Drywall

2 Buy a drywall screw gun

These affordable tools allow you to countersink the screw head perfectly. You want the screw head to be 1/1 6 inch below the surface of the drywall paper. Drive it too far, and you'll tear the paper around the screw head, reducing the holding power of the screw. Watch a few online videos showing you the proper way to drive the screws.

Outside corners require some precision. Hang the drywall so it's ¹⁄8 inch back from the outside corner. Do this with both pieces that form the outside corner. Doing this will make it very easy to install the corner bead. Screw spacing for drywall on walls is 16 inches on center.

3 Lipstick marks electrical boxes

Cutting the holes for electric boxes is tiresome if you try to measure them. It's much easier to put some cheap lipstick on the front edge of the boxes. Place the drywall at the correct height where it will be on the wall. Hold it away from the wall to avoid mis-marking the box. Press the drywall against the electrical box, transferring the lipstick to the back of the sheet. Use an inexpensive drywall punch saw to cut out the rectangle or circle. You'll get very good at this with minimal practice.

Finishing drywall is not as hard as you might think. Be sure you remove all scrap drywall from the room. Don't sweep the floors. The dust on the floors will be your friend when it's time to clean up the joint compound that falls to the floor.

4 Don't add much water

Brand-name ready-mixed joint compound works really well. Read the label on the bucket or box. Follow all the directions to the letter. Be sure the room is warm to accelerate drying time. Beware of adding water to the joint compound. The USG Plus-3 compound I'm using requires no extra water. It seems stiff when you remove it from the bucket, but when you start to work it in your drywall pan, it achieves the perfect consistency. You want the joint compound to resemble warm cake icing.

5 Fiberglass tape for flat seams

I prefer to use amazing thin fiberglass tape for all flat seams. This tape is very forgiving for a rookie. The joint compound oozes through the gaps of the glass fibers. It resembles reinforcing steel in concrete. Paper tape can develop blisters should you remove too much joint compound from under the tape.

Butt seams where two 4-foot edges meet are the hardest to finish. You end up creating a hump in the ceiling or the wall at these locations. Your task is to make the center of the hump no more than ¹⁄8 inch high. You then need to feather out joint compound about 10 inches either side of the center of the butt joint.

6 Paper tape for inside corners

Tapered seams are very easy to finish. Your goal when taping them is to have just 1/1 6 inch of joint compound in the seam with the fiberglass tape. You'll then add another 1/1 6 of an inch with your second coat.

Inside corners are very easy to do. I always use the traditional paper tape for these. You want the same 1/1 6 inch of joint compound between the tape and the drywall. I use a 5-inch-wide flexible taping knife to do this. You need to round off the corners of a new knife with a metal file. This will ensure the new knife doesn't rip or tear the centerline of the paper tape.

There are hundreds of videos on YouTube that will show you how to hold all of the tools to ensure you don't leave too much joint compound on the wall. Less compound means less sanding. Watch the videos, and let me know how your job comes out.

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