Ceiling drywall: distance between screws?


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Old 01-03-11, 12:48 PM
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Ceiling drywall: distance between screws?

I'm going to be finishing an open beam ceiling with drywall in a few days. I was just wondering what is typically the required minimum distance between drywall screws.
 
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Old 01-03-11, 01:24 PM
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Assuming your beams are 16" on center and using 1/2 sheetrock, I would put them in every 12 " or so. That way every piece of 4 x 8 sheetrock would have 5 screws per joist or about 35 per sheet.
 
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Old 01-03-11, 03:05 PM
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A lot of pros put 6 screws in each row. So going across a sheet, you'd have screws at roughly:

2"
14"
18"
30"
34"
46"

Since the screws at 14/18 and 30/34 are in pairs, they get wiped with the same motion when mudding. Less work (shorter motion... a 20" wipe) than if those 6 screws were spaced out evenly... or even if 5 screws are spaced evenly (24" wipe).
 
 

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