Drywalling

With most of the rough items completed, the dywallers moved in and started to cover the walls and ceilings with gyp board. Since we are always on the lookout for new stuff, we are trying a special sound-blocking gypsum panel in the basement next to the rec room. The product is called Quietrock 525- A composite panel consisting of one layer of gypsum and one of a cementitious compound. The manufacturer claims that the sound blocking quality is superior to a lot of standard assemblies (they say it is as good as 6 layers of regular gyp board- and that's how they justify the high price- it costs about 6 times the amount of regular drywall.) We are using it only in a small areas (actually only 2 panels) and we'll see, whether it really lives up to it's promise.
The rough drywall should be done by the end of the week- then the joints will get taped and topped and a skimcoat will be applied over the panels.
The photo shows the living room walls & ceiling- Note the sloped light fixtures in the underside of the stair to the basement and the taped-off air return above the powder room door to the left to protect the ducting from dust during construction.