Getting Sheetrock Into a Manhattan Walk-Up

Buying the board is the easy part. Getting it from the truck to the fourth floor of a prewar walk-up is the part that goes wrong, and it goes wrong the same way every time: nobody measured the elevator, nobody told the crew there was no elevator at all, and the sheets end up leaning against the stoop in the rain. Here is how to order it so that does not happen.

Regular board against mold and moisture resistant

Regular gypsum board is paper faced and it is the right thing for the great majority of walls and ceilings in a dry apartment. Mold and moisture resistant board uses a treated core and facing that resists moisture and the mold that follows it. It costs more per sheet, and the difference is worth it in exactly the places where water turns up.

• Bathrooms, including the ceiling, and especially a bathroom with no working exhaust.
• Behind and beside kitchen counters, under sinks, and around a dishwasher.
• Laundry rooms, utility closets and anywhere a washer lives.
• Cellars, ground floor rear walls and any wall that has leaked before. If it has been wet once, it will be wet again.
• Note that moisture resistant is not waterproof. Behind tile in a shower you want a cement or tile backer board, not gypsum of any grade.

On an ordinary dry bedroom wall the upgrade buys you nothing. Spend the money where the water is.

The thicknesses we stock and what they are for

• 1/4 in. The skin board. Laminating over an existing cracked wall or ceiling to save demolition, and curved work, because it bends where thicker board snaps. Not a standalone wall.
• 3/8 in. The repair and patch thickness, and the one that matches older plaster build-ups in a prewar apartment. Also used double-layered.
• 1/2 in. The everyday board for walls in an apartment. This is what most of a job is.
• 5/8 in. The heavy board: ceilings, where 1/2 in sags over time, and anywhere fire rating or sound matters, which in a multiple dwelling is most shared assemblies. Your architect, your building code consultant or the DOB filing decides this one, not the supply house.

Where a fire rating is specified, buy what the specification names and keep the paperwork. We can tell you what a board is. We cannot tell you what your assembly is rated for.

What fits in a passenger elevator and what does not

A 4x8 sheet is 48 in by 96 in and it is rigid. A typical prewar passenger cab in an Upper East Side building is small, the door opening is narrower than the cab, and the ceiling is lower than people remember. Standing a 96 in sheet up inside it usually does not work, and jamming it on the diagonal is how cab panels and door tracks get damaged.

• Measure the door opening width and height first. The door, not the cab, is the limit that stops you.
• Then measure the cab diagonal, corner to corner including the ceiling height. That is the real number for a 96 in sheet.
• A service elevator with a removable ceiling hatch usually takes full sheets. A passenger cab often will not.
• If it does not go, the board goes up the stairs, and that changes the crew size and the time on site. It is a cost, not a detail.
• Check the building's own rules too. Many buildings require moving pads, a service elevator reservation and specific delivery hours.

Why a 4x8 sheet is a two-person carry

A full sheet of gypsum board is heavy, awkward and floppy along its length. One person can move a sheet across a flat floor. One person cannot control it on a stair turn, and a sheet that catches a banister breaks at the corner and cracks along the paper, which is how you end up short two boards on a job. On a walk-up, plan on two people per sheet and a clear path.

We do not publish sheet weights that are not in our product data. If the weight matters for your building's elevator limit, call the counter and we will read it off the board in front of us.

How our delivery works

We carry to the floor. Board does not get left on the sidewalk for a super to deal with, and it does not get left in the lobby. That is the whole point of buying it from a store eleven blocks away instead of a big box with a curbside drop.

Manhattan delivery is $35, and free over $250. Outside Manhattan is $65, dropping to $50 over $250. Same-day applies to in-stock items ordered by 10am in Manhattan. A walk-up carry needs the floor number and the elevator answer on the order, because that decides how many hands the truck brings.

What to have ready before the truck arrives

• A person on site who can let the crew in and who knows where the board goes. Not a phone number, a person.
• The service elevator reserved, if the building requires it, and the delivery window inside the building's permitted hours.
• Masonite or board down on finished lobby and hallway floors if the building expects protection. We sell that too.
• A clear path: no bicycles in the vestibule, no scaffolding blocking the stoop, no car in the loading spot.
• Somewhere to stack it flat or leaned properly against a wall, on the floor it is being hung on. Board stored badly bows.
• Your count checked before the truck leaves. Coming back for two sheets is another delivery.

Questions we get asked

When is mold and moisture resistant board worth the extra money?

In bathrooms, behind kitchen counters, in laundry and utility rooms, in cellars, and on any wall that has already been wet once. On an ordinary dry bedroom wall it is money spent on nothing.

Will a 4x8 sheet of sheetrock fit in a passenger elevator?

Usually not standing up in a small prewar cab. A 4x8 sheet is 96 in long and most passenger cabs will not take it on the diagonal. Measure the cab diagonal and the door opening before you order, and plan on the stairs if it does not go.

Do you carry it up, or leave it on the sidewalk?

We carry to the floor. Tell us the floor number and whether there is a service elevator when you order, so the crew arrives with the right number of hands.

The board we stock

Live prices and shelf stock. Four by eight sheets.

Order board with the carry priced in.

Read how our sheetrock and drywall delivery works, or call the counter at (212) 535-8400 and tell us the floor.