|
Posted by Mike Dobony on February 13, 2008, 9:50 am
On Wed, 13 Feb 2008 06:33:12 -0800 (PST), bvpowell@gmail.com wrote:
>> In the middle of my kitchen reno and while working in my attic, I
>> discovered that 1 or 2 full sheets of drywall in my living room are
>> sagging badly. Apparently the construction adhesive used 30 yrs ago
>> simply dried up and lost its hold. Since they used nails not screws
>> in the 1970s to attach the drywall to the rafters, there wasn't much
>> to keep it up. At the lowest spot, the gap between the drywall and
>> rafter was about 3/4"!! From inside the attic, I could slide 1/2 my
>> hand into the gap! I figured the whole thing would collapse from its
>> own weight any minute. I raced to HD and propped it up with a bunch
>> of 2x4s. My living room looks like a circus tent.
>>
>> Getting it supported was step 1. I now need to figure out step
>> 2...repair. Replacing all of that ceiling drywall is NOT the
>> preferred option. My attic has about 18" of loose, powdery, blown-in
>> insulation. Moving that stuff around is a nasty job. I don't believe
>> the drywall is cracked anywhere. It simply sagged as a full sheet (or
>> 2 sheets). I'm hoping that getting it flush to the rafters with the
>> 2x4s and then using LOTS of drywall screws will keep it up there for
>> another 20 years. With the loose insulation, getting adhesive in the
>> gap before screwing up will be difficult if not impossible.
>>
>> Anyone have experience dealing with this problem?
>>
>> --Jeff
>
> Your plan is sound. Most ceiling drywall around US is installed
> without adhesive. The head of the drywall screws will hold the drywall
> and the threads will hold the screws into the joists. You will want to
> space the screws 8-10 inches and while you're at it do the whole
> ceiling, not just the sagging area. The reason its sagging in the
> middle is the edges are held up by the vertical drywall pieces, so the
> adhesive used is probably failing everywhere.
Lots of screws? Professionally we do only 3 screws in the field of each
sheet on each rafter, with 1 nail on each edge of the drywall sheet on each
rafter. Nails/Screws go in every 6 inches or so on the butt joints. If
the drywall is sagging that much you may also have a moisture problem. I
also suspect that the glue is holding, but the drywall gypsum is separating
from the paper backing. Glue is unacceptable on the ceiling except to keep
it from creaking, not to hold it up.
| 
Yahoo! 
Google 
Windows Live 
del.icio.us 
digg 
Netscape 
XML Sitemap