How to Tear Down Drywall

Cut the seams in all the corners of the room with a utility knife. These corners include the wall and ceiling corners. This will cut the tape that holds the pieces of drywall together in there corners. It will reduce tearing walls that you don't want to tear down.

Lay dropcloths over the floor to protect it from falling debris. Drape pieces of plastic over entryways that you want to protect from dust. Use masking tape to hold up the plastic.

Remove all electric outlet and light switch plates with a Phillips or flat-head screwdriver. Remove any light fixtures or hardware that might impede the drywall removal process.

Set up an A-frame ladder in one corner of the room.

Climb the ladder and strike the center of a piece of drywall with a short-handled sledgehammer. Pop a hole in the drywall big enough to get a pry bar into.

Slide the angled end of a pry bar into the hole and pull down on the drywall until it breaks away from the ceiling. Continue this hole-making and prying process until all pieces of the sheet of drywall are torn down.

Remove the screws that held the sheet of drywall to the ceiling joists with an electric screw gun. Use a Phillips screwdriver bit.

Move to the next sheet of drywall and repeat the removal process. Continue this process until all sheets have been torn down. Remove the sheets of drywall from the walls in the same way the ceiling sheets were torn down.