I have a garage 35x30 with 12' ceiling. Its one big open room. How difficult would it be to sheetrock myself or with a helper? What do you think it would cost me in materials? How much would a sheetrock guy charge me to do it? Including the ceiling.

Not sure can you screw a screw in? Somewhere between $100-$10,000.

How much does a 4'x16' of Sheetrock cost you?

 

Have you done any drywall before?

Figure the material cost. Double that for someone to do it for you. Even illegal laborers will cost you $12-15 hr.

If you don't know the answers to any of these questions...you will make  bigger mess than its worth and and cost yourself twice what it should.



"How difficult would it be to sheetrock myself or with a helper?"



....umm you need someone with a little experience at mudding...you would be the helper. Mudding isn't learned on YouTube.

do you have time on your hands?

Then do it yourself.

Good question do you even want to mud it?

Rent a lift, get help, it can be done.  I'd be tempted to hire out a ceiling that large because there's an awful lot that could go wrong and would be painfully obvious.  

Nope other than patching a few holes here and there



 

The actual sheets are like $12-15 in my experience. Not a super expensive item. You can get basic 4x8 or 4x12 sheets for longer walls so you have less seams.

As others said, mudding is the hard part and takes practice and skill to be good at to get even walls without waves and humps. Doing the ceiling will also be a challenge without a lift and stilts I would think....or some friends to help. You're not gonna get a sheet on the ceiling by yourself, that's for sure.

Yeah, I can drive a screw. Not sure how tough hanging 12' sheets would be versus just stroking a check. A 4'x12' x1/2"  sheet of lightroc is $18 at the local HD.



 

I have found sheetrock guys are cheap and do a job SOOO much better than I could ever do it.

Its a garage. I dont need a class 5 finish. I will spray the walls when complete and before long shelves will be installed and all my crap moved in. a perfect finish isnt necessary.



 

I hate drywall, so for me the cost of having a crew do it in three hours is beyond worth it.

taping and mudding is a black art I do not understand

Or painted...  I've seen a lot of garages with drywall that they never painted....

It's easy enough to do on your own. Not being a pro it will take you longer, it did for me.

Why not? Mudding doesn't require a pHD. You tube is fine to learn how to on. You'll just be sanding more  

 

Have you considered a rough texturing? If so then mudding the seams doesn't need to be perfect. Just tape, mud, and sand. Thin down some more mud and roll it on with a coral roller.

ETA- That's a lot of room to be texturing. Still could be an option for you.

Personally I would hire it out, but I dislike doing drywall.

Depends on how handy you are at other things. If you can't change your own oil and and replacing a light switch scares you, then hire a pro. Otherwise hanging sheetrock, mudding and taping and texturing is a piece of cake, ceilings are the hardest you'll need a drywall jack, I found working on stilts to be easy, it made my wife nervous the whole time.  But then I just replaced all 4 wheel bearings, front lower ball joints, did a complete brake job and adjusted the valves on my Honda Element.

I never have done drywall before, but when I built my 24'28' shop I sheet rocked it myself with a friend to help holding up the ceiling pieces while I screwed them in.  It was no big deal, just took time.

I'm not a drywall guy but believe it is code. I beleive if it is an attached garage it needs to have 1 or 2 layers of 5/8 drywall for fire protection and one coat of mud and tape to seal the seems. I can only assume to prevent exhaust fumes fom entering the house


 

If I mathed correctly that's about 60 boards.  I am paying hangers $10 a board to hang and $10 to finish (except for level IV and up smooth).  I'd probably pay $12 a board for the 12' ceiling height.

You can rent/buy a drywall lift:

Have to really careful with the ceilings. If you don't hold the rock up tight and or don't get the screws in right you will have creaking and pops


 

Ceilings are a bastard.


You might want to hire that out

Guys that are knowledgeable in this:

Say I have a similar garage and want to insulate the walls and put something up on the interior walls. Should I choose drywall or osb? Doesn't need to look nice just would like a layer over the insulation.

How hard can it be?

Rent (or buy) a ceiling sheet rock hanging tool but confirm it can reach 12'.



Ceilings are easier to hang than walls with this tool.  Actually the only hard part is lifting a large sheet onto the machine.  I've found 5/8" thick 4'x10' panels quite difficult to move alone.  You will probably want 5/8" thick for ceiling fire rating.

I did my mother in laws garage and it was easy.  Rented a lift for the ceilings.  The seams don't look great but it s a garage so who cares.  

Many guys put OSB on the walls, more durable and makes hanging things easier.

That or at the very least make up a T with 2x4s

 

It's more for fire code. To seal the gaps to prevent smoke and flames from penetrating the drywall. Drywall doesn't burn very easily and fires spread easily through the gaps between sheets if not mudded.

Hanging sheetrock ain't that hard.  Some contractors are very proud of themselves and will charge you a ton of money to do something you can easily do yourself.  If this is your first attempt at it, the "mudding" process might be a bit messy, but otherwise, have a go at it if you think you can manage it.  MIght be a bit spendy getting all the right tools at first, but working with sheetrock is a great skill to learn I think.

its a detached garage so I dont have to worry about that. Great point TBK on the smooth walls not collecting dust.

Many locales have fire-separation codes for attached garages with entrances to interior spaces that requires that all joints be sealed by mud but not that the sheetrock needs to be painted.

 

I just came to post that I knew a guy who pronounced it "she-trock".  Of course normal people call it drywall

Also, get one of these: http://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-Drywall-Screw-Setter-4-Pack-DW2014C4/202302391

For fire separation, not for fumes. Many fires start in garages, so this code is to prevent fire from quickly spreading into the house.

 

I would suggest you get a couple, maybe 3 estimates and compare that to the materials cost and what you feel your labor is worth plus using a buddy or two.

Here are a few WAG numbers to look at:

20 sheets of 4x16 1/2 inch dw (walls)  $18 per sheet?   $360
17 sheets of 4x16 1/2 inch dw (ceiling) $18 per sheet?   $306  16" on center rafters
17 sheets of 4x16 5/8 inch dw (ceiling) $22 per sheet?   $374  I would recommend 5/8" if the ceiling rafters are 24" on center
2 cases of adhesive                                                            $90
50 lbs. 1 inch dw screws                                                    $80            
2 - 500' rolls of dw tape                                                       $12
4 - 5 gal buckets of GP mud     9 bucks per bucket             $36        
1 - 20 lbs bag of quick set mud                                              $9
6" dw knife                                                                            $10
12" dw knife                                                                          $10
2 - mud pans                                                                         $22
mud mixing tool                                                                      $16
hand sander                                                                           $9
10 -sander screen                                                                $15
25 pack razor blades                                                            $12
dw lift                                                                                   $150 to $250
dw saw                                                                                 $10

approx total =                                                                       $1147 +/- $200 regarding the dw thickness for the ceiling and the quality of the lift you get.

Plus tax!

I would use a local lumber yard and have them place the dw right in the center garage with their lift.
If you didn't want to get a lift you could build a small scaffold for two guys, but getting the dw up the scaffold is a bear.

Plus beer and ice

ETA; I'm assuming you already have a good drill, utility knife, basic hand tools