Home-Built Drywall Jack

Home-Built Drywall Jack BUILDINGS New Techniques 29-1-10 Putting up drywall on a wall or ceiling can be quite a job, especially if you have to work by yourself. Harry Scott solved the problem by building his own drywall jack. "It's a real time saver," says Scott, of Walsenburg, Colo. "I came up with the idea because I was building an 18-ft. dia. round fruit cellar and had to put up the 7-ft. high ceiling by myself. I had to do a lot of scribing work to get all the panels to fit. My homemade drywall jack let me take my time and do the job right, without straining myself." The jack rides on four small caster wheels and consists of an adjustable, 1 1/4-in. length of thin wall sq. tubing that fits inside a length of 1 1/2-in. sq. tubing. The inside tube has holes drilled into it to match the teeth on a sprocket that's operated by a hand-operated crank. An angle iron frame welds to the top of the adjustable tubing and a 2 by 4 frame screws to the top. To put up a sheet of drywall on a ceiling, Scott places the sheet on top of the wooden frame. A pair of 2 by 4's with metal brackets at the bottom hang down from one side of the frame and are used to place sheets along walls. "It's especially useful on 12-ft. long sheets which are almost impossible for one man to put up," says Scott. "My total cost was less than $165. Comparable commercial jacks sell for $500 or more. I put a positive lock brake on the jack so it won't accidentally ratchet back down." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Harry Scott, P.O. Box 1265, Walsenburg, Colo. 81089 (ph 719 738-3847; email: rockworm80 @msn.com).

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