fill voids, make more ridges, and ******... why didn't I hire it out this time! :banghead:

 

[Diggin It]

Drywall crews are slobs.

While in HF yesterday three ... not quite sure how to describe them ... walked in and asked for a drywall lifter. The clerk started them towards the drywall hoist on display, but that's not what they wanted. They were looking for a sort of toe kick, almost like a small prybar that goes under the board to lift up a half inch or so before screwing it to the wall.

One guy looked sort of like the Pillsbury Doughboy, about the same proportions and covered with flour ... err drywall dust, head to toe, much more on the head and shoulders and .... belly. Number two looked like he was right out of Northern Exposure, complete with winter flap eared hat and lace up boots with no laces and flapping open. I didn't pay much notice to number three, I was too busy trying not to laugh out loud at the others.

I can only hope they were do-it-themselfers and not hired out to anyone.

 

[GLyford]

I put my shop vac outside of the nearest window and hook up a 25' swimming pool vacuum hose to the sander and can hit the whole room

Ooo, I like that hose trick!

I killed one shop vac doing drywall cleanup during my reno. I'll try one of those bucket cyclones if I have to do more.

Even once I learned to start with a narrow trowel and work up with 2nd and 3rd coats. Somehow I touch the job too much and in trying to fill voids, make more ridges

Ridges (nicks in trowel) are easy, they come off with wet sponge once the mud has its initial set. If you use plastic putty knives, you can sand the edge past the nicks to get it straight again. Also lightly rounding the corners is good if you are leaving corner marks. You can also avoid a lot of sanding by scraping with wide metal trowel. I don't think I did any sanding for my kitchen or porch addition, just wet sponge and trowel scrape.

Biggest reason I have found for leaving scratches is being frugal, trying to stretch the last bit of mud or reuse some that has already started to dry. Once you scrape mud off of the wall (outside your current work area), trowel handle, backside of the mud pan or whatever, think of it as contaminated with dried clumps, and wipe them in the trash or on a rag to keep yourself from using them. Run the edge of the trowel through your pinched fingers to clean it if you see it start to leave marks. Don't wipe off your fingers on the clean mud pan. Wash the mud pan out between refills to get rid of any dried bits, but not in a sink or shower, outside with a hose to keep the plaster out of your pipes. I am sure the real guys have a better way to be more productive, but for me working at homeowner speed, these things have helped.

 

[MossRoad]

While in HF yesterday three ... not quite sure how to describe them ... walked in and asked for a drywall lifter. The clerk started them towards the drywall hoist on display, but that's not what they wanted. They were looking for a sort of toe kick, almost like a small prybar that goes under the board to lift up a half inch or so before screwing it to the wall.

One guy looked sort of like the Pillsbury Doughboy, about the same proportions and covered with flour ... err drywall dust, head to toe, much more on the head and shoulders and .... belly. Number two looked like he was right out of Northern Exposure, complete with winter flap eared hat and lace up boots with no laces and flapping open. I didn't pay much notice to number three, I was too busy trying not to laugh out loud at the others.

I can only hope they were do-it-themselfers and not hired out to anyone.

I just use a wonderbar like the guy in this picture.

 

[plowhog]

Spoke to my GC. He confirmed the interior temp is conditioned to allow better fit and finish of everything. Not just limited to drywall and then drywall mud, but that's the stage where the need for heating kicks in. Except for a couple of door openings that are being boarded up, and no drywall on the ceiling yet, the house is pretty tight and the exterior wall insulation is in.

My GC said none of the workers likes it over 60F, and they want to keep it no lower than 50F for fit and finish reasons. So he said it is no big deal keeping it heated to that level, and once the ceiling sheetrock is in the biggest loss area goes away. He also backed off guessing $1,000/mo for electric heat-- saying it would be lower than that. And I am meeting next week with the furnace guy-- I'm going to look at moving the intakes to suck clean air so I would have the option of using the newly installed furnaces.

 

[timswi]

When I finished my 2nd floor (cape cod) I had a friends drywall company do the work since the little lady insisted I was too picky and it would take forever. They lifted the 12' boards up 3 stories with a boom, which made the cost of hiring it out worth while.

I agreed to clean up after them to save a few bucks..They rocked, glued, screwed and corner beaded apx 1800 sqf in around 5 hours, they worked like tazmanian devils. They moved most of the scrap to a pile so that helped. The finisher took about two weeks to tape and texture everything (he was an older guy, so I didn't push the time)...Very nice job with no issues 2 years later. I kept the work area around 55-60 degrees which seemed to work well for everyone.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

I'm a horrible drywalled too. Even once I learned to start with a narrow trowel and work up with 2nd and 3rd coats. Somehow I touch the job too much and in trying to fill voids, make more ridges, and ******... why didn't I hire it out this time! :banghead:

Finishing drywall is an art. It takes years of skill, the touch of an artist, and the endurance of a marathoner. I have hired hundreds of finishers and can only name less than a dozen who were masters.