What Is a Drywaller

The short answer

A drywaller is the tradesperson who installs and finishes the interior surfaces of a building. They hang gypsum board on framing, tape and fill the joints between sheets, sand the surface flat, and apply texture where the job calls for it. In the DMV you will also hear them called drywall contractors, drywall finishers, tapers, or sheetrockers, after the brand name most people use for the board itself.

If the surface of your wall or ceiling is damaged, missing, or newly framed and bare, a drywaller is who fixes it.

What the trade actually covers

Hanging is the first half. Sheets get cut, lifted and fastened to the studs or joists, with the layout planned so joints land where they can be hidden and where they will not crack.

Finishing is the second half and it is where the skill sits. Tape gets embedded in compound over every joint, then two or three more coats go on, each one wider than the last, with drying and sanding between them. Done properly the wall reads as one continuous surface. Done badly you see every seam the first time afternoon light crosses it.

Most drywallers also patch and repair, match existing texture, and skim coat damaged surfaces. Many work on plaster as well, which is a related but genuinely different material.

Is drywall carpentry?

No, though the two trades work next to each other and the confusion is reasonable.

A carpenter builds the structure. Framing, floors, roofs, stairs, doors, trim, cabinetry. They work primarily in wood, and the work is dimensional.

A drywaller covers that structure and makes the surface flat. The work is about plane and finish rather than structure. Different tools, different materials, and a different definition of a good result.

They meet at the framing. A carpenter frames the wall, a drywaller boards and finishes it, and a painter comes after. On a small job one person may do all three, which is where the blurred line comes from.

Do carpenters do drywall?

Some will, particularly on a small job or as part of a larger scope they are already running. Whether you want them to depends on the finish. Hanging board is straightforward and most trades can do it. Finishing it so the joints disappear under paint is a specific skill that comes from doing it every day.

If the repair is behind a bookcase, it does not matter much. If it is a living room wall with a window at one end, it matters a great deal.

Drywaller or handyman?

A handyman is the right call for nail holes, doorknob dents, small anchor holes and minor cracks. It is faster and cheaper and the result is fine.

Bring in a drywaller when the repair is large enough that the patch has to disappear, when the surface carries a texture that needs matching, when a ceiling is involved, or when water has been in the wall. Those are the jobs where an invisible repair and an obvious one cost about the same in labour and differ entirely in outcome.

Who fixes walls and ceilings

Holes, cracks, water stains, sagging ceilings, popcorn removal, texture matching, new walls and full replacement all sit with a drywall contractor. If you are not sure whether your problem is drywall or something behind it, describe it to us and we will tell you, including when the answer is that you need a plumber or a roofer first.

Talk to a drywaller

We hang, finish, texture and repair drywall and plaster across Washington DC, Maryland and Northern Virginia. Send a photograph of the problem and we will tell you what is involved. We are insured and bonded.

Related pages

• Drywall repair
• Drywall installation
• Can a handyman do drywall repair
• Drywall finishing and texturing