How to Make a Drywall Brace

A drywall brace helps hold up drywall sheets you are applying to a room’s ceiling or walls. The brace allows you to use your hands to drive screws through the drywall sheet and into the rafters or studs. Constructing the brace takes only a few boards and some nails, but you can keep the brace and use it anytime you install a drywall sheet. Your brace does not need to look good since it only needs to hold up the drywall during the installation process.

Measuring tape
Circular saw
Sawhorses
2-by-4 board
1-by-4 board
Hammer
Nails
Plastic or metal pipes (optional)
Hacksaw (optional)
Screws (optional)
Screwdriver (optional)

Instructions

- 1
  Measure the distance where the ceiling will sit to the floor -- or the height of the wall if you are installing a wall. Cut a 2-by-4 that is 2 inches longer than the distance you measured, allowing you to wedge the board between the floor and the ceiling or about 5 inches below the top of the wall.
- 2
  Cut three lengths from a 1-by-4 board that measure 2 feet long. Place one of the 1-by-4s so it intersects the top of the 2-by-4, and then drive three nails through the two boards to join them together.
- 3
  Nail the other two 1-by-4 boards to the ends of the 1-by-4 you already nailed to the 2-by-4. Drive one nail through each of the 1-by-4s to anchor them together. Swing the loose ends of the 1-by-4s so they sit over the 2-by-4, and then drive nails through the 1-by-4s and the 2-by-4 to join them together.

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