Drywall Tools

There are different types of drywall tools required to do your drywall project neatly, quickly and easily. Minor drywall projects can be handled by men and women at home as a normal home repair job while the major projects require professionals. Drywall tools comprising a set of different hand tools are an important part of the interior home building environment. Home repair, construction and décor can be a simple task using the correct drywall tools.

What is a drywall?
Drywall is a new concept coming up in the market to give a new look to your home. Originally walls were covered with plasters and lath boards. But recently drywall has been used in home improvement and first it was invented at the United States Gypsum Company to cover a wall's frame, that led to the beginning of drywall history. It is an easy and affordable method to have great looking walls in your rooms, finished basements or as new decorative additions. Drywall is the most popularly used material for building walls and ceilings in homes.

Drywall basically refers to a gypsum board, also known as "wallboard", or by the brand name "sheetrock". The material consists of a gypsum core, with a coarse paper on the back, and a smooth paper on the finish side. Drywall is constructed in such a way that it is not only durable but also can be easily cut, drilled, nailed, sawed, and painted.

Types of drywall
Drywall comes in a variety of lengths ranging from 8 ft to 16 ft. There are four thicknesses of drywall:

• 5/8 in
• 1/2 in
• 3/8 in.
• and 1/4 in.

Some popular types of drywalls are as follows:

• Water-resistant drywall: Also known as "greenboard", it has the same gypsum with a water-resistant facing. This drywall is used in wet areas like a shower surround or a bathtub. However it is not water resistant and can get spoiled from moisture penetration.
  
  
• Concrete backer board: Having a solid concrete core, faced on both sides with fiberglass, it is used as backing for ceramic tile.
  
  
• Paperless drywall: There is no paper surface in this drywall. It is covered in fiberglass, which is highly water resistant. This drywall is mold resistant and it works just like regular drywall, with little difference in surface feel.

What are drywall tools?
There are different drywall tools meant to be used for different purposes. Using the right drywall tool can help a lot in making your DIY project look as professional as possible. Since drywall comes in a variety of lengths and thicknesses , the drywall hand tools must be tough. Drywall tools are easy to work with and hence can be used by a novice. Fixing or applying drywall is very simple using the right hand tool.

Types of drywall tools
Drywall tools are used basically to do five different purposes so as to hang a drywall properly:

• Cutting
• Fastening
• Taping
• Lifting &
• Finishing

Although some general tools which are already seen in your tool box kit can be used, like a utility knife and claw hammer, specific drywall tools make the job much more comfortable and easier. Lets have now a closer look on various important drywall tools

Drywall Sander
Sanders are required to give the last finishing touch to your walls. Finishing walls is one of the most important part of any drywall project. Using drywall sander can make a lot of difference to your wall. Sanding drywall mud is not a preferable job for many, including the professionals, because it is a nasty job. There are two types of drywall sanders—manual or hand sander and power drywall sander. Using a manual sanding block can make the job very tiresome and clumsy. The manual sander has a steel plate with a wooden or metal handle. Manual sanders can be pole sanders as well used to do finishing of ceilings. Nowadays there is powered drywall sander in the market that works very quickly, helping to reduce drywall dust. This can work much faster than manual sanding. Due to precision and high speed of a power drywall sander, many drywall installation experts consider a drywall sander the most important of all drywall tools. The drywall sander is specifically designed to sand and finish drywall corners.


Hand sander and power drywall sander
Taping knife
Taping knives are important drywall tools which are use to remove excess drywall joints from the flat joints on ceilings and walls. This is done by pressing the knife against the fresh mud. The taping knife can also be used to apply the second and third coatings of finishing mud over all flat seams. Taping knives are made of carbon steel, blue steel or stainless steel blades with wood, plastic or rubber handles. Nowadays, most of these knives are designed with ergonomically engineered handles to decrease hand fatigue. Taping knives range in sizes from 6" to 14". The most popular one being being 8" and 10". For applying tape, you can use five or six inch knife and a ten or twelve inch broad knife can be used for topping.


Stilts and Lifts
Fixing drywall up to the ceiling is very tough. Another special tool used in drywalling are stilts and lifts or jacks. A good stilt or lift is key to perfect installation of drywall ceilings. These tools allow drywall finishers to do all of the high work without using a ladder. You can also use a drywall lift. A sheet is loaded on it, which is then cranked up to the ceiling. The lift holds the sheet in place while you nail or screw it to the top. Drywall jacks are another tools to hold sheets of drywall up to the ceiling.

Drywall T-Squares
Drywall squares or T squares are important drywall, used for measuring, marking and checking squareness of large flat sheets of materials like drywall. They are also used to cut drywalls. These squares typically consist of a long blade made of aluminum or steel with a beam or handle section that forms the top of the "T" shape. The beam is thicker than the blade and are available in fixed or folding versions.

Drywall Corner Trowels
These tools are used to apply mud to taped corners. They can also apply mud to the metal beading. The one piece blade is constructed of stainless steel and is very flexible, which eliminates tape snagging and rusting. The blade angle of inside drywall corner trowels is set at a 103 degree angle. This helps in forming a perfect 90 degree corners when flexed during use. Outside corner trowels have an 80 degree blade angle that flexes to 90 degrees thereby forming a clean, square corner on the outside.

Drywall Hopper Guns
This is mainly used for spraying texture and joint compound on ceilings and walls. There are different settings to spray various patterns. These guns feature a handy air control valve, with a hand trigger for greater control and less hand fatigue


Drywall Cutting Tools
For cutting drywall, certain items are required like as a utility knife, a saw or a T-square. The utility knife should be sharp. The saw should be sturdy. A drywall saw is used for making cuts around obstacles. You can use rasp to shave the ends off sheet incase if it is cut slightly larger than required size. For cutting around electrical boxes, keyhole saw can be used. You just need to punch the tip through the drywall and cut along each side. For round cuts in drywall, circle cutter is used. There are also power tools for drywall cutting. There is drywall router, which is used to cut the holes after the sheets of drywall are up and it does the job much faster then cutting them all by hand