On Jul 10, 10:40*am, dpb wrote:
John wrote:
In getting ready to hang the drywall for my basement and just need a
few clarifications. I thought you were supposed to butt the sheets
together but I have been reading some articles that say to leave a
1/8" gap between them, which is correct?

A gap works better for mudding/taping, yes.

Works better? How so?

I was planning on hanging the sheets vertically, do you really cut the
number of seems in half by going horizontally? Is one better than the
other? The walls are 14.3 x 23.7 and 9 feet high( I'm installing a
drop ceiling so not going to the top is not a concern)

What an inconvenient set of dimensions...

If it were 14-even, a single long would suffice and 2-12's the other
way...as for the length of seams, draw it out and add up the distances.

Where do you live that you can get a 12' board into a basement? I
frequently have issues with 8 footers.

For a novice, though, unless you can use the full length pieces
horizontally, you may find taping more edge joints w/ the finished edges
easier and a better job than the butt joint horizontally w/ the ends.

Butt joints are not a problem if you don't have them land on a stud.
You can have the butt joint land in between studs and use a backer
board to attach the butt ends. There are products sold for this,
http://www.ezbacker.com/rock_splicer.html , but you can use a 4 to 6
inch stip of plywood with some shimming. This from Toolbase.org:
"Drywall butt joint systems provide slightly inset drywall butt joints
that require less finishing and sanding, and result in flat, seamless
finished butt joints that are also less prone to cracking due to
framing movement because the butt joints are allowed to float."
If you use a wider strip of plywood, say 6 to 8 inches, and attach a
1" strip of something ~1/8" thick to either long edge of the plywood,
between the drywall and the plywood, the screws at the butt joint will
pull the end of the drywall into that minor recess and essentially
taper the butt end of the boards. It's simple to make entirely flush
butt joints that way, rather than the apparently flush butt joints you
usually get by feathering out the butt joint 18" so you don't see the
hump.

You can get 9-footers, too, if you wish and would have the full wall
height covered. *Again, for the non-experienced, that's what I'd
suggest. *That 3-4" in the corner is going to be an extra joint but it
can be feathered out w/ the corner. *It's going to be a fair amount of
overage, but that'll be so whichever way you go.

The OP said he doesn't care about going the full height, so there's no
reason to use 9' boards. I'm not sure where you're getting the 3-4"
thing - the room dimensions are both under a full sheet length/width.

R