I was hanging a ceiling drywall piece that was not square and cut it backwards. Instead of having to cut a new piece, can I just turn the board over and hang it with the brown paper side exposed for finishing?

Thanks in advance for all replies.

 

You can do anything you want, it's your house. Hanging it upside down will make it impossible to finish, however. It's a few bucks for a new sheet. Might as well do it right, now, instead of fix it later.

 

I was afraid you'd say that. So I went to cut another sheet and in my over tired and wound up cutting the second piece wrong. Third time is the charm but it stinks to flush 25 bucks worth of sheet rock down the drain.

One more question, it seems to me i have a lot of scrap and waste with cutting pieces to fit, etc. How much waste do you pro's encounter in a job?

 

Sort of like asking a surgeon how many sutures he uses. Depends on the job and, if you figured it right, it is kept to a minimum. Ceiling can be a little difficult because you have to think upside down. Comes naturally to some of us I guess.

 

I do dozens of patches, verily maybe even scores, yea maybe even hundreds of patches every year. Last week I cut one backward. I put it in, taped the joint with quickset and paper tape and held my breath while the compound set. No, this time I got away with it. The paper didn't separate at the fold on the edge. Another coat at the joints and a skim of the whole area and it turned out fine. It was a smooth wall therefore no texture to match. I buy only 8' pieces and I suppose on patches I might waste 25% of a sheet. But some sheets do a dozen pathces and I charge the price of a 2' x 2' patch at Lowes for every patch less than that size and a half sheet of drywall for every patch larger than that size up to the half sheet.

 

With all the repair work you do, you will have a use for much of your scrap if you can store it. Depending on the size of the patch, I might install some blocking first or I might insert a 'bandaid'

 

Yes, I have a lot of scrap. Sometimes I throw some away knowing I could save them for patches. I use blocking, bullfrogs, bandaids, whatever I think will work the best in any instance. I am always looking for better, faster ways to do patches.
I work behind several plumbers who make the openings in walls and ceilings to do their work. Usually these are 2' square or less.

 

Well tight, seeing as this is the last time I do any drywall work, you can come over and get alll my scraps. Have some nice pieces too, like a 70" piece I cant find a use for. Of course when I needed the last fill in piece on the ceiling in my game room, I thought it would work great and I would save a board. Of course when i measured the space was 72 1/2".

I made a lot of scrap by having to do the soffits and tray ceiling my wife wanted in the family room. Also trying like heck to do anything to avoid butt joints, has cost me a lot of scrap, always trying to use factory edge.