We tell you how to install an interior partition made of plasterboard with your own hands. What types of plasterboard there are. What tools and materials are needed.
There are different ways to divide a room into functional zones: build a solid wall, install furniture or a screen, hang a thick curtain. But if the first method is too expensive and labor-intensive, the others have long gone out of fashion and are not used in houses whose owners have an idea of coziness and beauty.You can get out of the situation and create a unique interior with the help of an interior partition made of plasterboard, made with your own hands.
Walls made of gypsum plasterboard (gypsum plasterboard) have good strength characteristics with a small specific weight, withstand decent loads, retain heat and do not require special care during operation. And even a novice in the construction business can install them.
What kind of plasterboard is suitable for a partition
There are several types of gypsum plasterboards on the construction market, which differ in their performance characteristics and have their own features. Depending on the purpose of use, preference should be given to one of the available options:
- regular gypsum board – grey sheets are used for the construction of partitions in living rooms located in dry heated buildings;
- waterproof gypsum plasterboard – possessing a high level of moisture resistance, green sheets, which are recommended for use in the construction of partitions in laundries, showers, on unheated balconies and terraces, as well as in other rooms with high levels of humidity;
- fire-resistant GKLO – pink sheets, most often used for installation in boiler rooms, in the kitchen (near the gas work surface) and in other places where high fire safety requirements are imposed;
- Fire- and moisture-resistant GKLVO – modern green sheets with red markings, used for the construction of partitions in rooms with humidity and high fire safety requirements (saunas, baths, wooden private houses, etc.).
Thickness of the partition made of gypsum board
The construction of a plasterboard partition with your own hands should begin with determining the required size of the final object. To do this, builders take into account the thickness of the sheet and the rack metal frame, which is most popular for working with gypsum board. Next, you should take into account the number of layers of the structure and choose the appropriate width of the metal structure.
The thickness of a plasterboard partition must be calculated based on its intended purpose:
- if you plan to build a regular wall that will not bear load, a 50×50 mm profile will do;
- In cases where you need to place a TV on the partition or attach other interior items, you should use a 75×100 mm profile.
Advice from our expert
It is better to entrust the work of calculating the required partition thickness to professionals who will draw up an estimate and help avoid mistakes during installation.
Tools and materials for work
Before starting work, you should prepare all the tools and materials necessary for the work.
Tools
- bubble or laser level;
- tape measure of the required length;
- marking means (chalk, pencil, marker, etc.);
- a screwdriver and a hammer drill (sometimes a powerful power tool with a drill is required if the room has strong reinforced concrete walls);
- hammer;
- construction knife and metal shears;
- a strong rope and plumb line for the correct transfer of marks between walls, floor and ceiling.
All tools should be placed at the installation site in accordance with safety precautions.
To make a partition from plasterboard with your own hands, you need to correctly calculate the required number of sheets of plasterboard. To do this, you should calculate the area of the walls without openings. The data is doubled if double-sided cladding with sheets is assumed. The obtained result should be multiplied by 4 or 6 if the plans are to make a two- or three-layer partition, respectively.
After this, the data should be divided by the area of one gypsum board (if the basis is a sheet of 2500×1200 mm, then its area is 3 square meters). Experienced builders insist on a mandatory reserve factor, which varies in different cases:
- 0-10 m² — 1.3;
- 10-20 m² —1.2;
- 20 and more – 1.1.
All results are rounded up.
Installation stages
Step-by-step instructions have been developed for installing a plasterboard partition with your own hands. After preparing all the necessary tools and materials, you need to start making precise markings. Only after this can you begin assembling the structure:
- Guides are fixed along the marked lines on the floor (to increase soundproofing capacity, tape or silicone glue is glued to the profile).
- With a step of no more than 1 meter, the profile elements are fixed using fasteners (dowels for concrete supports and screws for wooden ones).
- After installing the profiles on the floor and ceiling, they move on to installing the doorway supports.
To strengthen the frame, specialists reduce the distance between the posts or use wooden embedded bars. In some cases, a double PS profile is used.
To form the upper half of the doorway, it is necessary to use a guide profile, cut to a length 30 cm wider than the opening itself. On the outside of the resulting workpiece, at least two marks must be made, which will be visible on the side base of the profile. They must be made at a distance of 15 cm from the edge lines of the crossbar. According to these marks, the profile will be bent at a right angle for further installation of the structure. This is how a U-shaped crossbar is obtained, which is simply screwed to the posts with screws or moved higher/lower along the opening.
After the frame is installed, you should start installing the plasterboard sheets. Each plasterboard is screwed to the support posts at the edges and in the center so that the joints fall in the middle of the profile. To install two or three layers of plasterboard, each subsequent row is shifted horizontally by one step along the posts. The same solution should be followed when placing plasterboard on the back side of the structure.
Sheathing and finishing
To complete the installation of a plasterboard partition in a room with your own hands, you need to reinforce all the joints between the plasterboards with serpyanka. The outer corners can be protected with a perforated profile. Then, universal putty is applied to all the mounting parts, including the screw heads. After the solution dries, it will need to be treated with an acrylic primer. Then, plasterboard partitions can be covered with any decorative elements (wallpaper, volumetric plaster, tiles, clapboard, etc.)
As it became clear, building partitions for zoning from plasterboard with your own hands is a fairly simple, but labor-intensive process, for which you should carefully prepare. This is the only way to carry out installation work quickly, efficiently and without unnecessary costs.