Opening Drywall

[J.A.F.E.]

Traditionally if I have to open a small opening in drywall I use a jab saw and reuse the dropout to patch the hole. A friend of mine always bashes it open with a hammer which in my mind makes cleaning up the edges a little harder, makes a lot more mess (as if the cursed drywall wasn't messy enough) and requires a new piece to patch the hole. If you have some extra laying around not a big deal but it could mean a trip to get a piece (my local place will sell 1/4 or 1/2 sheet). He says it's better because he doesn't know what's in the wall so he can't cut through a plastic pipe or a wire. Makes sense when he puts it that way.

How do you guys open drywall?

[mrbill]

Drill a hole in what will be the corner of your opening.  Use a straightedge and utility knife to score around the area you wish to remove.  (It won't cut deep enough to hit a wire or pipe.)  Stick you finger in the hole you drilled and pull it out.

Bill

[goodfellow]

Mark the opening, then use a large awl or drill to make a hole inside the mark for the saw to access. Cut it out while using a vacuum hose in the other hand to catch the damn dust.

Hate drywall!!!! 

[bmwrd0]

I do jab saws also, it looks much more proffesional that the hammer trick. Only thing, you better have an idea of what is behind that section.

[J.A.F.E.]

Thanks guys! I really like the finger pull idea mrbill.

I  have a monumental dislike for drywall work unfortunately I'm good enough at it I can't justify paying someone else to do it. And I always notice the mistakes they make.

bmwrd0 the not knowing what's inside is why my friend likes the hammer method.

[Der Bugmeister]

Drill a hole in what will be the corner of your opening.  Use a straightedge and utility knife to score around the area you wish to remove.  (It won't cut deep enough to hit a wire or pipe.)  Stick you finger in the hole you drilled and pull it out.

Bill

This leaves a nice clean opening to make patching easier later.  For a larger hole, make an X cut to facilitate folding/cutting the bulk out.

The jab saw makes me nervous as well if I don't know what's behind the drywall.  Some installations defy logic or common sense and contain surprises...it only takes one nicked waterline to teach that lesson.

You can get those gizmos that attach to your cellphones now and display what's behind the wall.  I've seen one in action and it's pretty impressive.  Takes the guesswork out of "what am I gonna blindly cut"!

Scraps of drywall aren't hard to find...BST sites are a good source when you can't find them anywhere else.

[J.A.F.E.]

Drywall no problem to find and it's cheap enough (one sheet at a time - a whole house worth though much different story).

Never seen the cell phone thing but it sounds interesting.

[bmwrd0]

Yeah, somewhere in my house is an in-wall splice. That is the kinda thing that makes me nervous. I pulled that whole circuit and rewired it back to the panel when I converted from knob-and-tube. Which, by the way, is something that takes a bit of cutting holes in walls to figure what the heck is going on at times. An electrician recommended cutting into the plaster with a 4" hole saw at blockages to work things around. And then use a cut from a piece of drywall to match it up. Works great and you can only spot the patch if you know it is there.

[J.A.F.E.]

The walls in my house are texture coated so finish work is pretty easy.