Sheet rocking the ceiling... finishing the seams?

[Brad54]

Going to hang sheet rock on the ceiling of the shop next week, and I'm not looking forward to it.
Quick background: 32z40 building, 12 foot ceilings. I've been in this shop for over 15 years, and no ceiling has made it miserable in the summer, and cold as hell in the winter. It had black shingles and box vents on the roof.
I moved out of the house three years ago (long mistake involving a red head) and at the time I put a new roof and whirly-gig vents on the roof. This has made an enormous difference in keeping the temps down in the shop in the summer, but it's still hot.
There are shelves, pallet racks and parts in the shop, so I'll have to work around all that as we put the sheet rock up.
Sanding the seams isn't much of an option, due to all the stuff still in the shop: I can't just sand and let the dust fall to the floor then sweep and vacuum it all up.
I'll be painting it gloss white when it's finished.
So my question is on the seams: Should I tape them and just paint over the tape without a skim-coat of mud on the tape, should I skip the tape and just mud the seams and "clear" it with the trowel so there isn't any excess to sand, or should I tape, wipe, "clear it" with the trowel so there is little if any to sand?

Thanks,
-Brad

 

[Arkansas COB]

My .02 would be to use a damp sponge instead of sanding the joints. No dust and much easier than sanding. Some might disagree but I did it in bathroom on ceiling and walls and I cannot see the seams at all. Ceiling painted with a flat white and walls with a satin finish paint.

I'll never sand again.

COB

 

[b-boy]

God - sheet rock on a 12 ft ceiling sounds horrible. I'd tape if you're going to mud. It will at least keep some cracks from forming.

Are you putting up insulation? If so, why not just go metal. Much easier to deal with, and much lighter.

 

[Kaizen]

God - sheet rock on a 12 ft ceiling sounds horrible. I'd tape if you're going to mud. It will at least keep some cracks from forming.

Are you putting up insulation? If so, why not just go metal. Much easier to deal with, and much lighter.

Exactly why I’m going metal. If not a pro it’s very difficult to finish a taped ceiling so it can’t be seen.

Op what about those plastic t strips they use to cover plastic walls in commercial kitchens or walk in refrigerators? Little dab of adhesive and stick em in. Much easier if they aren’t too expensive


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[Falcon67]

If it was me - I'd hire it out. Not going to save that much DIY and way less hassle and time saved.

 

[ArcticGabe]

How nice does it have to be when you're done? I'm sure you know that the glossier the paint, the more the imperfections will show through. Using the lightweight joint compound will make it easier to make nice joints with no sanding, but it's more susceptible to cracking. And if you're going to mud, then yes, you need to use tape.

You didn't mention, so I have to ask.... Since you're doing this for comfort, you ARE insulating first, right? (especially the ceiling)

 

[gungatim]

Ry

 

[Brad54]

I will see how it goes this winter, but will probably blow in insulation for next summer.
I thought about metal for the ceiling, but the cost for the materials was prohibitive the last time I looked a couple years ago.
There's also a few light sockets up there I'm going to tap into, need to do an access door into the rafters, I've got two storage lofts that are walled to the ceiling (one 10x10 in the front above the office, the other a 4x6 in the back corner above my compressor closet), and two garage door track hangers that I'll have to cut and fit the ceiling around.
The idea of doing all that with sheet metal and power tools sounds maddening to me. Plus, it's a lot less forgiving than sheet rock--I can easily repair any "aw ****" with the sheet rock.
I have access to some portable scaffolding, so that should make at least part of the task easier.

 

[Jazz1]

I’d put 1x4” painted wood over seams., painted black or yellow so they’d stand out. I have numerous hooks on my seams for painting parts whether a fender or light bucket.
I mud and taped my 28x30 20 years ago. It needs a coat of paint now, years of painting, welding have taken its toll on the white paint but no volunteers

 

[acer66]

Few things come to mind,
**** boards instead of trying to land on the 2x,
more textured rollers (hole reason for doing texture or pop corn ceilings is not to have to sand to much by hiding imperfection)
flat paint (there is a reason why ceiling paint is flat),
besides what was said before, use a wet sponge instead of sanding
and maybe the most important advice THIN coats of mud.

I did a vaulted ceiling 8’-12’ height 54” 12’ sheets alone with a lift.

 

[TractorJeff]

Two old handymen hung 12 foot ceiling!
No way was I going to do it!
Needs mud and tape before it gets any colder.
My thought is to go only as neatly as the trowel offers and call it good enough!
Its a Garage for Pete's sake.

 

[johnnyradiant]

If you are not wanting dark grey lines to appear around the perimeter of your sheets you will likely want to mud n tape your joints. If any degree of fire safety is included in the exercise of the drywalling then mud n tape will need to be included in the process. I would use one of the dropping dust compounds it is not as nice but because you want to limit dust this would be the best route to follow. I would put one skim coat of mud on top of your tape and spend all kinds of time working it smooth. You can also go back after and knock down a lot of the highs by scrapping with a trowel edge. Then you can do a light sand in the worst spots with a vacuum connected sander. Do your sanding in the room with the least amount of air movement as possible. I would go semi-gloss or gloss too. It may show the imperfections more but I like how it doesn't collect like flat or eggshell sheens do. Rag or sponging can work too but I find it tends to be harder to not take too much mud on a swipe.

 

[pcmeiners]

Agree with the wet sponge for finishing.

