Site-made butthangers

[Bob Dylan]

I am thinking of having my rock sub use butthangers on the upcoming job, but have only read about them.

To make them on site, I was thinking of using plywood or OSB rips for the wide thick piece the rock edges screw to, and 1/4 inch x 3/4 wide rip strips for the edge boosters.

Does the edge boost size seem right? How about the board stock? Plywood or OSB? Or either?

And what thickness for the board stock? We'll have 3/4 and 5/8 offcuts available in OSB from the floor and roof sheathing jobs.

And how do they install? Seems like a simple concept, you always make an end joint in the middle of a stud or joist bay, then fix the butthanger to the end of the first sheet with a couple screws, rock in the butting sheet, and screw the seams to the butthanger on 8" centers. Or what centers?

Or am I missing something?

[Manny Davis]

The thickness of the strips depends on how wide the main board is. 1/4" sounds like too much for an 8" wide main piece, but would probably be okay for a 12" wide piece. You don't need much of an indentation for this to work. After you hang both sheets using your homemade butthangers, put a large taping knife or trowel edge across the seam to check the depth of the depression. An 1/8" depression would be perfect, imo.

The down side to this idea is that the sheetrock isn't laying flat against the splice board when it is screwed. It is on a slight angle. IOW, the splice board should have a bevel. I don't know if this might cause problems down the road. It probably won't be a problem.

I don't like using OSB for splices when I do patchwork. It doesn't take screws as well as soft plywood does. 1/2" would work as would 5/8 or 3/4. The width of the strip is only going to be 8 to 12 inches so bending won't be an issue. I would put the screws 6" o.c. and don't push too hard on the screwgun when doing the second piece, because the only thing holding it there are the screws in the first piece of sheetrock.

[dakota]

First I cant pay my crew to build them or even afford the down time. Second there is less then 1/8" flare, if you try a 1/4" you will be breaking the rock. Next if the shething scraps are not flat then you will also have problems.I prefer the ones from Trim- Tex although the other brands work fine. If you cant afford to by them you probably cant sell the up grade or afford to use them. There has been lots of discision about this look in the archives for other ideas.