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Summary: Plasterboard, also known as wallboard, drywall, sheetrock or gypsum board, is the paper-covered, chalk-like panel material most commonly used to finish walls and ceilings in newly built or remodeled buildings. The joints where the panels meet are concealed with a special adhesive tape or a compound embedded paper tape, and the nail/screw heads are concealed with a special "mud" that, once dry, can be sanded, painted, stucco’d, wallpapered, or any of a number of modern wall treatments applied.
Hanging plaster board can be a bit daunting, but it’s easier than you might think. You just need to plan ahead and take a few things under consideration first.
Which Type Of Wall?
Plasterboard is quite versatile and can be hung on bare framing or existing finished walls; on furring strips or standard wall studs of wood or metal; on ceiling joists; or even on concrete block or masonry walls. Each type of wall has its own special considerations, but the basics are the same.
Which Type Of Plasterboard?
Once you know what you are going to hang it on, you need to know what the usage of the room will be since there are several types of plasterboard types designed for different purposes. If you are finishing a bathroom or shower, you will need the kind that has a high degree of water resistance. If you are remodeling a kitchen, you may want to use a fire-resistant variety. Make sure you know the local building codes for your area though, some may require fire resistant varieties for fire prone areas such as garages.
What Size Boards?
Plasterboard comes in panels that are 4 feet wide, and either 8 feet, 10 feet or 12 feet long. Using the 12 foot boards will save you time by reducing the number of joints to be taped, but they are heavy and awkward unless you have a second person to help with handling them. If you are doing this alone, you might want to stick with the smaller 8 foot boards, but even they can be hard for one person when doing ceilings.
How Many Boards Are Needed?
Of course, like every remodeling job, you need to know how many boards to buy for your project. Calculate the square footage of each wall, as well as that of the ceiling, ignoring all openings except major ones like picture windows and archways. Then translate that into the number of boards you will need. An 8-foot wallboard contains 32 square feet, a 12-foot one contains 48 square feet.
Plasterboard Fasteners
So, how do you attach the panels to the framing or furring strips? Well, nails that have ringed shafts for extra grip are most commonly used when the underpinning is wood, but nails may eventually pop out if the wood is green. You can get around this by using special drywall screws that are designed for walls framed with metal studs. They have Phillips heads and can be inserted quickly with a drill or electric screw driver. Even with nails or screws, you will need wallboard adhesive. This cuts down on the number of fasteners needed and increases overall strength.
Wall Preparation
Make sure you have a straight and true wall. There are many articles that describe how to test this and how to correct problems with plumb or uneven surfaces, but the simple answer is: hold a carpenter’s level against the wall in several places to check it for plumb. Make sure that all molding and trim has been removed before starting.
Cutting Plasterboard
Plasterboard is easy to cut and somewhat flexible. Just hold a 4-foot wallboard T-square perpendicular to the side of the panel and cut through the paper surface with a utility knife to score the gypsum underneath. Grasp the edge of the board on both sides of the cut line and snap the short section of the board away from you., breaking the gypsum along the scored line, With the short section bent back slightly, reach behind the board and with the utility knife make a foot long slit in the paper along the bend. Then swing the short section forward to split the paper and separate the pieces.
Always Start With the Ceiling
For ceilings, use a tube of wallboard adhesive in a caulking gun and apply a 3/8th thick bead along the underside of each ceiling joist. Take care to stop within 6 inches of where the board edge will be, to avoid any oozing into the joint. Measure and trim the first board so that the free end away from the wall, will be directly over the midpoint of a joist. With a helper, lift the board into position and drive a nail or a screw into each joist down the lengthwise center line of the board. Then place 2 more rows of fasteners about 8 inches in from the edge adjoining the wall, and ½ inch in from the edge along the free side. Fasten down the free end with another row of fasteners spaced 16 inches apart.
Adding a Filler Strip
Fill any gaps in the ceiling with strips of plasterboard cut to fit and secured with adhesive and fasteners. You can omit the adhesive if the strip is less than a foot wide.
Hanging the Wall Panels
You should hang plasterboard on the wall horizontally. This will cover more area faster, and mean less seams to join and tape. Apply your adhesive to the studs to be covered by the first panel. With a helper, lift the board into place and press it tightly against the ceiling board(s). Secure the panel to the wall using the same fastener pattern as you did for the ceiling. Trim successive panels to butt together at the midpoint of a stud.
When the upper row of panels have been hung, you can then install the lower row, offsetting the boards so that their joints do NOT align with those of the boards above. On this lower row, place your fasteners ½ inch from both edges. If the wall is taller than 8 feet, there may be a 3rd row of filler strips. Again, if the strip is less than 1 foot wide, you can leave out the adhesive, but be sure to butt the tapered edge of the wallboard against the tapered edge of the board above.
When To Use Vertical Panels
On narrow wall sections, install the boards vertically, butting them together in the middle of a stud. Apply adhesive in the same pattern as the horizontal ones, then lift the panel into place tightly against the ceiling with your foot, using a scrap of wood under the bottom edge of the board, that is also laid perpendicular on another scrap for leverage with that foot.
Secure the panel to each stud with fasteners spaced about 2 feet apart, starting 8 inches down from the top ending ½ inch from the bottom.
Working with Corners
To join panels at an inside corner, butt the edge of the second board against the first one and fasten only the end of the second board to a stud. For an outside corner, lap the end of the second board over the end of the first, and then nail or screw both board ends into the shared stud.
To protect that exposed outside corner, attach a metal corner-bead strip over the wallboard joint by driving nails or screws through the holes in the bead into the stud below. An easy way to trim a corner bead to the correct length is to cut through the flanges with tin snips, one at a time.
Finish the Job
Although it is beyond the scope of this article, once you have hung all the plasterboard, you will need to tape the seams between the boards and put drywall joint compound over the tape and the fastener heads. Then just paint, plaster, hang wallpaper or whatever, and you are done!
And there you have one way to hang plasterboard. If you want to finish walls in a hurry, plasterboard is a quick way to hide bare wall studs.
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