Drywall Finish Costs - Mud and Tape

[bagsanthony]

Guys, if there is one task I don't like doing myself it's finishing drywall. Currently, I'm weighing my options. My current auto repair space is drywalled however no wall insulation is in place. I was leaning towards going to dense pack cellulose insulation (based on recommendations on this forum) to eliminate tearing down the existing and having to reinstall once traditionally insulated.

There then comes the cost of drywall finishing. With the cost of having any work done these days being astronomical, what are you guys' thinking are ballpark figures for finishing approx 1000 sqft of drywall? The wall spaces are 13 feet high. I guess this overall will determine if it's worth my time to rip it down or just blow in and patch a bunch of holes. Thanks!

 

[sjvicker]

Location?

 

[bagsanthony]

Location?

Western, NY

 

[Adaylate]

My location in SW Washington with 8-18' ceilings and average 12' walls.
175 sheets of Sheetrock bought, 4X12' sheets, hung, taped, textured, pva primer and ready to paint.
Bid came to right at $100. per sheet.
About one fifth of the material was fire rock.

This bid was for a combination shop/ living quarters.

Good luck with your project

 

[Overboost44]

Watching with interest.

 

[finn]

Shortage of skilled drywallers, cement guys, and roofers now, for obvious reasons.

Labor prices for trades like that are skyrocketing, if you can find someone to do it.

I wouldn’t think what someone paid a year ago would be relevant anymore.

 

[dcg9381]

Shortage of skilled drywallers, cement guys, and roofers now, for obvious reasons.

I was gonna question the "obvious reasons" but I get it. You're in the UP, labor rates up there for this stuff is off the charts. It's crazy how much skilled labor goes for.

Drywall has "levels" of finishing that can swing the job 500% or more. I'd be stopping by any new construction that I see where drywall is going in. Or just do what I did and throw up OSB. Works well enough, easily taken down... but it's not a fire-stop.

 

[finn]

I was gonna question the "obvious reasons" but I get it. You're in the UP, labor rates up there for this stuff is off the charts. It's crazy how much skilled labor goes for.

Drywall has "levels" of finishing that can swing the job 500% or more. I'd be stopping by any new construction that I see where drywall is going in. Or just do what I did and throw up OSB. Works well enough, easily taken down... but it's not a fire-stop.

I’m talking about labor availability in the city, since the labor pool is being rounded up., but yes, rates are high here too.

All the young guys here want to be a GC and retire by the time they’re forty. They can charge what they want, to some extent since the baby boom contractors have aged out.

Hole in the wall mechanics are charging $150/hr with no overhead, operating out of a pole barn with no overhead.

I paid $4000 for an 8’x14’ four inch thick slab last year, and I did all the site work with my skid steer. He made the forms called the batch plant, and finished it. The guy had a pockup truck, but borrowed the finishing tools from his employer and do my job on a Saturday.


Not loo long ago I paid $5k for a 16’x20’ slab done by a crew of five or six.

 

[Hank11]

Might think about cutting the top 2 feet out, unscrewing the cut out, blowing in to fill then filling the 2 foot cut out with batts and screw the 2 feet of drywall back up. Probably get the best job that way. If your hatred of finishing overcomes you, at least you will be more comfortable inside your unfinished but drywalled shop.

You might ask around at places that sell drywall for names. Might find a couple guys who want to work on Saturday for some spending money. Even just 2 coats would make it pretty OK for a shop.

 

[bagsanthony]

Might think about cutting the top 2 feet out, unscrewing the cut out, blowing in to fill then filling the 2 foot cut out with batts and screw the 2 feet of drywall back up. Probably get the best job that way. If your hatred of finishing overcomes you, at least you will be more comfortable inside your unfinished but drywalled shop.

You might ask around at places that sell drywall for names. Might find a couple guys who want to work on Saturday for some spending money. Even just 2 coats would make it pretty OK for a shop.

