In the past, we’ve always used two ladders, a deadman, and our heads to hoist giant sheets of drywall when doing ceilings. It’s not a fun way to do it, and it has caused a few minor injuries in the past. This past weekend we finally got smart and rented our first drywall jack.
I took pics, but blew them away so we’ll have to go all generic… here’s what a drywall jack looks like:

It comes broken down into smaller pieces, and only takes about 2 minutes to put together. The drywall sits on those arms (at the top) and you crank the wheel to move it up and down. If you have a tilted ceiling, you can tilt the arms to match the angle. Incredibly easy. It makes it possible for one person to put up sheetrock while another person, say, blissfully screeprints Wagner Design & Construction t-shirts in the room next door. (By the way, I plan to write a how-to screenprint posts one of these days!)

Here’s what the drywall jack looks like with a piece of sheetrock loaded on it:

With this nifty tool, Teague was able to finish an entire bedroom ceiling in about two hours. Normally this would have taken us all day, and would have resulted in much swearing, accusatory insults, and overall marital strain. It’s the best invention EVER; $35 is a small price to pay for peace and harmony.