New show on HGTV

So I have new show idea for HGTV( Home and Garden TV). It is called "How to drywall with your spouse and not get divorced". Due to budget concerns with our house we decided to do our own drywalling. And by drywalling I mean putting up the gyproc. Not the taping and mudding, that we left to professionals. And since we had about 9400 sq ft of wall/ceiling space to cover, it was a big undertaking.

So I figured I would pass on what I learned in this process and hopefully save another marriage or at least curb the arguing that WILL ensue if you drywall together.

Now this is all assuming that your man knows how to drywall already. If he doesn't, skip this post altogether and hire a professional.

First you need some cool tools that will help take away the grounds for some of the arguments, so they don't even start. I would say that doing ceilings is where most arguments happen. It is where most physical strain happens. Holding 12 ft sheets of drywall above your head hurts. So the first tools are these cool extension polls.

They adjust up to about 10 feet high. They hold full sheets of drywall in place when your man puts in the drywall screws. And are especially good in places like closets and other small rooms you are putting up drywall.

The other really cool and time/energy saving tool is a drywall lift. Now this is a bit of a more expensive tool, but soooooo worth it. We lucked out and borrowed one from Trevor's brother and probably it saved me thousands in therapist hours. It extends to about 10 feet high and hoists up full sheets. You can even tilt it to put sheets on walls. IT IS AMAZING!

Another cool tool is something that my Mother-in-law had seen on Cityline. It is called a Blade runner. I have talked about it in a previous post. Again it well worth the money to invest. Now that being said you do need a fairly steady hand to run this thing, which is why I didn't do any cutting with it. But man does it save time.

A tool that I found really useful, and one that I would think would be standard for drywalling, was a hand held rasp like this one.

Really smoothes out edges and when something is just barely too big, it works like a charm. Your job is to know exactly where it is at all times.

Other notes about tools is that you should have your own set of tools. While your man has his own tool belt, you should have your own. And should consist of the following: tape-measure, pencil,pencil sharpener, screwdriver, box cutter/exacto-knife, and band aids.

Now you might be asking why I would need my own tape measure. It is to find pieces to fit in places while he is working on another piece. Often around doorways or short walls you need narrow, smaller pieces. So for you to go and hunt and find a piece that fits, saves time. And then your man can just keep moving.

Now for procedural issues. Trevor doesn't talk much, so he just wanted me to be a step ahead of him handing him the tools he needed. This is a great tactic and makes things go smoothly, but a note to all husbands expecting this: WE NEED TO LEARN THE PROCEDURE FIRST !!! Don't get all huffy because we hand you the screw gun when you needed the glue first. We are learning.

One thing that took me a little bit to understand was that when your man gets mad and utters something, don't take it personally. He is upset with the issue at hand, not at you. Now if you make a mistake, admit it IMMEDIATELY. Don't try and cover it up, admit it, fix it then both of you move on. This is probably the biggest piece of advice I will give you. Under stressful situations things are said that aren't normally thought or said. Just like when you watch any of those reality shows, people always say they do and say things they wouldn't normally do. So think of this as being on your own reality show.

On the flip side, if you think something is about to be cut backwards or on the wrong side, quickly mention it. Now men, we are just doing this to prevent you from swearing after YOU realize it was cut backwards, so DON'T bark at us for doing this. Better for us women to be wrong then for you to cut wrong.

Here are other little tidbits I learned:

-Don't talk to him when he is measuring or trying to remember a measurement or he is about to cut.

-Try to keep one step ahead. If you notice the glue or acousta-seal in the caulking gun is almost empty get the next one ready to go so he just has to switch it out and keep going.

-Have water/drinks or snacks handy.

-Take a break away from the spot you are working on.

-Have a broom and garbage can handy. Easier to clean up as you go along than one bigger job at the end of the day or late at night at 1 am when you are tired. Also gives you something to do while he is putting the screws in.

-Don't look up when you are holding drywall in place and he is either screwing it in place or cutting something out.

So if I can survive drywalling walls and ceilings this high...anyone can!

So this is my experience with drywalling. I never want to do this much again!! We survived. Next step for us is painting. Now it becomes my house.