So here’s a random question.
I’ve got a quick project coming up fixing a flooded basement.
The disaster abatement guys already came in and ripped out the bottom several inches of drywall and left me with a nice mess to work with.
I need to cut a clean line all the way around the perimeter of the room roughly a foot or two off the ground, reinsulate, and patch in new drywall.
I can shoot a laser around and snap some lines, but then what’s the easiest way to cut 100′ or so lineal feet of drywall already installed?
In the past I’ve used: jab saw, sawzall, circular saw w/ vacuum, utility knife, etc….
Everything works fine for small jobs but this will be a good chunk of drywall to cut with studs every 16″.
There’s resilient channel running horizontally on the walls so that gives me a 1/2″ or so between the drywall and studs which helps.
My plan was to just hook up my old demo skil saw to a vac and cut away. But it’s still going to be a big mess and I was thinking maybe someone else has a miracle tool solution. Rotozip would hit studs, sawzall works holding it almost parallel to the wall so it can’t go in and cut any romex, jab saw would be pretty funny…
Fortunately the basement room is totally isolated from everything else…no vents, finished ceiling, etc. so dust into the rest of the house will still happen but will be minimal (of course it will I always tell myself)
Let the knowledge commence!
Paul
Replies
We use a modified wood cutting blade.
Insert the blade as you normally would. Use lineman's pliers to pull the blade to the longest extension it would be if the saw were running. Now use the lineman's pliers to grip the blade, holding the pliers perpendicular to the blade and resting against the table of the sawzall. Now deliver a sharp blow to the side of the blade with a hammer, folding it. Now use the pliers to work the end of the blade back and forth until it breaks off at the fold.
Now use the stubby blade left to cut the drywall. It will only plunge 5/8, maybe 3/4" and you can zip right down the wall without hitting anything deeper than the drywall. If you broke it off a little too long, you can compensate by angling the body of the saw while you cut.
Works like a charm and we usually have several bent or dull blades in the box.
Ah beautiful!
I like that already....I knew there'd be a simple solution right out of the gate that I didn't know about.
Much less dust than using the skil saw....and I've got *plenty* of dull blades in my bags.Paul
Nice Jim.
I just cut out 5 different ceilings to modify to trays in a commercial 'Chicago grid' hung job, and I used a sawzall with a short blade. I sweated all the while as not to hit anything, keeping it at an angle to just penetrate the rock. Didn't even think of your technique but will the next time. Thanks.
I like that. I usually use a 9" blade with the sawzaw set fairly slow speed and held at a real shallow angle. Walk backwards slowly.
your way I could walk much faster!
Jeff Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
On the holding sheetrock up off the basement floor.... I trim screw 5/4 x 6 directly to the studs, set drywall on top and trim out with ogee. Don't know if it's better or worse, but I like it.
>>and trim out with ogee<<What kind of ogee trim are you using that will nest in the 9/16 or 5/8" that's left proud of the sheetrock?I wind up doing a fair amount of work with the trim installed first, sheetrock butted up to it. I work in a lot of older houses where the trim was up before the plaster was done. I like the look too. I do it with 13/16" stock, which is what our local mill still produces. Trim is not so proud of the wall, but you have to fit very precisely, and a lot of times you wind up having to flat-tape up to the edge anyway. Also, when I do that, I screw little plywood nailer strips to the back of the baseboard between studs so I have something supporting the sheetrock in between studs.Steve
Oppps. You are right. When screwed to studs I use door stop or shim out with 1/4" for ogee.
Sorry.
The broken off sawzall blade worked like a charm. It took me literally 4 minutes or so to run down the whole 100'. I'd stop at the corners and then punch through the drywall at a new patch with one or two hits of the blade to start a new section.I hadn't realized that he had done all the walls with 5/8" sheetrock as well as the ceilings. And he used mud in metal reinforced corner bead at the inside corners; rather than risking ripping it apart with a longer sawzall blade, I just took a screwdriver and punched it through the metal parts like a chisel so I could get a clean cut and then paper tape right up over the joint of the new and old corners. I spose I could of used one of my demo chisels but I had just sharpened them up that weekend and they all looked so gleaming and bright and full of hope.I am now looking lovingly at all the old, bent blades in my case, instead of eyeing them with distrust and thinking I shoulda taken them out back long ago.Paul
Glad it worked out for you, Paul.
