While building or remodeling your home, you have many decisions to make, like the color of the paint and the fabric of the curtains or how to cut drywall. Other choices, like which building material to use for the walls, are much more permanent, so it’s important to consider options before making a choice. One of those options is drywall or door lock.
What Cutting Tools Do You Need?
Cutting drywall is a simple task, but like all manual tasks, it has its secrets. It is necessary to avoid cutting the plates with electric tools and always use personal protection elements such as chinstrap and goggles.
Drywall cutting tools
Cutter
The first tool through which you can learn about how to cut a hole in drywall is the cutter, blade or knife is used to cut drywall as long as the panel has not been placed and the cut to be made begins and ends at an edge; to create more complex openings or cuts, it will be necessary to use a point saw.
The technique is straightforward: cut the paper or cardboard from the visible side, taking care of it with a metal ruler. You only need to cut the cardboard, not the plaster. Once the cardboard or paper has been cut, it will be possible to split the plaster, which will break following the cut line made. Then, it only remains to cut the cardboard on the non-visible side. To do this, the smallest part is rotated about 90º with respect to the largest part, and the cardboard is cut following the fold line.
Point Saw
The point saw is used to cut drywall and is an answer to the question of how to cut drywall on the wall when the panel is already installed on the wall or ceiling or when it is necessary to create openings.
First, the cut is marked with the cutter. Then, using the saw’s tip, it is inserted into the plaster, taking care not to break it. Once the plaster and the back cardboard have gone through, it will be possible to start the cut following the lines drawn.
Sandpaper
It is used to eliminate roughness after cutting the plasterboard and killing the sharp edges of the sheet once cut. It is essential to use a chinstrap and goggles to carry out this task since plaster is a very volatile fine particle, which can be aspirated or can enter the eye, causing severe problems.
Hand Hole Punch
The Borers hand or holes should be avoided for drywall cut (or needling) unless essential use, since, as stated above, to the be the drywall a dry material, the use of power tools of medium and high speed generates a dust cloud that will penetrate all moving parts, and possibly your lungs.
If, for any reason, you must use this tool for this task, try to use the lower speed and not use the hammer, which will fracture the plate.
Remember that the screws suitable for this material are self-drilling and do not require any pre-drilling. It’s screwing, on the other hand, must be done by hand since the head must be precisely flush.
Closing Thoughts
Drywall is a panel made of calcium sulphate dihydrate (gypsum), with or without additives extruded between thick sheets of lining and backing paper, used in wall construction and interior ceilings.