Chapter 13: Drywall and Concrete Flatwork
The below is an excerpt from a book of 309 pages, 19 Chapters, 10 Appendices
- (See Amazon for URL link to preview, following this.)
The major
activities of this chapter are Drywall (sheetrock) and exterior
concrete work.
Detailed Schedule - Part I*
- Drywall
smooth ceilings (except garage) (hang, tape, and mud in 2 weeks).
Builder to cover doors/windows/fireplace (temporary heat?)
- Texture
(garage ceiling,) bullnose corner bead?
- Insulation
blown above ceiling after drywall hung and taped.
- Call-before-dig
(800-351-1111 or 811 in Tennessee.) Give 72hr notice -good for 15
subsequent days.
- Get
employee / Sub I-9 forms, SSN, W-4’s, address, phone, I-15 workman
comp. Get Certificate of Insurance (See Chapter 5.)
- Order
Driveway & walk forms (form boards.) Pour
driveway, walks at street & house, patio, porch,
condensing unit pad, door stoops, brick inlay block-outs, steps,
stairs on hill.
- Order:
2x4 forms, treated 1x4 joint, retarder, mesh (if desired,) &
expansion joint.
- (Call
Code Enforcement for driveway inlet inspection).
- Call Termite pre-treatment spray for porch & patio before pour driveway etc. Need termite pre-treat under porches & ...
*Detailed Schedule – Part I in this chapter continues
the sequence of construction tasks, following Part H in Chapter 12.
See Appendix B for complete Detailed Schedule. Dimensions and amounts
are based on codes in Tennessee, Colorado, and Florida, local
requirements, and the Uniform Building Code that change annually in
some cases, so verify all in this book before acting on them.
Scope of Work for Drywall Sub:
Chapter 12
describes steps to prepare for the drywall (also called: sheetrock,
gyp board, gypsum board.) Many builders will order their own
drywall, and hire labor to hang, finish, and sand it. This can save a
little money, but we always found it better to get a complete job
from one subcontractor. If you have never done this type of work you
will under or over order, and your job will either experience delays
or excess waste because of your inexperience. When the drywall
subcontractor is responsible for producing a total package, there
will be only one source of errors and only one person to call for
corrections. He knows how to order the correct number of sheets and
where to store them inside the house. This sub will order cornerbead,
mud, screws, nails, tape, texture, and will be responsible for the
correct quantity of each.
The sheetrock
sub will supply all wallboard, will hang it, and finish it. You will
have to clean out the house as he proceeds, and there is usually a
great deal of waste. Much of the waste is due to your sub’s
laborers being paid by the piece (number of sheets hung,) rather than
by the hour or by the job. This encourages the hanger to cut up as
many sheets as he can, a lot of which is discarded. You can throw
this waste out the windows and have your trash sub haul it off.
If your
drywaller hanger uses screws rather than nails, the job will produce
a nicer finish, but either is adequate. Nails produce a few so-called
pops, where the head eventually shows, but this is easily
repaired. Nail pops are not normally covered by a builder’s
warranty, and are an expected byproduct of construction (we repaired
them anyway.)
Photo 14: Curved
drywall walls, flared stair, with iron balusters, balcony, and
rails, job-built treads.Curved walls (Photo 14) always proved to be the most difficult application for flat drywall sheets. Usually the curve was framed by setting studs about three inches apart on a radiused plate, sawn on a curve out of treated 2x10 or similar lumber. The normally straight drywall had to be scored and broken at intervals that formed sections of small straight wall that had to be mudded repeatedly with a trowel to form a curved surface. This took some artistic ability and many, many trips from the finisher to complete. They never applied enough compound, and the curve was never smooth. I would often have to complete the inadequately curved surface by building up layers of drywall mud, allowing it to dry between coats, and sanding. Drywallers were production conscious and would move on to the next large job before completing details like a rounded wall.
Many different techniques have been observed to attempt a curved wall from flat sheets of thin plywood or metal sheets. Few have been successful. The best way seemed to be to spray a couple of sheets of ¼” sheetrock with a water hose periodically while they lay against a wall until bowing. Then two still damp layers were stacked to make a 1/2” thickness on top of each other on the stud wall and screwed then mudded. It was not perfect and still required several applications of joint compound to create a smooth curved surface, but it was closer than other methods. To summarize, your sub will not provide an adequate curved wall, and you will have to finish it yourself, or hire someone and pay them extra to do it.
Drywall is available in traditional four foot and in five foot wide sheets, that are made to accommodate a nine or ten foot ceiling. This can thus be facilitated without installing an extra one foot wide cut piece on top of two four-foot sheets and having to mud an extra joint to achieve the same ten foot height. The sheetrock subs still charge extra for the higher ceilings, regardless of the fact that there is no more work. This is probably just because they can.
Bullnose cornerbead has attained recent popularity and is really attractive. This curved-nosed edge on outside corners of openings and wall edges will cost more. The subs say it is harder to finish. You may have to follow the drywall finisher with a trowel and joint compound to complete his work, as the radiused edges will be left incomplete and rough looking otherwise. The subs seldom get a smooth final finish on bullnose. Arched bullnose cornerbead is available also in a series of split tabs for bending. This rounded-edged wall effect appears more in southwestern architecture where adobe likely originated.
