digest
Short Summary
Main recommendation: Vertical drywall is not an easy shortcut for homeowners; it only makes sense for eliminating butt joints on long walls if you first add horizontal strapping to the framing, which adds labor. The speaker, Jeff from Home RenoVision, argues that the taping savings are offset by extra prep and more taping overall, so horizontal installation is usually simpler.
Key Points
- Vertical installation fails on wood framing because studs are rarely straight or flat enough to support sheets without twisting or bowing the wall, which can lead to cracks later.
- Adding horizontal strapping to the studs (the same principle as strapping a ceiling) gives vertical sheets solid, consistent contact and reduces cracking risk.
- The main benefit is removing butt joints on long walls, which matters most when 12-foot sheets cannot be carried down a basement stairway or through a narrow opening.
- Vertical installation trades butt joints for more tape joints: an 8-foot wall now has 16 feet of tape joint, with more taping and sanding from the ground and a ladder.
- The speaker recommends horizontal installation for most rooms, since it produces fewer joints overall.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions:
- Strapping option A: buy 1x3 lumber, but expect warping and twisting, which makes a good finish harder.
- Strapping option B (preferred by the speaker): cut your own strips from half-inch plywood, lining up the saw guide with the plywood's top edge and ripping roughly 1.5-inch strips. Precision is not critical.
- You need five strips for every 8-foot section of wall. Space one through the middle and then every couple of feet in both directions.
- Attach strapping with flooring screws. Plywood strips resist cracking better than lumber-yard strapping, which often comes from small trees.
- Keep drywall off concrete by raising the board with a foot pedal, and set the first sheet a couple of inches from the edge, not at the corner, while checking it against a laser line.
- Measure at the top, middle, and bottom of the wall before cutting, and mark the strapping locations on the vapor barrier with a black marker.
- Cutting: a drywall square (about $20) lets you score the paper and snap the board, which works well for vertical cuts; horizontal cuts are harder and a tape measure is not much easier for them.
- Gaps: if the wall bows, cut to the smallest measurement for simplicity and fill the gap with expansion foam, trimming it later.
- The speaker says tapered joints are easy for beginners without much skill, while butt joints require more skill to feather out, which is why vertical drywall seems appealing.
- The speaker describes a joint-tightness rule: the seam between sheets must be tight, while gaps at the wall ends are acceptable.
- Using a straight taping knife (open-faced, not curved) helps apply mud on vertical joints.
Bottom Line
Vertical drywall only reduces work when long walls would otherwise need butt joints, and it adds prep and taping, so horizontal installation is usually the more practical choice for homeowners.
