01-07-2010, 11:05 AM
Gary,
I don't want to muddy up the waters any more than they already may be, but I would like to offer a suggestion on your rocking plans. Don't want to contradict the Good Doctor, but in my previous life, I was a tape and bedder for a contractor and taped many houses. In those days, we did it all by hand, no mud boxes, bazookas or anything like that. A pan of mud, pan rack w/tape on my hip, a 6" tape knife, 10" and 12" bedding knife was all we used. Made for nice, staight walls. If it were me, I would consider hanging the rock horizontally, not vertically. Sheetrock has depressed edges along the long side, designed to give a little indention to fill with tape and mud. If you hang them vertically, you are going to have long 8' seams to hide, not as easy as it sounds. You will also have a wavy wall, as it is very difficult to nail up the middle of the rock where there are no seams and effectively spot the nails with mud. BTW, you should spot those nails 3 times to cover them so they won't show later. I would suggest hanging the rock similar to brick, cut a piece in half and stagger the joints where you have both horizontal and vertical joints. Start with the top and work down. Your first piece should hang horizontally along the ceiling, then stagger from there. It will be a little more work, but the end result will be straighter and less "friendly" (wavy). You will be glad you did, especially if you are doing an around the walls shelf layout. Also, if you have any corners, don't tape them , use metal corners and nail them in and bed the corners out 12'' on each side. Much stronger and will withstand bumping and knocks better than tape when you start benchwork, etc. You should also buy a sanding pole and lightly sand down all the mud joints and nail spots. Every teenie weenie mistake will show after you paint. I also suggest you texture the end result with a crowsfoot pattern. You can buy the necessary texture brush at Home Depot, as well as the hand tools I mentioned above. It will add another seamless thin layer of mud to the walls and strengthen them more and help hide "holidays", (mistakes).
I don't want to muddy up the waters any more than they already may be, but I would like to offer a suggestion on your rocking plans. Don't want to contradict the Good Doctor, but in my previous life, I was a tape and bedder for a contractor and taped many houses. In those days, we did it all by hand, no mud boxes, bazookas or anything like that. A pan of mud, pan rack w/tape on my hip, a 6" tape knife, 10" and 12" bedding knife was all we used. Made for nice, staight walls. If it were me, I would consider hanging the rock horizontally, not vertically. Sheetrock has depressed edges along the long side, designed to give a little indention to fill with tape and mud. If you hang them vertically, you are going to have long 8' seams to hide, not as easy as it sounds. You will also have a wavy wall, as it is very difficult to nail up the middle of the rock where there are no seams and effectively spot the nails with mud. BTW, you should spot those nails 3 times to cover them so they won't show later. I would suggest hanging the rock similar to brick, cut a piece in half and stagger the joints where you have both horizontal and vertical joints. Start with the top and work down. Your first piece should hang horizontally along the ceiling, then stagger from there. It will be a little more work, but the end result will be straighter and less "friendly" (wavy). You will be glad you did, especially if you are doing an around the walls shelf layout. Also, if you have any corners, don't tape them , use metal corners and nail them in and bed the corners out 12'' on each side. Much stronger and will withstand bumping and knocks better than tape when you start benchwork, etc. You should also buy a sanding pole and lightly sand down all the mud joints and nail spots. Every teenie weenie mistake will show after you paint. I also suggest you texture the end result with a crowsfoot pattern. You can buy the necessary texture brush at Home Depot, as well as the hand tools I mentioned above. It will add another seamless thin layer of mud to the walls and strengthen them more and help hide "holidays", (mistakes).