On a few early porch ceilings we used green board that was gypsum board with a green paper skin, and was designated for damp areas, since the paper was water resistant (but not the board, which was under roof.) This was used in lieu of Masonite hardboard for a smooth ceiling. We always had to remind the drywall finisher when omitted, because it was not usual, and he would overlook it. This had to be prepared as a smooth finished ceiling even though the interior might be textured, but the joints were hidden with tape and joint compound (mud.) Since the framer, the drywaller, the painter, and other subs were not accustomed to using it, we discontinued this practice to avoid confusing our trades (subcontractors.) Chapter 17 discusses finishes for the drywall ceiling.
Green board was also used on some shower wall surrounds, but proved also difficult to execute, as the drywall sub would always forget to order it and the tile sub was not used to using it. So, eventually we began using the more expensive conventional cement board Durock.
Another problem you may encounter is that OSHA requires erection of a temporary construction guardrail at any balcony or landing above a certain height. You may have to do this work, as the framer will have moved on to another job. The easiest way is to use lag screws into the side of the balcony edge to hold up 2x4 posts to which rails will be fastened. Then when the drywaller is hanging, he will rip down the guardrails, creating a violation, in order to cover the edge. Some manufacturers have created expensive boots to be set on top of the balcony and avoid this conflict. It may just be easier and less risky to tell the hanger that you will repair the spots where the posts are later, and to leave the guardrail in place.
It usually takes a drywall contractor about two weeks to complete his work, prior to texturing the ceiling at a later date (See chapter 17.) This author would often take a vacation about this time, since there was nothing to be done until the drywaller finished hanging, taping, mudding (two or three coats,) and sanding the joints. After the taping begins you can call the insulator to blow in the ceiling insulation. In winter it may be necessary to provide temporary heat, so the mud joints set up properly without cracking. A gas-fired salamander heater that uses propane or natural gas gives off water vapor as a byproduct of combustion, thus requiring longer drying times, but stronger joints due to the slower rate. Electric heat for a construction project can be more expensive, but we used to plug small space heaters in the temporary power supply, and use unmetered power (this is confidential.)
Steel Tub Protection:
Several enameled steel tubs had to be replaced at our expense due to the drywall hanger either missing with his hammer, or the nails and debris he dropped into the tub being stepped on while working, or someone stepping on the rim with gritty boots. All of these errors caused chips and dings in the tubs. No one ever admitted to having been responsible, but we knew which sub was there working around the tubs, usually the drywaller. The plumber had to install the tub prior to drywall being hung in order to get his roughin inspection before the framing inspection could be certified. He would have to do a standing water test in each tub to check for leaks in the piping, so delaying the tub installation at this stage was not an option.All sorts of innovations were attempted to protect the tubs from damage, including duct taping the cardboard cutouts from the shipping boxes on the tub surfaces, as .... (CONTINUED IN BOOK)
...
Contractor’s Duties for Concrete Flatwork:
You may be surprised to learn that the exterior driveway, walks, patio, porches, air conditioning pads, steps, and other flatwork are poured prior to final grading (see Chapter 18). It may seem reasonable that the grading of the land should be established prior to realizing the correct placement of concrete. This is not the case, since the final grading will be determined based upon the elevation of concrete surfaces lying there that connect to the house pad and street at a predetermined elevations. Your subcontractor should have sufficient expertise to judge the contour of the final landscape and roughly excavate for his concrete flatwork based upon his assessment of the final slope of grade, due to lot edge elevations, drainage, slab, and street levels.Driveways normally slope continuously toward the street gutters. Walks must slope to drain, and abut the porch and driveway or street at each end. Patios and porches connect to the house at about four inches below the floor level and pitched to drain away from the house at least 2% (2 inch drop per 100 inches horizontally). A different slope may be stipulated by local codes. All of these exterior concrete surfaces will have their underlayment graded by your concrete flatwork subcontractor before the grading sub returns.
We once had a lot where the street was about ten feet higher than the front garage entrance and the setback was only about forty feet. We had to build a swale into the driveway to carry water away from the garage door opening. This was one case where the drive did not slope toward the street, but dipped to the middle from both ends at steep slopes.
Be sure your plumber has finished installing his building sewer, cleanouts, water line, and gas main from street mains to the house, and that he has run pressure tests and passed required inspections prior to calling your concrete flatwork subcontractor to begin. The water meter box and cover should be installed and any electrical underground feeds (yard lanterns, main service, etc. must be completed. Call-before-Dig has to also be notified, and ground surface markings made by them before laying site concrete.
You, the general contractor, will have to order form materials for the flatwork. This will consist of 2 x 4 utility grade lumber in long lengths, usually sixteen feet or more for forms. Be sure to figure in enough 2 x 4 material for support stakes. Control joints can be scored with a hand tool after troweling, but it is better to use 1 x 4 cedar or treated lumber. In Florida galvanized angle is being used for driveway joint material. Order 5 lbs of twelve-penny (12 d) common nails for your sub to use in staking the forms. Include 1x4 butyl-impregnated joint, and liquid retarder (to slow the concrete surface curing process for a stronger bond.)
You will need to reach the local utility’s call-before-dig department several days prior to the arrival of the subcontractor, so that the earth can be marked, showing the location of utilities. Make a note on a calendar (or your computer or cell phone’s appointment alarm) as to when the call-before-dig guarantee expires, so that you will not be liable for any broken lines below grade. Even though the flatwork seems shallow, we had a sub break a high pressure gas main digging the drive inlet on one home....
.... (CONTINUED IN BOOK)
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