The secret of taping is to carefully remove any extra compound which will leave you with very little wet sanding. Do not tape when your tired and maintain diligence, if you get lazy that is when you create more compound to sand. You might as well use Fire rated sheetrock, it may even lower your insurance. Personally I use a straight 12" Marshall trowel; it takes off any extra compound, and the seams disappear. Done properly, you should have a day wet sanding on the finish coat, that is if you can move around all your stuff. Myself, I would cover everything and dry sand but I need to sand very little. Agree with Johnny, use a good 4-6" knife to knock off the high spots, saves a lot of work.

"I'll be painting it gloss white when it's finished. "

Gloss finish show EVERY imperfect. I can compound a ceiling so you would never know there are seems or screws but it requires 3x the work. I would never gloss paint a garage ceiling, I would commit myself first. At most an eggshell finish, at that a satin eggshell. Flat hides the most but is not as durable.

 

[The Cobbler]

Gloss paint will show like **** if you don't have nice finished mud job.
if you don't want a decent job of the mud, go with flat paint , it hides tons more

 

[matt_i]

Agree with so many points above, go slow, build it slow in thin coats with wet mud. I use all purpose drywall compound from a 5 gallon, then add about 1/2 shot glass extra water per scoop of mud...the scoop is about what a 4" taping knife will bring up to the mud pan without trying to overload it.

Scrape off boogers with a dry taping knife.

A tapered joint I go one 12" taping knife width centered up over the joint for the final. Skim on the paper each side with equal pressure.

A **** joint I got one 12" taping knife wide on each side of the centerline for the final. Put the pressure on the paper surface of the drywall. If there's a little ridge left in the center it knocks down super easily when dried.

I'm building these tapers with a 4" taping knife, 6" taping knife and finally the 12" taping knife, allowing it to dry between each step. This is basically a giant putty knife and not like a cement trowel where the handle is over the dead center of the flat blade.

I don't have one but I bet if you bought or rented a pole sander with an integral vacuum attachment it would make it really dust free. There's no much dust as it is if you build thin coats.

I'm a noob at this so I'm just giving you what I developed. I watched a couple hours worth of youtube videos to learn some directional things.

 

[The Cobbler]

one of the best investments I made was to by a couple of power sander with vac attachment like this https://www.ebay.com/itm/WEN-6369-V...719862&hash=item23c4f45e65:g:J74AAOSwnkNdbXsB


and this https://www.ebay.com/itm/ALEKO-Dryw...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

 

[Kaizen]

Gloss paint will show like **** if you don't have nice finished mud job.
if you don't want a decent job of the mud, go with flat paint , it hides tons more

+1



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[Kaizen]

I will see how it goes this winter, but will probably blow in insulation for next summer.
I thought about metal for the ceiling, but the cost for the materials was prohibitive the last time I looked a couple years ago.
There's also a few light sockets up there I'm going to tap into, need to do an access door into the rafters, I've got two storage lofts that are walled to the ceiling (one 10x10 in the front above the office, the other a 4x6 in the back corner above my compressor closet), and two garage door track hangers that I'll have to cut and fit the ceiling around.
The idea of doing all that with sheet metal and power tools sounds maddening to me. Plus, it's a lot less forgiving than sheet rock--I can easily repair any "aw ****" with the sheet rock.
I have access to some portable scaffolding, so that should make at least part of the task easier.

Get a panel lift. ESP at that height it gets it up and then work from ladder or rolling staging


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[cdestuck]

I’d put 1x4” painted wood over seams., painted black or yellow so they’d stand out. I have numerous hooks on my seams for painting parts whether a fender or light bucket.
I mud and taped my 28x30 20 years ago. It needs a coat of paint now, years of painting, welding have taken its toll on the white paint but no volunteers

Exactly what went through my mind as I was reading your post.

 

[CraigStu]

I had the same problem 5 years ago trying to drywall the ceiling of my added on work bay. I got the walls pretty good but the ceiling killed me. Finally said screw it and bought a sheet of 1/4 in plywood w/ one side nice. Set up the radial arm saw to rip it into some 2" strips and some 4" strips. Nailed it up w/ my air brad nailer and painted it.

 

[Gaius]

For me, the trick is to use Ultra Lite topping. Makes sanding a breeze. Also do your tape with all purpose, then immediately with the lite topping. Hardly need any sanding.

Check this guy out:

 

[Brad54]

Thanks for all the input, guys!
A couple final thoughts: The gloss white is strictly to reflect light. I've done it before, and it's always been worth it--in smaller, lower garages... four of them over the years, actually.

It's not a living room, so I'm not overly concerned with great detail. The walls are paneled with white-faced pegboard, and those seams are totally visible, and when the building swells and shrinks from heat/cold, the seams get a little wonky.

I've got enough cool stuff on the walls that people won't be looking at the ceiling--signage and good parts!

I'll have enough lights on the ceiling that people won't be looking up at the ceiling without a welding helmet. I don't even want shadows under my tool box!

 

[1931S/X]

I bought a house and the co inspector wrote up the garage for a bunch of holes in the walls and ceiling. I had to do the separation wall, then I decided with the amount of holes in the walls just replace the power 4' all around. The existing sheetrock and tape job was horrible. It was really hard to repair the holes in the ceiling since existing was All warped. Was painted this awful mustard color. The farther i went the more I wished I ripped it all out. But I was on a budget. I tried not to create much to sand, sanding sucked but my wife and I did the whole garage In a couple hours. I wasn't trying to make it perfect with what was already there.

In the end I painted it gloss white and it looks amazing compared to before. Yeah the previous guys tape job and nails show everywhere if you look but it reflects a bunch of light from the led and cleans up great. I would definitely use gloss white again.