You know about sliding a short (like 40") piece of 1 or 2x4 up inside the wall and prying big pieces of drywall off instead our breaking it off in little pieces when you have to strip a large surface?
No end to the little demo tricks you learn along the way.
Just a quick thought to add regarding those who talked about using a shop vac with a saw and using a fine dust bag.If you have a spare shop vac hose, put it on the exhaust side of the vac and run it out the window. That way any stray dust is outside the building.
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A. They have to pull their own pants down.
Paul,
I work in a hospital, and got this saw a number of years ago when our dialysis area flooded and we needed to do exactly what you are doing, only on a larger scale, and it needed to be virtually dustless. This saw, hooked up to a good vacuum, ( we use the Fein) is the fastest, cleanest, easiest tool for this type of work I have ever used.
http://www.kett-tool.com/product_details.php?product_model=KSV-434
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You know, that's exactly what I was thinking about when I wrote the post...in fact I was kind of hoping someone would say exactly what you said. One of my tool guys was just telling me about the Kett saws a few weeks ago because someone hadn't come in to pick up their backordered Ketts for several months. He gave me one of the catalogs with the different tools, drill attachments, and blades and such. I hadn't seen them before but I had already imagined all the possibilities of the things I would use it for. Having just spent $4k on some new tools I couldn't justify picking one up without having a direct need for it, but now....... (cue maniacal laughter)
Buy some cheap firring strips, and nail them horizontally to the wall so that they can act as a fence for a rotozip.
Set the bit depth on the zip tool so that it will cut through the old rock, and not much more.
Run the zip tool around the room, with the base of the tool pushed against the strips.
Remove the strips. Later, when you are finishing the joints, the nail holes from the strips will get covered with no extra labor.
I'd tack a board to the wall and run a Rotozip against it.
I'd tack a board to the wall and run a Rotozip against it.
I'm thinking the same thing. Full bit-not the pilot tip type-, set just deep enough to cut the dw.
Once the guides are tacked up, would take about 1 minute to run 100'...even dragging the shopvac behind ya.
You probably would want the reverse-spiral type bit, though, to minimize the spread of dust.
God is REAL, unless explicitly declared INTEGER
Good thought.I have some 4" sawsall blades that cut on the push stroke instead of pulling all that dust out at you too.
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All good info as always.
Here's what I'm a gonna do:Cut the sheetrock at 24" (+1/2)...I had been figuring it at 16" but 24"gives me a little nicer working height. The homeowner did the original drywall install having never done any carpentry/construction before so he assured me that nothing makes sense about the way he did it, therefore I'm ruling out cutting it at the 4' seam. I'm going with the sawsall with the short blade. Piffin had a good point with the reverse tooth sawsall blade...never seen one but of course I've got top-side clean cut jigsaw blades so I can't imagine why I never would have thought of that for sawsall. Gotta run down to the tool shop on Monday and see what they got.As to the razor knife suggestions all I can say is you guys are definitely some he-men. It takes me at least 4 scores to get through 1/2" sheetrock with brand new blades in. Though I guess it does only take me 3 licks to get to the center of a tootsie-pop.....Don't have a rotozip, I just use a razor knife and a jab saw for small cut outs (just not for 100' of it)The basement flooded from a burst pipe, fortunately it's a nice and dry basement otherwise so I'm not worried about it happening again.Paul
First time anybody ever called me a Real He-Man, but hey, I won't ruin your fantasy...LOL.
it's just that I've used a utility knife a LOT, cutting shingles on roofs, so it is a natural extension. I'm doing some partail wall work on a remo job right now and probably cut out 50-60 lin feet the first day without even thinking about getting any other tool out. The only hard cut is in the painted surface, IMO. once that cut is made neat and straight, it is just a matter of dragging the blade at the right angle.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Go spring for a Rotozip w/ the small plastic thingy that has an attachment point for the round nozzle of a shop vac. Cost you about $130. I just did about 100 linear feet of wallboard in a bathroom w/ mine. Got nice straight, even lines where the new board will meet the old. Not enough dust to even think about. Before I dug out my Rotozip, I tried the Sawsall - Good Grief!!!! What a crappy mess! Besides, when the Rotozip hits a stud, you just pull the sucker out a bit till the bit passes over the stud , plunge back in & cut the next 14 in. Should take about ten min to do the entire job this way. Take maybe 3/4 bits. After all, they do wear down.DonDon Reinhard
The Glass Masterworks
"If it scratches, I etch it!"
