Hey guys - quick tip to cheat sanding the ceiling (cuz I hate that too). Instead of mudding & sanding the ceiling joints, when I did my HT we used 4 inch wide mdf boards and painted them to match the HT colour. Then we attached those over the drywall seams in the ceiling. The ceiling finishing was way faster with less mess and I really like the final look as it gives the ceiling some texture. I'm not home now but can take some pics and post this weekend if you're interested in how it looks.

Cheers,

I'll be curious to see the pictures Dan.

We have taped ceiling drywall seams that have cracked from the lower LFEs from the EP600, 'battle scars' as I have labeled them.

Nice progress with your HT room Nick!

We are now looking at this as well. I've hung drywall in our 2 previous basements, including the ceiling. Some times I'd even hung 4x8 sheets on the ceiling by myself with no jack. That wasn't fun, but I did a 14x40 foot ceiling that way.

We are talking about trying to recruit my dad, father-in-law, and maybe a few people from work. We were quoted 123 total 4x12 sheets of drywall, so I would probably look at converting that to 183 total 4x8 sheets. Either way, we will have the drywall delivered. For like $75, they will deliver them to the exact rooms/locations that we want. Well worth it in my book.

Lots to figure out. If the guy comes in on Friday with a quote near $4500 where we were hoping to be, then we will probably go with them for all of it. That guy is one that some friends used and had a real nice finish to everything, where-as the $6400 guy is supposed to be really good, but it almost seems like he doesn't need the work as he has been working steadily for the past 3 years doing flood-recovery work here in Cedar Rapids from their massive 2008 flood. He works those jobs about 90% of the time, and fits in some other work in-between that regular work. I have no doubt that he does quality work, but maybe isn't "hungry" enough.

Another trick with sanding drywall mud, is that you can purchase an attachment (similar to a sanding block) for a Shop-Vac hose that you put the sand paper on. It cuts down on the amount of dust because its sucked through the paper and into the Shop-Vac canister.

Buy a good filter for the Shop Vac if you do that, or you're likely to be propelling the dust through the exhaust instead!

Very true. The filters do clog up quick, but we just gave them a good shake outside, and a quick spray with compressed air. It does work.

My life changed 3 years ago when I went dustless for drywall. A $70 Ridgid vacuum, a $40 steel coil 10' hose, and a $29 Ryobi mouse. The joint compound kills sanders after a few months, but for $29..

The Ryobi has a dust port that, with a couple of rounds of duct tape to enlarge it, fits snuggly on a 1 7/8" hose. You will create more airborne dust by hand than with this system. It's so good, that I have even left furniture uncovered.

Needless to say, it's fast and the results are better.

Edit: And buy a cheap filter, cover it with cut-up pantyhose (so the fine dust never makes it to the filter), and, most of all, get a vacuum that takes bags. You will still get exhaust port dust without a bag.

Panty hose? Dude, are you still in the 1980's?

I buy them at the dollar store. Black, big girl, re-enforced toes and saddle.

Women still wear pantyhose, Tom. In Seattle, if you look real closely, you can see that they're hiding feminine "leg lawn."

Seriously. They keep the filter ridges from getting clogged. Instead of removing it and cleaning it, I just use a stiff hair brush and brush off the dust that's clinging. And, if they're black I can see just how much dust is on there.

You know how that works, Tom , right?

Well, I'm not home to post new pics but found the ceiling is just barely in some previous pics to give you an idea:


and


and unrelated but just cuz I think it's cool (weekend hobby):



Cheers,