Patching and Plastering - guaranteed to crack?

I just finished hanging the drywall and had a finisher come in to estimate the cost for the room. He has told me that because I hung the drywall vertical and not horizontal that it is most likely to crack. It is a 12' wall with 3 vertical 4x8 sheets up on end. I have another wall that is a lower cement foundation wall (with wood framing) and the upper is studded. Needless to say the lower wall because it is cement foundation behind the studded knee wall (4' tall) sticks into the room the depth of the framing. I also hung these in the same vertical direction (upper only). Everything is glued and screwed. Will hanging it in this direction make the difference between cracking or not? If so I am thinking of just hanging 1/2" or 1/4" over this stuff since it will be tough removing the old drywall and the adhesive on the studs. Any advice?

Thank you
Jeff

I'm a painter not a finisher but I don't think you would have any cracking issues. It is harder to finish vertical hung drywall and also harder to make the seams disappear.

It is harder to finish vertical hung drywall and also harder to make the seams disappear.

Why, and why? No butt joints. No offset joints.

It's never cracked on me and I've hung a lot of drywall that way, especially when I was working alone.

And, its not any harder to tape and spackle - thats just utter nonsense.

If you tape, spackle and sand it correctly, you wont have any problems

As Mark said, you'll have a harder time hiding the seams, but there should be no difference in cracking.

I think what the finisher was trying to say is if it does crack then it will be an 8' crack rather than a 4' or none.

Also, its not any harder to finish drywall hung this way but you will see every joint.

[QUOTE=coops28;1247070Also, its not any harder to finish drywall hung this way .[/QUOTE]

It all depends on the age and condition of your back :D It is a whole lot easier for this old man to run a lenght of tape/mud at 4' height than going from top to bottom every 4'

Thanks for the replies.

What he is proposing to do is to hang 1/2" drywall horizontally over the vertical dywall. This will involve extending 6 electrical boxes (I know extending the boxes is easily done). Its not a question of the cost of materials as we are only talking about 2-4 12' sheets. If it gives me a better looking, longer lasting job I am more than OK with it.


Thanks again,
Jeff

Longer lasting - no. Better looking - not necessarily, but easier to get a good looking job this way.

[QUOTE=jaws;1246742]He has told me that because I hung the drywall vertical and not horizontal that it is most likely to crack. It is a 12' wall with 3 vertical 4x8 sheets up on end.


Lets see if I can clarify this any more. Sheetrock finishers generally dislike vertically hung panels due to the extra amount of bending over. What I mean is, they make their living finshing panels hung horizontal which puts most of the joints on a horizontal plane. The butt joints do not in general require as many coats since they are not beveled. When they go to finish panels hung vertocally they have to change their routine which we all knows leads to sore muscle and in return leads to the reason they dislike panels hung in this maner. I myself owning and operateing a remodeling business can tell you that as far as finishing the rock, it is not any harder. However, this leads to my personal concern about why he said it is most likely to crack. You say you have a 12 foot wall. If the rock is hung vertically as you have done with the 8 foot panels, you will have 2 vertical joints in the field as well as the 2 corners. Now if it were hung horizontally with 12 foot sheets you would still have the 2 corner joints but only 1 horizontal seam running the length of the wall. In other words, less joints means less chance of cracks, in plumbing, less joints means less chance of leaks, and electrical less splices means fewer potetial fire hazards. Anyway, if you ask your finisher to clarify why he believes it will crack I am sure you will get the same explanation I have given. If he decides to stick to his "it will crack because it was hung vertical" then I personally would find another finisher. I have several Independent finshers who I sub my jobs to simply because I dont like to finsh sheetrock and they agree. Hope this helps.

Robert
Freedom One Construction

Also in regards to what he is proposeing. If you already have 1/2 rock then you dont need another layer unless you are going for sound proofing or needing a firewall. Sounds to me like he is just trying to make a little extra money to cover his time to come out and do the job. Personally if the finisher can hide a horizontal joint then he can hide the vrtical as well. If you are worried about how the job will look then ask him to put a skim coat over the entire wall after the rock is finished. Without the skim coat and under the correct lighting the joints will show regardless of how the rock is hung. Good luck.

Robert S
Freedom One Construction

Thanks again,

Robert, I agree with your logic that limiting the number of splices in anything is a good practice when ever possible or practical.

I took your advice and asked his input and this is what I was told.

"The vibrations from people walking across the floor and such will radiate down the length of the stud. You can, in effect reduce the length of the stud to a four foot section by running the drywall horizontilaly. This will shorten the vibrations path and therefore reduce the chance of cracking down the length of the stud."

I guess I will have a more soundproof room now as I hung another layer on a horizontal this past weekend myself (no money for him) and he seems to be satisfied.
Thanks again,
Jeff