I found that working as a two man team works well while doing long cuts in drywall, especially ceilings. One cuts and the other holds the vac hose right up to where the dust falls out. Make sure you use a 'fine dust' bag in your vac. I combine that with a hepa filter in mine and it lasts & lasts, filling up the bag and not clogging.
Everyone has their own system. I've done that exact thing numerous times (cut a continuous line of sheetrock around a room), here is the method I use
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg3H65J9Me4
"...craftsmanship is first & foremost an expression of the human spirit." - P. Korn
bakersfieldremodel.com
I think you might as well go up to 4' above the floor (assuming the drywall was installed horizontally). You can pull the bottom sheet (folding up to the taped joint). Pull the tape and install full sheets. Then you are taping tapered joints at a good working height.
Minor additional drywall material cost, but labor savings... should be a wash... with better results.
At least cut up to 16" (3 rips per sheet) so you are not taping too low).
If you end up with joints at 16" or 24" then get one of these:
http://www.racatac.com/pics.html?
You guys and your power tools.
Razor knife, chaulk line and a pack of sharp blades.
At least cut up to 16" (3 rips per sheet) so you are not taping too low).
16-1/2" so the new drywall isn't sitting on the floor.
Also, you may want to use paperless or otherwise waterproof drywall, since it's probably going to flood again at some time.
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Edited 1/10/2009 12:24 pm by Ted W.
Aren't you a belly full of good news, "it will do it again".
There's some truth to that sometimes as it happened to me last winter. Basement flooded for the first time in 20 years. Ruined all sorts of stuff. Hauled all the wet stuff to a dumpster I had on another job and had a crew come in to repair the walls. We were all sure that the problem was found and repaired. Well, next big rain and snow melt the basement fills up again. Sad part was the painters were in route to finish the work.
Well a camera down the permimiter drain found the 'roots' of the problem well outside of the foundation. With hard and expensive lessons learned we held up the sheetrock (repair #2) 3.0 inches above the floor, shimmed the bottom plate 1/2 inch, then nailed on the base board. Minor flooding if it ever happens again will be a simple clean up.
It's a funny way to clean your basement of things you don't use often.
For only a hundred feet, I might be just as likely to use my utility knife as anything else. It would definitely be more dust free than saws of any kind. And figure in the time you will spend cleaning up the dust in comparing.
I would definitely make that cut at least 24" or 30" AFF so I would not have to spend as much time on y knees or bent over taping, etc. If the original has a seam at 48", I would just make the breakout right there. Then you get a better shot at making sure to have cleaned up the damp insulation and cleaning the mildew off studs.
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Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
Re cutting drywall
We use our
Fein Multimaster. Minimal dust for a saw. Very controllable, clean cut and quick.
I usually use a knife for the little stuff but since I got the Fein, I have enjoyed the ease at which I can cut.
For small access holes, I cut the rock on a taper so that the piece comes out easily and can be put right back in with one screw'd block and clean fit
Have a reasonably large flood job that I need to do this very thing on in the next few weeks and the sawzall will be too dusty for our locations.
Re. the basement floor, I now use a 5" baseboard, run a 1/2" strip of wood down low, and hold the sheetrock up 3" or so.
That way next time it floods, the rock wont wick the water up
What blade do you use? I've had trouble getting the MM to cut drywall very rapidly.
God is REAL, unless explicitly declared INTEGER
The metal cutting blade.
It is not the rounded one, the square ended one.
i just looked on line. They call it the E-Cut blade. 1 1/8" wide and 2" wide it comes in.
Doesnt rip thru like a sawzall but it is amazing how little dust it generates and easy to hold a vacuum next to the blade and essentially have no dust.
The e-blade also cuts plastic electrical cover plates superbly.
Another vote for the multimaster...also works great for cutting the ever- present gobs of caulking(slathered on by the homeowners finger) that anchor every piece of baseboard,vanity top,etc.