MC,

He said that in some rooms, where I asked him to patch some holes,
that it's cheaper and easier to gut and replace then to patch. For
example, one room I had five holes in the ceiling. I did not make the
holes, the electricians did. When they rewired they did not get into
the attic, so they punched random holes in my ceiling to pass the
wires and conduits. They told me it would be easy fix for the
sheetrock guys. Now the sheetrock guy says they are not easy fix. He
can do it but it will not be as good looking and it will be more
expensive then using new sheetrock.

It might be worth it to patch one or two holes, but when you've reached
your swiss cheese state I would agree it would be easier to just gut and
start fresh.

The reason he said these are hard to patch, is because it is not
typical sheet rock. In some areas he said I have sheet rock, then a
"brown coat", then plaster, with embeded wire mesh in them. He said
it is a pain to patch, and difficult to patch perfectly.

I've patched plaster and lath walls with layers of sheetrock. It's doable
when needed, but takes a lot more work and is difficult to blend.

This week, I started to look at demolishing one room's ceiling, and
immediately ran into problems. Some sheetrock in the ceiling seem to
span into other rooms. For example, one interior wall's top plate
actually is below the sheetrock, meaning the sheetrock is sandwiched
between the top plate and the bottom of the joist. So to take that
ceiling down, I have to make a cut on both sides of the top plate to
free the sheetrock. This is a mess. Using a grinder with a diamond
blade to cut through this sheetrock/brown coat/plaster/wire mesh is
slow and dusty. I thought framing of the walls is done before
sheetrock? How can sheetrock be on top of the top plate?

Demolition is messy work, no matter what you do. Tape plastic sheeting
over the doorways to keep dust out of the rest of the house, open the
window, lay down drop cloths to protect the flooring (and make cleanup
easier), and cover any duct openings. Of course, wear a dust mask and
safety glasses.

Then grab hammers, prybars, or whatever and start ripping things down.
Don't worry about being neat, it's going to be messy. Stop every now and
then to haul debris out of the room so it's not a tripping hazard or
getting in your way. Take it out the window, if possible, to avoid
tracking dust and dirt through the house.

As for the sheetrock over the walls, score the wall/ceiling corner with a
utility knife before pulling down the ceiling. It should break fairly
cleanly. If not, use a reciprocating saw to cut through whatever lath,
mesh, or whatever is in the way.

Since this is a DIY newsgroup, I would gut one room at a time, add
insulation if needed, then install the sheetrock myself using screws.
It's not that difficult, and sheetrock is fairly cheap if you do mess
something up. Even if you rent a drywall lift for the ceilings, it should
be cheaper than hiring out, and you won't have the entire house in a
state of demolition at the same time. You can hire out the joint taping
and mudding if you wish, but it's a fun skill to learn that you'll
probably use again later on. Start in the least visible room (utility
room, closet, etc.), and develop your skills as you move to more visible
rooms like the living room and kitchen.

Good luck,

Anthony