Lathing for plasterboard on the wall and other problems of installing plasterboard

Plasterboard installation can be a game-changer for creating smooth, contemporary surfaces when it comes to wall decoration. But for a successful finish, getting the lathing right is essential. Plasterboard is kept in place and given the support it needs by lathing. Your plasterboard may become uneven or possibly fall off the wall if it is not lathed properly.

This post will guide you through the process of installing lathing for plasterboard, covering everything from selecting the appropriate supplies to resolving any potential problems. In addition, we’ll cover typical issues that may arise during installation and provide helpful advice to ensure a faultless outcome. This guide will help you better understand plasterboard installation, whether you’re taking on a do-it-yourself project or are just interested in learning more.

Aspect Description
Lathing Types Common lathing materials include wooden strips and metal profiles. Choose based on wall type and desired finish.
Spacing Keep the spacing between laths consistent to support the plasterboard properly and avoid sagging.
Alignment Ensure laths are level and straight. Misalignment can lead to uneven surfaces and difficulty installing plasterboard.
Fixing Secure laths firmly to the wall using screws or nails. Poor fixing can result in instability and problems with the plasterboard.
Insulation Consider adding insulation between laths to improve energy efficiency and soundproofing.
Common Issues Watch for issues like uneven surfaces, poor adhesion, and misalignment. Address these problems early to ensure a smooth finish.

Correct lathing during plasterboard installation is essential for a smooth and durable finish. A strong framework that helps secure the plasterboard and avoid problems like sagging or uneven surfaces is provided by proper lathing. This post will go over the fundamentals of lathing, typical issues that may arise, and effective solutions to guarantee a faultless outcome for your wall decoration project.

Types of plasterboard

Let me start by discussing wall plasterboard selection.

The typical sheet size is 1200 x 2500 mm. With its typical 2.5-meter ceiling height, it is the most versatile and ideal for finishing walls in most city apartments. The sheet covers the entire height of the wall without the need for cutting along its length.

Plasterboard comes in larger (3000×1200 mm) and smaller (1200×600, 600×300 mm) sizes, though, if you’d like. Long sheets work well in homes with high ceilings (think Stalin-era buildings with their three-meter ceiling gaps), and compactly cut gypsum board makes it easier to clad complex structures and ceilings without the help of an assistant.

Gypsum board is categorized by two more factors in addition to sheet size:

  1. Thickness. It can be equal to 6 mm for arched (flexible) gypsum board, 9-9.5 mm for ceiling gypsum board and 12.5 mm for wall gypsum board;
  2. Functional purpose:

It’s interesting to note that there is moisture-fire-resistant gypsum board (GKLVO) in addition to moisture-resistant (GKLV) and fire-resistant (GKLO). It’s used in private construction to finish wet areas in wooden structures.

Which gypsum board, then, is appropriate for walls?

  • Wall (thickness 12.5 mm). A less durable ceiling and especially an arched sheet can easily be pierced by an accidental impact with moving furniture or any other object;

By the way, plasterboard meant for walls is typically installed in two layers in areas with heavy traffic, like hallways. In this instance, all seams—horizontal and vertical—between the sheets of the two layers are overlapped.

  • The length of the sheet depends on the height of the ceiling in the room: ideally, it should be equal to or slightly exceed the height of the wall;
  • The functional purpose of the gypsum board (regular, moisture-resistant or fire-resistant) is selected depending on the type of room. A moisture-resistant sheet is used in bathrooms, toilets, showers and kitchens, a regular sheet is used in hallways and living rooms, and a fire-resistant sheet is used in wooden houses (including frame houses and those built from sip panels).

Aligning the walls

Gypsum board aligning the walls has a number of compelling benefits over traditional plaster:

  • Speed ​​of work, which directly follows from the large area of ​​the sheet;
  • Low cost of finishing a square meter, even with significant unevenness of the base;
  • The ability to use the gap between the drywall and the wall for wiring or installation of other utilities (water supply, ventilation, etc.).D.).

There are two methods for mounting drywall (see. How is the drywall installation going on the wall: glue and on the crate? Let’s examine each technique in greater depth.

Installation on the crate

It is highly advised that you assemble the crate using the galvanized profile—which is made especially for this use—rather than the bar. Why?

The following are the justifications for the profile:

  • Ideal geometry;
  • Resistance to decay and insects;
  • Lack of deformations for fluctuations in humidity and temperature;

  • Unlimited service life.

What is required to put the crate together is:

What is the drywall wall crate’s technology?

At your disposal are detailed instructions for each of the major work stages:

  1. Mark the false wall line on the floor or ceiling. When marking, take into account the thickness of the profile, all the unevenness of the wall and the cross-section of the utilities that you plan to mask with the sheathing;
  2. Using a plumb line, transfer the marking line to the second floor (ceiling or floor), then connect the lines with vertical markings on the walls;
  3. Fasten the guide profile along the markings using dowel screws. Walls and ceilings are drilled directly through the profile pressed against them;

Be careful when cutting galvanized profiles; use metal shears. Using a grinder to cut contributes to the burning of the zinc layer on the thin profile and heating of the cutting area. Thus, in high humidity, the profile starts to rust.

  1. Mark vertical fastening lines for the sheathing on the wall with a step of 0.6 meters and fasten straight hangers with the same step along each profile;
  2. Insert the ceiling profiles cut to size into the guides;
  3. Align them one by one using a plumb line or a long ruler, then attach them to the hangers. The hanger ears, screwed to the side walls of the profile, are bent toward the wall if they are too long.

