One of the first things the do-it-yourselfer realizes when learning how to build a drywall ceiling is that no man is an island – unless he uses rented equipment!

Because the panels are big, bulky, and awkward, hanging drywall on a ceiling entails one or the other: the help of another person or renting a drywall jack from your local home improvement center.

The cable mechanism on drywall jacks is not difficult to operate, and jacks do an excellent job of holding the drywall in a secure, flat position enabling you to more easily attach it to the ceiling.

Tools & Materials

How to build a drywall ceiling includes knowing what all tools and material you’ll need. In addition to either another person to help you or a drywall jack, you’ll also need a hammer, a drill with a screwdriver bit, and nails or screws for drywall. You’ll also, of course, need to measure your ceiling (twice!) and purchase enough drywall, including a little extra in case of mistakes, to do the job.

Mark Joists First

Find the boards – usually 2x4s or 2x6s – that function as ceiling joists by tapping along the wall studs with a hammer and following up the wall to the ceiling. As part of learning how to build a drywall ceiling, mark where these boards are located with a pencil. These are what you will be attaching the drywall to and marking them beforehand makes it much easier to find them than trying to find them as you are nailing or screwing on the drywall. You then need to measure where the light fixture goes on the drywall and cut out a hole to accommodate that area of the ceiling.

The Tough Part

Now’s the part in learning how to build a drywall ceiling where you’ll need the other person (who hopefully has plenty of stamina in addition to strength!) to hold the drywall up to the ceiling or to put the drywall panel on the jack. Position the end of the sheet of drywall – with its finished side facing down – at the center of the ceiling board (joist) to which you are going to nail it. Nail around the outside of the panel about a half an inch from the edges to prevent the drywall from splitting or cracking. The person who is holding the panel can now move or, if you’re using a jack, you can move it out of the way.

Make It Pretty

Countersink nails or screws at six- or seven-inch intervals all along the length of the joist to which the drywall has been attached. Countersinking allows you to cover up the heads of the nails/screws with compound so that when you paint, the heads won’t be at all visible. Although not really a part of knowing how to build a drywall ceiling, learning how to cover up ugly nail or screw heads serves its own purpose for overall general carpentry knowledge.

Learning how to build a drywall ceiling takes a lot more muscle than to attach the sheets to the walls, but it can be done with a little thought, at least one other person, and/or a jack. It really is pretty hard work, but, hey, after all – you can do anything, right?

Having trouble with your drywall project? Discover the top ten drywalling tips at http://www.onlinetips.org

Author: Carlo Morelli
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Building methods are improving every year giving us better insulated buildings which in turn lead to lower energy costs. Sometimes it’s hard to see where we are making these improvements, but just compare a house that was built 40 years ago and compare it to a modern house built to the latest building regulations. One can see pretty quickly how much easier it is to heat a modern house and how much better a modern house will retain heat, why is this? The obvious and the main reason is that houses are now built with better insulation; new modern materials help retain heat in the building and therefore reduce energy costs. In combination with better insulation, new building methods have given us a more air tight structure. This is important because controlling the air circulation is just as important if not more important than insulation one’s house.

Think about it this way. Imagine a wall built to the highest possible standard in terms of installation, sound proofing and air tightness and in that wall we insert one window and one door. If you think about it you can begin to understand very quickly that once you interfere with a completely sealed wall there is a higher chance of air escaping and heat escaping. With this in mind it is hugely important how we install windows and doors in any building, making sure that the hold structure is of a uniform standard.

This is something that the building industry is only coming to terms with. There has been some resistance to introducing new recommended building regulations as they can increase the cost of the build, however as builders become familiar with new technologies and new building methods some of the costs can be absorbed by increase in the skill set of employees and becoming more efficient. No matter what the difficulties are it is important that the construction industry incorporates these new building methods in order to construct buildings to a higher standard and reduce our energy costs, improving our air tightness standards is a very efficient way to achieve this.

From the builders point of view extra care and attention needs to happen around all joins in a building. Joints are found around Windows, doors, corners, attics and wall plate level. Expanding foam can be used around Windows and doors and it also helps if these joints are taped giving them an all-around seal. Also there has been a move away from plastering especially in large apartment blocks this has been replaced by what’s referred to as tape jointing whereby plasterboard’s that have a groove joint are taped at each joint, sanded down and painted directly on to the plasterboard surface. Even though the plasterboard is of the recommended finish the joints don’t often last the test of time. Even though reinforced mesh is used with a sealant it can crack over time mainly because the sealant may not be applied uniformly. This can lead to leakage in the building.

