Can Drywall Be Installed Horizontally?

Drywall

• Drywall is a gypsum product sandwiched between two pieces of paper. Standard width is 4 feet, but 5-feet widths are available as a special order product. Typical lengths include 8, 10, 12 and 16 feet. The sheets are tapered thinner along the long edges to make taping and finishing easier resulting in a flatter, smoother surface. Professionals order drywall sized-to-fit walls and ceilings. A room 12 feet long receives 12-feet long sheets, to minimize joints and reduce finishing materials and labor.

Horizontal

• A 12-feet long by 8-feet high wall requires three sheets of drywall installed vertically, which makes two vertical joints in the middle, which require taping, drywall compound and sanding. The same wall will use two, 12-feet sheets installed horizontally with a single, horizontal joint in the middle. The material and labor required for taping and finishing will cover 12 linear feet on the horizontal installation, and 16 feet on the vertical installation. The vertical installation in this case requires more labor to install three sheets and more material and labor to tape and finish the joints.

Vertical

• In small areas such as closets, it makes sense to install the drywall vertically. Whenever the wall width is less than four feet, a single sheet of vertically installed drywall will fit, eliminating the need for a joint in the middle of the wall. When access to an area makes it difficult or impossible to bring long sheets of drywall into the area, the shorter, 8-feet length is the only option. At that point, the choice between vertical and horizontal is moot, since a vertical or horizontal installation creates the same number of joints.

Combined

• At times, a combination of both vertically and horizontally installed drywall might make sense. A wall 19 feet long is covered for 16 feet by two, horizontally installed sheets of drywall. The remaining 3 feet space uses a single, vertical sheet to finish the wall. The vertical sheet for the end piece is cut to place the cut-off edge in the corner, so the tapered edge meets with the two tapered edges of the horizontal sheets, simplifying finishing.