When the lathing is put together, how do you fasten the drywall to the wall?

To ensure that the vertical edge of each sheet falls precisely in the center of the CD profile, each sheet is positioned vertically and fastened to the lathing. Using a mains or cordless screwdriver, insert 25 mm long (for single-layer sheathing) screws into the wall at a 20 cm interval.

There are various nuances in this work:

  • Screw in the screws so that the head is recessed 1 mm deeper than the surface of the gypsum board;

  • The distance from the fastener to the edge of the sheet should not be less than a couple of centimeters, otherwise it is likely to crumble;
  • In order not to miss the vertical profiles covered by the sheet, partially screw in one screw under the ceiling and hang a plumb line on it. The remaining screws are screwed in along the plumb line;
  • The plasterboard must be fastened to all elements of the sheathing, including the guides;
  • Additional sheets with straight edges are not cut with a hacksaw or jigsaw, but are cut along a ruler with a sharp knife by about a quarter of the thickness and broken off at the edge of any elevation with a straight edge. In this case, there will be an order of magnitude less gypsum dust in the room than when cutting.

How should the joints between adjacent sheets of plasterboard be treated? Gypsum putty is used to seal the seams (see. How to caulk joints in plasterboard.

When the room’s humidity and temperature change, taking the following precautions can help avoid cracks along the seams:

  • Expansion of seams between additional sheets with their rectangular edges. A chamfer is removed from the edge with a stationery knife by two-thirds of the thickness of the gypsum board;

A hint: the expansion joint will assist in completely filling the seam with putty, securing the neighboring edges together.

  • Installation of adjacent edges only on a common profile for them. If the height of the wall is greater than the length of the drywall sheet, sew horizontal jumpers from the same profile between the CD profiles;
  • Reinforcement of seams with fiberglass mesh (serpyanka) or fiberglass;

  • Bandaging the seams sealed with putty with paper tape.

In this article’s video, you’ll find out more about how to install drywall.

Installation on glue

Plasterboard can be attached to a solid surface, such as a brick wall, by using gypsum adhesive such as Volma Montazh or Perlfix.D.). You can use plaster or gypsum putty just as successfully in place of glue. This technology is used for minor wall irregularities (no more than 30–50 mm) and lets you save valuable space in the room.

In this instance, how to install drywall:

  1. The wall is cleaned of dust, dirt, fragile or poorly bonded coatings (whitewash, paint, weak or crumbling plaster);
  2. Its surface is treated with penetrating acrylic primer;

Advice: Apply an adhesive primer with sand (betonkontakt) to a panel or monolithic wall.

  1. The mounting adhesive is applied in cakes with a step of 15-25 cm on the surface of the drywall sheet or directly on the wall;
  2. The sheet is placed against the wall, pressed against it and aligned with the level pressed to it with light blows (with a palm or a rubber hammer);
  3. When installing the next sheet, the edges are carefully aligned in one plane. All installation flaws will have to be corrected with putty.

We already know how to seal the joints between the sheets: using putty with reinforcement and/or bandaging.

FAQ

We’ll now address several Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) that newbies to plasterboard work often have:

  1. How to assemble a soundproof partition from plasterboard?

Numerous actions are necessary in this situation:

  • A damper tape is laid between the guide profiles and capital structures;
  • Sound-absorbing material is laid in the partition frame or under the lathing of the false wall (usually glued mineral wool with a slab size of 60×100 cm – it fits between the profiles without cutting in width);

  • If unprecedentedly high sound insulation is required from the partition, it includes two independent (and, accordingly, acoustically decoupled) frames with the distance between them is 5-10 mm.

  1. How to extend a wall with plasterboard with your own hands, reducing the area of ​​the opening in it?

The extended section’s frame is put together using a guide profile (CW) and rack. When using double sheathing, the difference between the width of the profile and the wall’s thickness should be twice that of the plasterboard sheet.

  1. How to move a plasterboard wall when redeveloping an apartment?

Legally speaking, the transfer can only cause issues when housing is resold because plasterboard partitions are not load-bearing and do not compromise the structural integrity of capital structures; however, their location needs to be indicated in the apartment’s technical passport.

In theory, take down the old wall with a screwdriver and crowbar. Most likely, the plasterboard will be broken and unusable again, but the profiles can be taken apart without breaking and used to assemble a new frame that is covered in freshly bought wall plasterboard.

As we conclude our talk about plasterboard lathing and the typical problems that occur during installation, it is evident that adequate planning is essential. A smooth and effective plasterboard installation is contingent upon the establishment of a stable and level lathing framework. Inadequate or skipped execution of this step can result in uneven surfaces and problems later on.

Furthermore, it can be very beneficial to pay attention to the little things, like the kind of screws used and the distance between them. Plasterboard problems like sagging and cracking can be avoided with proper alignment and fastening, guaranteeing a neat, polished finish.

By giving these things careful thought, you can steer clear of a lot of the typical pitfalls that come with installing plasterboard. This method ultimately saves you time and effort while also improving the overall quality of your work.

Video on the topic

two-level frame for a plasterboard ceiling

Frame for plasterboard or about installing profiles for plasterboard on walls

Lathing of walls and ceilings for plasterboard. Final.

How to install a suspension if the profile is close to the wall. Sheathing the walls in a country house.

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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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