Finishing living room drywall....

Hi Everyone,

I am putting up 1/2" drywall in my living room ceiling and walls.

For the ceiling, is it OK to just use joint compound on the seams then roll on sand texture, prime, and paint? OR should I do a skim coat before I apply the sand texture?

For the walls, I assume just joint compounding the seams/screws is fine then prime/paint?

 

You're taping all the joints with paper tape, right?

And you have 16" OC ceiling joists and are hanging the ceiling drywall before the walls, right?

No need to skim coat as long as everything is smooth. Texture hides some imperfections but not a lot so don't assumed a half a$$ed job will look good when you're done.

 

Is paper tape better than mesh for ceilings?

Yes, some are a bit longer than 16" but not by much. I can cross with 2x4's to add support. I may do that anyway because of the strange spacing.

So just curious, what is the point of skim coating then?

 

Is this the same room from your other thread? If so the ceiling joists look to be spaced further than 16" center to center. What spacing are your ceiling joists?

If this is the same room as your other thread look carefully around the room. That thin top plate for your closet wall extends beyond the wall and will interfere with hanging sheetrock. That tail end and any other things like that will need to be trimmed off before sheetrocking.

Again... if it's the same room. There is nothing in the top corners to nail the sheetrock to. You'll want to attach blocking to the top of each stud/joist bay so there is solid wood continuously backing up the 90 degree sheetrock joints.

 

Yes, paper tape is better than mesh. If, as Dane says, your ceiling structure is more than 16" on center, you need to use 5/8" rock. 1/2" will still be fine on the walls.

 

There are 2 reasons to skim coat; to get an extra nice finish or to hide previous damage. For most jobs decently finished drywall is fine without a skim coat.

 

Yes it is.. I will be adding a lot of 2x4s for all the sheet edges.