All existing methods of installing a plasterboard wall in your home: ideal examples for perfect interiors

Often called drywall, plasterboard has completely changed how we design and alter interior spaces. Plasterboard walls are a cost-effective and adaptable solution for dividing or creating new rooms in your home, as well as for improving their overall appearance.

Plasterboard walls can be installed in a variety of ways, allowing homeowners to customize the process to meet their unique requirements and design objectives. Every method, from cutting-edge adhesive techniques to conventional stud framing, has a unique set of benefits that make achieving a seamless and polished finish easier.

We’ll go over all the current techniques for plasterboard wall installation in this guide, along with great examples to get you started on designing the ideal interiors. Knowing these methods will enable you to make the best decisions for your area, regardless of your experience level with home renovation.

Method Description
Metal Stud Framing Install plasterboard on a metal frame for a durable and straight wall, ideal for modern interiors.
Wooden Stud Framing Attach plasterboard to a wooden frame for a traditional approach, perfect for classic or rustic interiors.
Direct Adhesive Fix plasterboard directly to the wall using adhesive, a fast and cost-effective method for flat surfaces.
Suspended Ceiling System Combine a suspended ceiling grid with plasterboard for creating drop ceilings, adding depth and style to your room.
Partition Walls Create separate spaces by installing plasterboard on a metal or wooden frame, ideal for customizing room layouts.

Regardless of your level of experience, there are a few tried-and-true techniques for plasterboard wall installation that can help you achieve a perfect finish. Knowing these options will enable you to design sleek, contemporary interiors that precisely match your vision, from straightforward adhesive techniques to more intricate metal framing systems. In order to guarantee that your plasterboard wall not only looks professional but also improves the overall aesthetics of your living space, this article will walk you through the best practices and provide ideal examples.

Leveling a wall with plasterboard with your own hands

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Plasterboard sheets can be applied to surfaces in two different ways: directly to the wall or on a frame. Without lathing, it is not possible if:

  • the walls are very crooked – the deviation from the vertical is more than 4 cm;
  • heat and sound insulation is required – the insulation is placed between the wall and the gypsum board layer, to create a gap, a frame is needed.

Frame method

The standard distance between the axes of the vertical lathing racks beneath the gypsum board is sixty centimeters. The width of the sheet of gypsum board determines this size. Wooden blocks or a unique metal profile are used to mount the frame. Wood has drawbacks such as rot, swelling, or drying out; antiseptic and fire retardant treatments are necessary.

Steel wall profile types for frames beneath gypsum board:

  1. Guide (U-shaped, PN, UW). It is installed along the perimeter of the gypsum board wall, as the basis of the lathing.
  2. Rack (C-shaped, PS, CW). It is mainly used to make vertical lintels between the guides.
  3. Corner (with perforation, with reinforcing mesh, PU). It is intended for finishing external corners. This profile is glued to the plasterboard with putty.

There are multiple sizes for both the guide and the rack profile. A minimum of 75 mm is needed for double-layer cladding, and 50 mm is sufficient for single-layer cladding. The load is considered while determining the wall’s height and width. If there is an insulating layer between it and the plasterboard, the thickness of the insulation is taken into consideration when taking a wide profile.

Benefits of using frame siding:

  1. Strong fixation of plasterboard.
  2. The ability to hide electrical wiring or pipes, no need to groove the walls.
  1. Space is “eaten up” – at least 6 cm from each clad wall.
  2. Low strength, since there is a gap behind the plasterboard. If you need to hang cabinets or heavy shelves, then the cladding has to be done in two layers (total thickness of at least 18 mm) or reduce the step between the racks of the sheathing to 40 cm. Furniture fasteners are located on the profile. The advantage of a two-layer sheathing is good heat and sound insulation.

Any kind of metal profile has a standard length of 3 meters; if the wall is higher than 3 meters, a rack-mounted profile (4 meters long) is used. A frame constructed from extended 3-meter profile pieces will be brittle. The easiest way to cut is with regular metal scissors.

Frameless method

You can cut back on the frame and keep the usable space if the room’s walls are generally level. GKL is fastened to the sheathed surface using special gypsum glue or dowels. Both approaches can be used in tandem. It is acceptable to use polyurethane foam in place of glue.

