Drywalling the ceiling usually requires the help of a lift.
Although you do it with strength or extra manpower, manually holding a sheet of drywall in place on the ceiling while you nail or screw it isn't a job most people want. Professional installers save their backs, and heads, by using a drywall lift, sometimes called a jack. It does the heavy lifting for you and leaves both your hands free for the job of driving nails or screws. Once you attach the sheets, finishing the seams isn't much different from finishing them on walls.
Instructions
1. Place a sheet of drywall on a drywall lift and adjust the clamps to hold it securely. Wheel the lift into position so it will raise the sheet into a corner and the sheet will be perpendicular to the ceiling rafters. Crank the handle of the lift to raise the sheet and keep cranking until it contacts the rafters. If the ceiling is angled, you may have to adjust the angle of the lift to match.
2. Drive 1 1/2-inch drywall screws around the perimeter of the sheet into the rafters with a screw gun to hold it in position while you remove the lift. When the lift is gone, drive screws at 12-inch intervals around the perimeter and along each rafter under the sheet. Set the depth gauge of the gun to drive each screw so the head makes an indentation in the paper without breaking it.
3. Lift the next sheet into position next to the first one so the edges are touching and screw it to the rafters in the same way. Install as many full sheets as necessary in this way. Leave the edges, where you have to cut sheets to fit, for last. Measure the positions of electrical boxes with a tape measure and cut out holes for them with a drywall saw before raising the sheets.
4. Cut sheets to fit around the edges with a utility knife. Measure the length or width you need on the front of a sheet with a tape measure and make a mark with a pencil. Draw a straight perpendicular line from the mark across the sheet with a straight edge. Score along the line with a utility knife, then break the sheet along the score. Cut the back of the sheet along the score to complete the cut.
5. Use the lift to position cut sheets that are too large to handle, and position smaller ones by hand. Screw them to the rafters in the same way that you screwed the full sheets.
6. Spread drywall joint compound, or mud, on each seam with a 4-inch drywall blade. Moisten a length of paper drywall tape that will cover the seam and lay it on top of the mud. Scrape along the tape with the blade to remove excess mud and flatten the tape to the wall. Fill all the screw holes with mud and scrape flat. Let the tape and mud dry overnight.
7. Spread a second coat of mud over the dried tape and screw holes and scrape it flat with a 6-inch drywall blade. Let the second coat dry overnight, then spread a third and scrape it with a 10-inch blade. The object is to gradually feather the edges of the mud into the surface of the drywall to make the seams and screw holes disappear.
8. Sand the final coat of mud after it has dried with 120-grit sandpaper to prepare it for primer and paint.
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