DrywallOttawa planning tool

Hang the room on paper first

Every sheet, every cut, every offcut — placed the way a hanger does it: the ceiling first across the joists, the big walls next, then the closets and bulkheads out of what is left. Staggered butt joints, kept off the door and window corners. Then see it in 3D and take the order sheet to the yard.

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Private by default: the plan is worked out in your browser. Nothing is sent unless you choose to save it to a HomeUpgraders project.

Step 1

Your room

A scanned or sketched room from the scanners and the Layout Library, a room laid out on the Rooms page, or typed sizes. The ceiling height has to be measured — the plan will not guess it.

Scanned or sketched

The room you last scanned, sketched or confirmed on this device.

From the Rooms page

A room (or the whole floor) from the Layout Library Rooms page on this device — its doorways, beams and ducts come with it.

Room

Open the Rooms page

Type the sizes

Width (ft)Length (ft)Ceiling (ft)

DoorsWindows

Measured ceiling height (ft) Board type (dry rooms)

Bathroom with a shower or tub

HomeUpgraders' rule for a bathroom with a shower or tub: cement board in the wet zones, waterproofed with the Schluter system; Humitek on the rest of the bathroom's walls and ceiling. Mark the wet zones on the wall cards below. A powder room is a dry room.

Step 2

How the room is built

Ceiling sheets run across whatever carries them. Tell the plan which way the joists run; if there is strapping, the sheets run across the strapping instead.

Joists run left ↔ right on the plan (x) Joists run up ↕ down on the plan (y) Not sure — assume the short way, and say so

Strapping across the joists (1×3 or furring) Board the ceiling too

Getting the boards in

A board has to reach the room before it goes on the wall. Stairs with a turn or a small window keep the long boards out — the plan then only buys lengths that get in, it does not try to squeeze a 12 ft board round a corner.

Route Stair width (in) Landing depth (in) Window opening width (in) Window opening height (in) Longest board that gets in (in)

Walls, doors and windows

Positions from a scan or the Rooms page are kept; positions the room file does not have are centred and marked assumed — slide them where they really are. A wet zone (tub surround or shower) on a wall is cement board from its sill to its top; the rest of that wall stays drywall.

Your rules (the defaults are Ryan's working method)

Butt joints staggered at least (in) Joints off opening corners (in) Smallest offcut worth keeping — short side (in) Smallest offcut worth keeping — long side (in) Floor clearance (in) Stand-up sheets on walls up to (in) One sheet cut in half on walls up to (in) Finish level (for the planning range)

Step 3

The sheet plan

Pick a room above. The plan appears here, updates as you change anything, and nothing is sent anywhere.

Step 4

See it standing up

One finger spins, two fingers zoom. The walls nearest you are cut away so you can see in — spin the room to bring the other walls round. Tap a sheet to see what it is and where it came from. The slider walks the install order.

HOMEUPGRADERS

Install order: all sheets

Tap a sheet in the 3D view or in the drawings above.

Step 5

Order sheet

Quantities come from the placed sheets, not from square feet. Allowances are marked and are yours to change. Prices are yours too — type them in if you have them; nothing is ordered from here.

SupplierProject nameBacking lumber allowance (lin ft)

Strapping allowance — one row per foot of ceiling (1×3 × 8 ft)

Open a plan file

Optional HomeUpgraders save

Signed in, you can keep this plan in one of your Home Upgraders projects and open it again on any device.

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