Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Curving Drywall...

Alright, So i just made a thread about this about 5 mins ago, i guess I forgot to hit post it!.

If it shows up 2 times, don't use this thread to discuss, please use the original thread.

Here is my problem:

My basement was half done when I moved into the house (framed and drywalled). There is a curved hallway and for some reason the previous owner decided to put up OSB plywood instead of drywall around the curve.

I am really new to this stuff so I was wondering if any of you have used 1/4" drywall to curve around walls lengthwise?

The total Radii is 10 feet long, and goes from about 0 degrees to 90 degrees (if you look straight out from the start of the curve, if that makes sense).

I am pretty sure I can accomplish this without wetting the drywall down (which is something i REALLY don't want to do).

SO ya, if any of you have done this before, feel free to chime in. Previous to this drywall idea we were going to wall paper the OSB abd blend it into the existing drywall wall, half the wall is drwall (the straight half) and half of the wall is OSB plywood (when is starts to curve). Its pretty stupid, kind of pisses me off every time i go down there!

Any suggestions will be helpfull! Also if you live in Canada and have used the high flex 1/4" gypsum sheetrock, feel free to let me know where you got it!

-Robb.

What you want is 1/4" flexible sheetrock (here's a datasheet pdf). It doesn't require wetting, but you need to be sure you have a lot of studs in place. If you need to mate the curved surface to a non-curved surface with existing 1/2" sheetrock, you can add a second layer of the flexible 1/4" sheetrock.

Thanks for that PDF, i have searched google over and over for a canadian link.

Ya i am looking for the flexible 1/4" sheets. That how to guide will be very helpfull as well. I am pretty sure the studs are 9" or less apart (the back of the curved wall backs onto the furnace room so i am able to examine how far the studs are apart without taking off the OSB.).

I guess i'll phone Home Depot or Rona to see if they carry this stuff! I did phone Rona Yesterday, they carry the 1/4" drywall, do you think that there is more than 1 kind of 1/4" drywall that ISN'T Flex?

-Robb.

I left the drywall biz in 1992, before they premade the prescored stuff.

You'll have to check code in your area, but I've seen guys either use 1/4" and score and wet it - which isn't really all that hard - just run a drywall knife down the back with a drywall square every X inches (more often for a tighter bend) get it fairly damp with a sponge and put it in place - maybe just start the screws but wait until it dries to dimple them. Then repeat with a second layer for strength (a little construction adhesive on the second sheet wouldn't hurt either!) - remembering to stagger your joints!

The one time I did it, I backed it with 1/8" cross-grain ply and then used one layer of drywall.

No matter what you use, you'll need a good taper... not easy to apply mud and sand a rounded corner like that.

Bren R.

YA, I am finishing the basement myself with the help of my father in-law (3 weeks ago) who used to drywall for 3 years or so 20 years ago. So it was nice to have someone know what they were doing and to show my how to drywall the rest of the basement myself.

I think i would like to get a good mudder anyway, I am not that happy with the job that we did in my theatre room. I used an eggshell paint and could see mistakes which really should not have been there. So I sanded down the whole first coat of eggshell and re-painted with a flat paint. Can't even tell where they are now (I have total light control in that room anyway).

Its amazing how different I would have done certain sections (instead of using 1 sheet and cutting out corners etc...i would have used multiple sections to form the section.)

ANYWAYS, I guess this new flexible sheetrock doesn't requite scoring on the back. Also it is not a inside curve, i am curving the ouside (concave?) so scoring with a knife wouldn't do me any good.

-Robb.

Convex or outside.

In that case and if you want to go with the scoring route if you can't find the other stuff - use a dado blade from the back side to create some space for the inside bend. (I can't visualize the radius of your curve - but believe me, drywall bends fairly easily - even a bundle of 14s half-inch will bend about 15 inches end to end without any more help than a "board-packers" shoulder into it. You can get about a a 45 degree overall from dry 1/4" without doing anything.

Back then Westroc used to have more give than Domtar, but it's probably been reformulated a few dozen times in the past 14 years.

Bren R.

I wouldn't think the stud spacing would matter since you already have the OSB back there. I'd just rock over BOTH the OSB and any adjoining sheetrocked surfaces with the 1/4".

Oh, and everything Bren says is good and true.

we've got a round wall in our house, what we do is make the wall, about 20 studs or so, then like everyone has sais 1/4" drywall, 2 sheets. and just tape and mud it like regular as far as i know.

The OSB is even with our current 1/2" drywall beside it on a flat wall. SO i need something that is 1/2", which is 2 1/4" sheets.

-Robb.