In the event that there is a 2 to 4 cm vertical deviation, the wall will first be fitted with beacons made from leftover gypsum board scraps. The first ones are put in place at the corners, and then extra beacons are glued every 40 cm along a rope that is pulled between them. The gypsum glue layer’s thickness is changed to alter their level. The wall is marked, which facilitates uniform sheet adhesion.

Fastening to the frame: step-by-step instructions

How to sheathe plasterboard around the frame:

  1. Start work from the corner.
  2. It is recommended to cut the edge on the plasterboard at an angle of about 30° (by a third of the thickness). This is necessary to press the putty into the seams. There is plasterboard on sale, which already has the edge of the desired shape. On cut blanks (for example, when finishing openings), cuts along the edges are mandatory.
  3. Set the screwdriver to medium speed and put a screw on the bit.
  4. Place a stand up to 1 cm thick under the first sheet to create a gap.
  5. Press the plasterboard tightly to the frame.
  6. Screw in the screws so that they are recessed into the surface by about 1 mm. Then the caps can be easily filled with putty. The step between the screws is no more than 20 cm, if the sheathing if they do it in two layers, then on the first one you can do up to 75 cm. The first layer is additionally fixed with screws, which are fixed to the second. The distance from the top or bottom of the sheet to the screw is 15 mm, on the right and left they retreat by 10 mm.
  7. Sequentially fasten all the cladding sheets. Each is fastened to at least three profiles, the edges of the gypsum board should fall exactly in the middle of the rack. Small-sized trimmings can only be fixed to two profiles. When installing the upper sheets under the ceiling, also leave a gap.

Screws are inserted on adjacent sheets with a small offset. In the event that the cladding is installed in two layers, the second layer is installed only after the putty has dried in the seams of the first layer.

Gypsum board sizes

Wall plasterboard comes in standard dimensions of 2500 or 2700 mm by 1200 mm and 12.5 mm in thickness. Take 3 m long sheets if the distance between the floor and the ceiling is greater than 2.7 m. For wall cladding that will support heavy objects, use high-strength plasterboard that is 15 mm thick. There are also small-format (1500 x 600 mm) sheets for sale. It is easy to collaborate with them on your own. Less: there are more seams.

How to dock

The upper portions of the sheathing are fastened so that the seams between them do not coincide with the joints between the lower ones if one sheet is not long enough to cover the entire height of the wall. If you don’t, you won’t get strong enough. Reinforcing tape and putty are used to seal the seams.

The joints on the first and second layers should also not line up when double cladding. The first layer’s seams are made on even profiles and the second layer’s seams are made on odd profiles if there is a 60 cm gap between the frame posts. In the event that this requirement cannot be met, a minimum of 5 cm of arbitrary displacement will be carried out.

How to fasten

Use specific plasterboard screws for metal or wood (chosen to match the frame material) to secure the gypsum boards to the sheathing. At least 10 mm of the screw should be visible sticking out of the sheathing’s back. This also holds true for the screws holding up the second double sheathing layer. The ideal screw length for securing a typical wall plasterboard (12.5 mm) in one layer is 25 mm; for two layers, it is 40 mm. About 20 to 25 screws are needed for every square meter of cladding.

Distance

Leave a space of 5 to 10 mm between the plasterboard cladding and the floor or ceiling. This is required to offset the effects of potential shrinkage or variations in temperature. Maintain a space of 1 to 2 mm between neighboring plasterboard cladding sheets for the same reason.

Partition made of plasterboard

Installing a frame is required when creating an interior partition. The same materials used to make wall sheathing are also used to make it. A double frame would provide greater strength and make it simpler to install wires, insulation, etc. Sheathing is constructed in three layers; a third layer is required for higher insulation or fire safety requirements.

Marking

The first step in installing a plasterboard partition is to create a frame diagram that includes the locations of the sheathing sheets. It has markings put to it. Method:

  1. Using a straightedge or a painter"s cord, draw a line on the ceiling at the location of the upper guide profile of the lathing.
  2. Check the angles of the line with all surfaces. They should be exactly 90° if the room finishing project does not involve installing a partition at an angle.
  3. Using a plumb line, transfer the markings to the floor.
  4. Connect the markings on the floor and ceiling with vertical lines on the walls.

