I will be starting drywall this week. Should I run ceiling drywall parallel or perpendicular to furring strips? and what is the reason behind this just so I understand why

 

Perpendicular. Your butt joints will share the same furring strip, and need to be joined on a solid surface since they need to be screwed off every 6 - 8" or so. Your tapered joints do not need solid blocking behind them.

If you run your drywall with the furring, you are very dependant on the furring being "exactly 4' on center" and on getting your joints perfectly tight... otherwise as you work your way across the room your sheets run off center... then you wind up with one sheet being 1" on, the other being 1/2" on... you run into trouble with screws missing, the room being out of square, etc.

When you run perpendicular to the furring, each sheet can easily be measured and cut just the right length in order to fall right in the center of your furring.

 

Xsleeper that makes perfect sense! Thank you so much for taking the time to explain. I always like to know "why" because "what" doesn't always cover questions that you come across during your project.

 

Glad it made sense. I dont think most of us enjoy explaining the "why" part of questions. Its easier to just say, do it like I told ya to. But I know what you mean... understanding the why part is all part of learning how to diy. Some of us pros need to remember that its a diy site after all.

 

Right, understandably so though. Unfortunately some people are ungrateful of the time and effort you guys put in around your busy schedules. You've helped me out a bunch of time and I don't mind letting you and the others who take the time to share their knowledge know that you are indeed appreciated!

 

Thanks for the kudos!

One thing I could have added, is that if things do happen to run off due to being out of square, and you don't notice it in time, it's also easy to scab on a 4' piece of 2x2 or similar here or there if you need more nailing area for your next piece.

 

Another good point! See these are the things 1st timers usually find out after the fact

 

Made some progress today. Got almost the whole ceiling done! That 5/8 is a back breaker though :/

Hit a couple snags on the way.

1) Started out with 1 1/2 screws didnt realize I needed 1 5/8 so I will go back and replace them one by one I suppose.

2) When zipping around the recessed light cans I went 1" too wide on the first attempt and the flange doesn't cover it. May just take that piece of drywall down and put up a new as I dont know that there is a good fix for that?

3) First two pieces of drywall I forgot to lay the glue on the furring strips ( another reason to just take down that 1rst piece of drywall!).

 

The trick to routering is to move in the right direction due to the way the bit turns. Going one way forces the bit against the object you are going around instead of the other way... forcing it away from it.

 

Ugh , you are right when I did that I was going counter clockwise! Maybe I should have read the manual Do you know if it is fixable without taking down that drywall? I'm pretty sure Ill have extra sheets anyway so..

 

Yeah, you have to prefill it, (good place to use hot mud... setting compound) then tape and finish it.

 

You don't have to use hot mud, regular j/c will work but will be a lot slower and will crack if applied too thick [not a big deal if covered with tape] I like setting compounds because it speeds things up

I doubt 1/8" will make much difference. If you feel the need to go back with 1 5/8" screws, add one next to what you have - don't remove and replace the 1 1/2" screws.

 

Thanks marksr, I was just concerned if I add twice as many screws I would weaken the structure of the drywall.

I went ahead and cut the rest of the lights out tonight and I went a little wide on 3 more lights! The 5/8 is so thick that sometimes i felt like i was riding the outside of the can when I wasn't.

I planned on subbing out the mud and tape so is this something any professional would be able to fix without any issues?

 

Yes, they will know what to do.

Is that a red chalk line I see? The painter may not like that... chalk can sometimes bleed through the paint.

 

Ok, I will stop worrying about it then and move onto the walls! No, it's just a pencil mark

 

I'd rather fix mistakes from the get go than go behind someone that tried and failed. A decent finisher won't have any problems fixing it where it won't be seen. While he might not be crazy about having to fix it, he'd rather do it from scratch than have to either remove a bad repair or float it out further to try and hide it.

 

True, I may make more of a mess. I have another problem i noticed today when throwing those 1 5/8 screws in. I had a buddy helping me and he aparently thought it would be ok to leave a a one foot section with 3/4" gap up against the wall when I will be using 1/2 on the walls!

I would just take it down and split the dif on both sides but I already cut the holes for the lights. Do I scrap it and start new? Keep in mind I glued these too so I don't know how much of a mess it will make taking it down. or do I fill the gap before i put drywall the wall under it?

I'm starting to wish I subbed the whole thing out now

 

I like to have the wall drywall snug up against the ceiling to help support it but the way you have it should be ok.