We have an awkward spot in our basement heading down the stairs. We barely have enough spaace to bring bigger items down. We would like to put a 3/4 drywall and glue it to the wall. Is this possible? Can I just use liquid nails?
Yea you can use liquid nails, but if you ever have to remove it your going to hate it. I'm just wondering though, you stated that you barely have enough space as it is...sooo, don't you think adding 3/4 inch drywall is going to reduce it even more? Why don't you paint it?
I agree with Peter O... I would attach the 1 x 4 wooden strips to the wall and then the sheet rock to the strips... I would even go one further and put the foam insulation between the strips and the cement/block. If you attach the sheet rock directly to the block you could have mold issues in the future. (I recently witnessed this in a house) Mold is VERY expensive to clean up.
The problem is that drywall is faced with paper, and your concrete will tend to pass moisture from the soil. So after some time, there will be mold on the back of your drywall. The right way to do this is to spike pressure treated sleepers to the concrete, and nail the drywall to the sleepers/ This will create an air space that will tend to keep the drywall dry. A much better approach would be to apply a coat of stucco to the cement wall. The stucco is totally inorganic, and would breathe just like concrete. This can be coated with a basement wall paint.
Maybe you could get away with 1/4 drywall instead if space is tight. They do have liquid nails for that application, I think. Another option rather than drywall, might be an inexpensive prefinished beadboard. It's about $15 at homedepot or menards. The reason I suggest that is because if the small space is hard to move things through, the drywall will get dinged pretty easily. And at my house, it seems I am constantly patching holes in the drywall in my hallway going upstairs. If you're worried about it holding and really are just trying to get around the difficulty of mudding the walls, you can add wood moldings at the seams and where it butts to the ceiling-- again attaching with liquid nails or cement screws. They do make cement screws that don't require the plastic insert-- although, you still have to predrill the holes with the bit that ussually comes in the box.
Cement is notorious for passing on continuous moisture. Wallboard will become somewhat of a wick, sucking the moisture from the cement, breaking down the drywall, but often before that, become a source for mold buildup - very unhealthy. Generally, on cement/concrete, you would attach furring strips (1 x 2's often) to attach to the cement, then, the wallboard onto these. However, given space is an issue, in getting up/down the stairs, you do not want to add bulk to your walls. Stucco would work OR you can just paint or stain the cement. Make it a focal point with a decorative paint job, or an artistic element.