As you can see while there is huge progress being made especially as I mentioned before when we compare a house built 40 years ago to the modern-day house, we still have a long way to go before we have synergy between the building authorities, contractors and suppliers of new building materials. One of the main drawbacks with introducing new building methods and new building materials is that it is often years before we can really determine if they work!

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Before learning to plaster or purchasing any kind of plastering course, it is essential to explore some of the long held myths that are banded around about plastering courses.

Plastering Myth 1. You Cannot Achieve a Good Finish with DIY Plastering

You’re most likely to hear this particular myth from people in the building trade and, of course, from many plasterers themselves. It’s true that most general builders who can turn their hand to anything won’t touch plastering. I’ve known builders who can do brickwork, joinery, roofing, plumbing and even build an entire house who won’t do their own plastering. Why? Precisely because they can turn their hand to anything they rarely need to learn how to do anything text book style – and plastering MUST be done text book style. Here are 2 important golden rules about plastering that we should understand right now…

Golden Rule 1: Plastering is 100% about following a set recipe and set of techniques and you should follow them to the letter.

Golden Rule 2:. Plastering cannot be improvised. You should not try and improve or simplify the processes of plastering demonstrated in your plastering course (at least until you are a true master of the trade).

So, if you are the kind of person who can turn your hand to anything, then you have most likely already discovered that whilst most jobs can be done successfully without knowledge or experience providing you approach them sensibly, plastering is not one of those kinds of jobs and needs to be learnt properly.

Providing you follow a quality plastering course, then plastering can be learnt and you can get truly excellent results only when you follow the time honoured methods.

Plastering Myth 2. It Takes Years to Learn to Plaster to a Professional Level

You’re most likely to hear this particular myth from time-served plasterers and in a sense they are right but it’s mainly a misunderstanding. Yes, it can take many years to make plastering effortless and 100% bang on every time, but to learn to plaster to a competent professional level can be learnt in just a few days of practice providing you have been given the correct instructions and follow a precise formula.

What does take years to develop are techniques that bring you greater speed and efficiency. A relative novice using the correct techniques can achieve a perfectly flat and smooth wall under normal conditions. But the ability to complete the same wall to the same level in half the time to “max-out” your daily rate and allow early retirement takes more practice.

Also, although most new plasterers can plaster over plasterboard very well they may encounter some problems when dealing with more irregular real world jobs such as plastering over less ideal surfaces or conditions such as plastering in a heat wave.

The fact remains, that most plasterers are taught on 3 or 5 day courses, so please don’t just take my word for it that you can indeed learn to plaster to a competent pro level in less than a lifetime.

Of course people don’t spend years learning to plaster before doing it for a living because there are no courses in plastering that last for years.

In other words, plastering takes days to learn from a plastering course but like any skill takes years to master fully.

Plastering Myth 3. Getting a Smooth Plastering Finish Requires Sanding or Heavy Manual Labour

This particular myth is both hilarious and utterly untrue. I have even seen some of the better DIY books teach this. Trust me please, if you feel your plastering requires sanding then you need to re-watch your plastering DVD and ask yourself which part of the plastering stages you have overlooked. Do not ever sand plaster, it is futile and does not give a good finish. The sheer amount of dust will swamp your home, destroy carpets and furniture, damage your health and take longer than fully plastering the room properly.

In Summary

You can learn to plaster by studying a plastering DVD or attending a good plastering course providing that you follow the advice exactly and practice skimming plasterboard a few times. When we developed our own plastering course on DVD and book we understood that laying out a very prescriptive and easy to follow formula of plastering steps, timings and stages would be the real key to learner success. Whatever plastering course you choose, ensure that its clear, easy to follow and includes a very weighty take home manual and better still a DVD.

Bathroom Job – Started – TilersForums.co.uk | Tile Forums | Tiling …

Hi Started my bathroom around 3 weeks ago, as you can see i had to remove all old wall and floor tiles, all plaster board from all walls some screwed.   Read more…

Best way to fasten shelves, curtain rails etc to insulated …

Anyone had practical experience of this? The boards are 60mm insulation and 12.5 plasterboard. eg Kingspan K7 K8. thanks Robin.   Read more…

Home Inspections: Highlight On Plasterboard

One very common problem that laypeople are unaware of when it comes to the structural integrity of a house is plasterboard. Plasterboard is very commonly used, and its construction invit…   Read more…