Walls and Ceilings - drywall tips/help

me and my girlfriend are buying a house and closing on tuesday. there is sheetrock throughout the house except the master bedroom which has just wood paneling. the plan is on tuesday ill tear out the paneling and start the sheetrock on wednesday. then take my time with a buddy and get all the sheetrock done by friday so we can paint on the weekend. ive been researching and wasnt too scared about it, but the buddy helping me said that there are a bunch of things that may go wrong so its getting me a little nervous. ive hung sheetrock, but never taped and floated. it seems pretty straight foward, but am i missing something? can a novice that is a bit of a perfectionist complete this job and get my girlfriend off my back about it?!?

Tons of things that can go wrong? The only thing I could think of would be your studs are not true, meaning they "maybe" bowed out or in, preventing the sheetrock from sitting flush.

Homes that were built in the 80's or older tend not to have this problem, because the wood they used back then was 10x better then todays.

ya the home is 30+ years old.

You shouldn't have any problems. You may just find some garbage that the builders put in the walls back in the day. I found a 23 yr old McD's cheeseburger wrapper in my bathroom wall.

so if i go slow with the taping and floating then it should be ok right? after doing more internet research i think ill get it all taped one day, then mud over it the next to make sure the tape and joint bonder have thoroughly dried

Should be ok. Taping and the sanding are the time consuming processes. You have to do 3 coats progressing in wall knife size.

You can use a setting compound [like durabond] to speed up the drying process. It's a bear to sand so it's best to apply it neatly. I like to use regular joint compound for the final coat because it sands easier. It has a 'pot life' so only mix up what you can use before it sets.

Are you sure there isn't drywall behind the paneling?

Are you sure there isn't drywall behind the paneling?

no i dont know yet. im thinking that there may be because there is sheetrock on the ceiling. if there is then im just patching it up and painting over that and save myself a whole mess of trouble!