Angie's List: Drywall Repair

MEMPHIS, TN (localmemphis.com) Painting and wallpapering are popular DIY home improvement projects, but they can quickly become complicated if your walls are not in good shape. For most homes, that means your drywall needs to be a flat and even canvas that will easily accept your new paint or wallpaper.

"DIY projects can be a lot of fun but, honestly, drywall is a lot harder than it looks. It's heavy material, takes lots of tools. It's really best left to the professionals," Angie Hicks of Angies List said.

Even small drywall repair jobs can get messy and complicated but those jobs can be done yourself, especially if you are handy. But finishing a basement or other room with no drywall in place or installing new drywall to repair damaged walls is another story.

"The reason why it's not a good DIY job is that if you don't know what you are doing it's going to look pretty bad in the end product. A professional knows how to install it especially in a whole house. If you go to try to do a whole house, a whole basement, it could take you days. Professional could do a house this size in a day, him and a couple of other guys," drywall contractor Robert Morrison said.

Hanging the drywall, which can weigh 80 pounds and generally takes a three person crew, is just step one of a four step process. Next comes mudding, taping, and sanding. All very detailed and necessary to provide that flat, even canvas.

"For a 12x14 room it will take a professional about 3 or 4 hours to hang a room that size and a few days to finish it and get it ready for paint, drywall contractor Andy Ferguson said. "For a 12x14 room a DIY project it could probably turn into 2 weeks if not a month pretty quickly."

If you do want to do this project yourself, Angie suggests you evaluate whether you have the time and the tools to do it right. The average homeowner may not have some of the tools needed to get the job done right and may not need them again after the job is done.

"Do you have a hawk? Do you have a mud pan? Do you have a putty knife laying around your house? I know I don't. Those are all different types of tools you are going to use even for a small drywall job. If you are drywalling an entire room, it's going to be even more materials. That's why this is a job when you get down to the nuts and bolts of it, is really probably best priced out by a professional," Hicks said.

According to Angie's List, the cost of a professional drywall installation job for a 12-by-14 room starts at about $200, with extra costs coming in for those follow-up steps.

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Angie's List: Drywall Repair