How to assemble the frame

Similar to cladding a wall, there are basic guidelines for installing plasterboard lathing, such as measuring the space between profiles.

The double frame’s posts are positioned on the same line as the opposing walls. To unite the two halves of the lathing, short sections are bolted at the top and bottom in between the guide profiles.

Where the horizontal crossbars are located on the frame, the same sections are installed the full height of the frame.

Communications in the partition

The frame needs to be doubled over with a space between the walls in order to lay cables or pipes. Before the partition is sheathed, pipes and wires are run through this opening so as to eliminate any possibility of damage from the profile’s sharp edges. Before you fasten the drywall, make sure to take a picture of the communications location. This will make it easier to replace or repair the pipeline or cable in part. The partition can reach a maximum height of 6.5 meters and is sheathed in two layers.

Sheathing of the frame and heat and sound insulation

It is necessary to offset the joints of the sheets that are on the opposing sides of the partition from one another. 60 or 40 cm is the recommended distance, depending on how far apart the frame posts are from one another.

Mineral wool slabs are one way to insulate an interior wall. Before sheathing, they are positioned without fasteners in between the frame posts. The majority of materials that block heat also absorb sound. For optimal results, use specialized gypsum board soundproofing.

Basic rules for installing a plasterboard wall

Building a framed plasterboard wall:

  1. First, the guide profiles are attached to the floor and ceiling with dowels according to the markings.
  2. The frame is also attached to the walls with dowels. It is imperative to use hangers. These are narrow short steel strips, sold in the same places as the profile. To fix the lathing parts, they are shaped like the letter P.
  3. When installing rack profiles, it is imperative to immediately check the correctness of their position with a level.
  4. If the wall is high, then to increase the rigidity of the structure, horizontal crossbars are installed with a step in height of 80 cm.
  5. The profiles are connected to each other with “bug” screws.
  6. For a tight fit of the frame to the walls, floor, ceiling, to improve insulation, a sealing self-adhesive tape is glued to the profiles located along the perimeter of the sheathing.

Plasterboard can be finished with wallpaper, paint, tiles, and decorative plasters. Upon completion, the sheathing is entirely covered in putty beneath paint, sufficient to seal the joints and conceal the screws beneath tiles and wallpaper. To increase plasterboard’s adhesion to wallpaper, a primer is applied.

Cutting plasterboard

All you need is a basic construction knife to cut drywallboard. The sheet is set up above the floor on a table or similar level surface. A painter’s thread or a ruler are used for marking. After extending the knife blade as far as the gypsum board’s thickness, it is drawn repeatedly along the desired line.

The sheet breaks, causing it to hang over the floor before being turned over and having the cardboard cut on the back. If a piece in the shape of the letter G is required, a hacksaw is used for the short cut and a knife is used for the long cut. Jigsaws are used to cut curves. socket-related holes, etc. p. is completed before the sheet is fastened to the sheathing; for drywall, this is done by using a drill and a crown on a rectangular piece of wood.

Even someone with no prior construction experience can use plasterboard to level a wall or create a basic interior partition. Plastering and laying bricks or blocks are more labor-intensive and expensive than this method.

Plasterboard wall installation is a flexible way to design attractive and useful areas in your house. Plasterboard is a dependable material that complements many interior design styles, whether your goal is to divide a space, conceal flaws, or create a blank canvas for decoration.

Plasterboard installation techniques come in a variety of forms to suit varying demands and abilities. Every method, from simple frameworks to sophisticated ones like curved walls or built-in shelves, enables you to tailor your area to your preferences and needs. Your home can look and feel better with expert results that you can achieve by carefully planning your project and choosing the appropriate method.

Remember that planning, accuracy, and attention to detail are essential for a successful plasterboard installation. Spend time taking precise measurements, using high-quality supplies, and adhering to the directions for the technique you select. You can make smooth walls that complement your interior and serve as the ideal background for your unique style with a little time and attention to detail.

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Veronica Gerasimova

Interior designer, author of books on the design of residential premises. I will help you make your home not only functional, but also beautiful.

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