Hang Drywall By Yourself, step by step

Installing drywall does not have to be intimidating and, in fact, you can do it all by yourself! I was able to do our whole laundry room (including the ceiling) in one day AND without an extra set of hands. So today I will show you how and the secret weapon that made it all possible.

John lifting drywall panel into place on laundry room wall

Drywall Installation Tools & Materials

Here is what you will want to have on hand if, some of it is optional depending on the difficulty of your job:

Drywall, we used 4 x 8′ UltraLight Sheetrock
Drywall lift (we rented ours for $40!)
An electric drill, in hindsight I wish I’d gotten a drywall screw gun
Drywall setting drill bit (to countersink heads into the drywall)
Coarse-thread drywall screws (I did 2″ on the ceiling, 1 5/8″ on the walls)
Measuring tape
Chalk line
Utility knife
Straight edge like a metal yardstick
Drywall saw
Hole saw drill bit (optional)
Pencil or marker
Step ladder

As you saw in our last post, I picked up the drywall along with my other big supplies when I rented the $19 Home Depot truck. I got fourteen 4 x 8′ sheets of UltraLight Sheetrock since the whole “ultra light” thing sounded helpful and it was well-reviewed.

John lifting insulation out of truck bed with sheets of sheetrock in the back too

The lightweight thing was a bit of an over-promise. It is lighter than traditional stuff, but still not something you can hold in place with one hand while the other screws it into the studs. So I rented this drywall lift from Home Depot to assist with the job. It was $40 for 24 hours and the pieces easily fit in our car.

Drywall lift rented from Home Depot for holding sheetrock in place during installation

Hanging Drywall On The Ceiling

The drywall lift was a total lifesaver (and a backsaver). I could place a piece of drywall on it (once it was cut to size) and then crank it up into place with the spin of a wheel.

John using drywall lift to hold sheet of sheetrock to ceiling

Then with the lift holding it in place, I was free to screw it into the wall studs or ceiling joists without having to worry about my arms (or a human helper’s arms) getting tired.

attaching drywall sheet to the ceiling using a drill

I used coarse-thread drywall screws (2″ on the ceiling, 1 5/8″ on the walls) and a special drywall setting drill bit, which makes sure the head of the screw gets counter-sunk into the drywall. In hindsight, I kinda wish I had splurged on a drywall screw gun because this step would have gone a lot faster.

drywall sheet hung across doorway before and after the opening is cut

The hanging process was not truly all that complicated – cut it to fit the pre-measured area, carry it upstairs, use the lift to get it into place, and screw it in.

Cutting The Drywall Sheets To Size

When a full sheet did not fit in a particular spot, I’d use a utility knife to score and break the drywall to size. Once I took my measurement, I marked my cut with a chalk line and then used a straight edge to score the line with my utility knife. Once you are through the top layer of paper, you can run your knife along that ridge again without the straight edge, and it is fairly straightforward to snap the piece along your line. Then you simply have to cut the back layer of paper.

how to cut drywall series including marking with chalk scoring with knife snapping and cutting

We also had to cut around various obstacles like light switches, vents, etc. For those I relied on a variety of tricks to ensure ideal hole placement.

Cutting Holes For Vents And Outlet Boxes

Since I had began with the ceiling, one of my first obstacles was the electrical box for our ceiling light. To mark its location, I dabbed some spare paint on the edge…

light fixture box in ceiling marked with yellow paint

…then I pressed the sheet to the ceiling with the lift to transfer some of the paint to the drywall.

sheetrock panel held against ceiling of laundry room using drywall lift

Then I could cut a perfectly placed hole using a hole saw drill bit.

drill with hole cutting bit attached sawing through drywall sheet

I used the same paint trick to mark the HVAC vent hole too, as you can see below.

drywall hung in ceiling with hole cut for light and HVAC vent

For all the non-round holes, we used the drywall / keyhole / jab saw to cut out the appropriate sized holes. Whenever possible, we liked to cut from the front of the drywall because it kept the hole a bit cleaner on the inside.

using drywall saw to cut hole for laundry plumbing in drywall sheet

Hanging Drywall On The Walls

The lift also pivots to assist you hang a sheet of drywall on the wall. The room ended up being nearly 8′ deep and 7′ wide, so each wall required simply two sheets of 8′ drywall that were cut a little shorter length-wise.

drywall lift holding sheetrock panel in place against wall

NOTE: It is typically recommended that you hang your sheets horizontally across your studs. It creates fewer seams overall, hides bowing better, and gives you a stronger wall that is less likely to sag.

As straightforward as the process was, it still took quite a bit of time. Between measuring & marking things, making our cuts, hauling things upstairs, using the lift to get them into place, cutting around additional obstructions, and screwing the drywall into place – I think we averaged about one board every 45 minutes. But because it is not a large room, we were still able to knock out the room in a day.

Cutting Around The Doorways

Cutting around the doorway was straightforward. We literally hung the sheets (one at a time) over the door opening and then cut out whatever covered the door opening with my drywall saw. This was a fairly foolproof way of doing it, but I think had I picked up a spiral saw it would’ve been significantly faster.

Side by Side of hanging drywall over doorway with piece cut out

Since we had four total doorway holes to cut (two doors with two sides each), we appreciated how foolproof this process was.

Eventually I got all 14 pieces in place (10 in the room, 2 in the hall, 2 in the storage room vestibule) and the space was truly starting to take shape. This is where we began, as seen from the adjacent attic space…

before photo from same angle before drywall was installed

And this is where we ended up. Again, this is looking at the laundry room from the attic, which is why you still see exposed framing.

after photo of backside of laundry room with drywall completed on inside

The inside of the laundry room is not looking quite exciting. You can see that our drywall hanging is not 100% ideal (I had a slightly angled cut up in that top corner) but we are still proud to have completed the task on our own. As many of you mentioned, the hanging part is a lot easier than the art of mudding and taping, so we tried to buoy our spirits with that info as we inched along.

inside photo of laundry room after drywall installation was completed

How To Mud & Tape Your Drywall Seams

Speaking of mudding and taping the joints, we have officially began in on that, and it is certainly the more challenging part of this process – especially since we have plenty of corners.

UPDATE: We found a trick for making this process easier. So if you want to jump to the next step in this project, check out how we taped, mudded, and sanded the drywall (including a video)!