12 foot long sheets of Sheetrock Delivered
Sheets are Held Together in Twos by Paper
Bags of Plaster ready to be mixed with Water
12 Foot Long sheets Stacked in a Bedroom Ready to Go
Sheets and Plaster Strategically Placed
Floor Protection Paper - Not sure why they need this.We
only have subfloors at this point.
It was a
nice surprise to see that almost 200 sheets of sheetrock (also known as gypsum
board or drywall) had been delivered. It was all brought inside and stacked up
in strategic points around the house and in each room.
I didn’t
have the good fortune to see it delivered but have seen large quantities
delivered before. They use a lift similar to a fork lift attached to this long
arm that looks the boom on the space shuttle. There are joints in the arm which
enables the operator to twist it around corners. The operator has controls that
sit on their waist which allows them to walk with the load. The idea is to
bring the load to a doorway or window where it is slide inside and stacked up
on edge. Having it stacked on edge makes it easier to work with and keeps it
from snapping in half when lifting.
The sheets
come in groups of two held together by paper. Each sheet is ½ inch thick and is
4 feet wide by 12 feet long. At almost 200 sheets (yes, out of curiosity I
counted) that would be about 2,400 feet of sheet rock or laid end to end that’s
almost half a mile of sheetrock. It’s almost 9,600 square feet or enough to
cover 2/3rds of a football field (the things you can do with a calculator).
Interesting?
OK, one more. A square foot by one inch thick section of sheetrock weighs 3.4
pounds. At a half inch thick by 48 square feet, each sheet weighs about 82
pounds. Factor that by 200 and you’ve got 16,400 pounds or 8.2 tons of
sheetrock to hang. So it’s easy to understand why they not only strategically
placed it for ease of hanging, but also to keep it from winding up in the
basement.
That’s a
boatload of sheetrock. As much as I enjoy this sort of work, this is one time I’m
happy not to be the one lifting it all.
Enjoy your day.