Thanks, interesting suggestion. I'm just wondering if I would be paying somebody to dense pack (it's my understanding the rental machines are only capable of loose fill) why I would even bother opening and cutting the wall myself.... I would let the installer do that to get the cellulose installed.

 

[Firebrick43]

You can not dense pack with drywall in place. There is netting that lets the air dump at the site of where cellulose is packing. Trying to fill a closed cavity has air blow back and creates cavities, that still may settle but no where near the density of dense pack. The following is the only way dense pack happens.



I have done two and its hard enough to make sure all cavities are filled when you can see them.

Any one telling you that you can dense pack thru a small hole doesn't understand the term. Any one trying to sell you a dense pack job thru a hole is lying.

 

[dcg9381]

I’m talking about labor availability in the city, since the labor pool is being rounded up., but yes, rates are high here too.

Yea, I can't touch that, it's one of those "not on this forum" things.

All the young guys here want to be a GC and retire by the time they’re forty. They can charge what they want, to some extent since the baby boom contractors have aged out.

I don't know the north, but the key is to get the guys doing the work, not the GC that's wrapping the work.

Hole in the wall mechanics are charging $150/hr with no overhead, operating out of a pole barn with no overhead.

I'll pay $150/hr for a mechanic that charges me actual time (not book time), is good (meaning he's faster than book), and isn't behind a service manager. But I get it.

I paid $4000 for an 8’x14’ four inch thick slab last year, and I did all the site work with my skid steer. He made the forms called the batch plant, and finished it. The guy had a pockup truck, but borrowed the finishing tools from his employer and do my job on a Saturday.

I think I'm paying like 1/2 that for 10x10 pads down south. I have a brother pouring big concrete slabs and hiring the actual "labor crews" that work for GCs, paying them a little more to do the work on weekends, he's at 50% of what I pay. It was $15k here 6 years ago for 2400 sqft of "easy job".... I hate concrete...

 

[matt_i]

If you committed 1 hr per day to it, you will a) get better at it, and b) be done before you really know it. I used to passionately hate that too, but got into a position where I had no other choice without a giant delay in my project. The worst thing that's really possible is a big mess (eg apply 5 gallons of mud and sand 3 of it back off).

A couple of things that really helped me...1) using a trigger spray bottle filled with water to easily fine tune the viscosity of the drywall mud that comes out of the pail 2) watched a few guys doing a giant wall, and they taper away from a **** seam a full 12" on each side of the centerline 3) using sanding screens (rough, then fine) to make sanding faster. 4) use a flashlight at a low angle to show where the defects are, you won't be able to see them at first looking straight-on.

 

[driftpin]

Getting some ceiling patched in a SFR rental we have, damage from roof leakage, before we decided it was time for a complete re-roof, and not just doing patches where the leakage was at, of the shingle roof. The re-roof was a tear-off of asphalt shingles, removing about a foot directly above the poured concrete tie-beam, to install strap-over galvanized steel strapping, w/two concrete screws/strap per roof truss at the tie-beam. The 65 year old CMU dwelling had clips for the trusses originally, before we decided it was time to do the strap-over truss method. Code calls for a secondary water barrier (stick-down) before the paper/shingling.

Here in So. FL, we have to carry 3 insurance policies: homeowner's, wind-only (the most-expensive), and flood-only. A 1,600 sq. ft SFR on a third-of-an-acre, and the wind-only policy was >$4,400/year. Getting the strap-over addition to the low-end of the roof trusses cut the wind-only policy to < 1/3 of the former premium. The cost to add the strap-over system was < $3K.

This week, I'm getting a couple of ceiling areas done by a licensed drywall contractor recommended by the roofing contractor, and the bid came-in at ~$200/hour, and done in < 1 full day. I'll prime & paint. There were several places I had done myself, where the 5/8" sheetrock was still intact & tight, but needed a bit of spackle and prime/paint.