Horizontal drywall w/ dropped ceiling

ClnlBrahm

My parents and I are finishing their basement, (none of us are significantly experienced), and we will soon be drywalling. We intend on installing a dropped ceiling when we get to that point in the project. The distance between the existing sub-floor to the unfinished ceiling joists is roughly 8.5 feet, but because of exposed ducts etc. that will need to be hidden inside the ceiling, we anticipate a finished room height of around 7.5'.

I've gathered that it's recommended to work from the ceiling down when hanging sheets of drywall horizontally along the wall frames, so that the resulting gap will be at the bottom and eventually covered by the molding.

My question is, (sorry for the long-winded intro), can I start from the floor up since the 'gap' will be effectively covered by the dropped ceiling?

TIA!

AtlanticWBConst.

Absolutely you can. Starting from the ceiling down is primarily done when installing sheetrock onto the ceilings, and the walls.

When installing sheetrock in areas that will have dropped ceilings/acoustic ceilings....standard installation procedure is to start by stacking the sheets off the floor and leaving the gap at the top of the wall, which will be covered by the ceiling panels.

FWIW: I prefer never to stack sheets directly on any floor. You are also installing in a basement, thus another reason to avoid direct contact with the concrete. In addition cosider using sheetrock that is resistant to mold.
Example:
Our preferred method of wall construction in basements is to framethe walls with PT sole plate, KD studs. Install either all foam board insulation, or at least in the lower 12" of the walls. Install 3" wide strips of cement board along the lower areas of all walls, then install paperless drywall (sheetrock) onto either the whole wall, or at least the lower horizontal sheet area.

Best of Luck on the project.

__________________
- Build Well -

ClnlBrahm

Thank you!