One of the indispensable and popular material in the construction and repair business is drywall. It is used both for the construction of various structures, such as partitions or multi-level ceilings, and for cladding internal, and sometimes even external surfaces of premises. This distribution is determined by the attractive characteristics of GKL: light weight, relatively low price, sufficient strength and ease of processing.
Hardware stores offer a huge selection of different types, brands and manufacturers of drywall sheets and gypsum boards. It can be difficult to make a choice in this variety right away. In order not to be mistaken, you need to clearly understand what type of drywall sheets are used for various construction works and on what basis you can choose high-quality drywall. Let's try to understand these issues.
What is drywall
Plasterboard sheets are a solid panel of gypsum material, which is glued on both sides with thick cardboard. At first glance, it may seem that gypsum is too fragile a material to be used in construction. It is the cardboard that adds strength to the GKL, thanks to which the sheets do not break, chip or crumble. At the same time, they are very easy to process: sawing, bending and even planing. And special additives give various types of drywall sheets a variety of properties.
Despite the strength, for the construction of various structures from gypsum plasterboard, it is imperative to use a frame base that ensures uniform distribution of the load on the entire structure, increasing its strength.
The photo clearly demonstrates the structure of the drywall sheet.
Where are drywall sheets used?
Plasterboard sheets are used in construction to solve a variety of problems:
- For finishing (leveling) walls and creation of interior partitions. The wall plasterboard has a thickness of 12.5 mm, a length of 2.3 or 2.5 meters, and a width of 1.2 meters. The properties of such sheets are standard, their design does not provide for any special additives. Gray color with blue markings.
- For the ceiling. With the help of GKL, you can not only sheathe the ceiling for a tension structure, but also create a multi-level plasterboard ceiling or niches for hidden lighting. For these purposes, sheets are used that differ in size: the thickness of the ceiling plasterboard is 9.5 mm, the length is 2 or 2.5 meters, and the width remains unchanged. The properties are also standard, the color and markings are the same as those of the wall.
- For sheathing rooms with high humidity (often used in conjunction with additional waterproofing). For these purposes, a special type of drywall is used - moisture resistant (GKLV). The GKLV core contains special additives, and even the cardboard itself is impregnated with antifungal compounds. The length of its sheets is 2.3 or 2.5 meters, thickness - 12.5 mm, standard width - 1.2 meters. Such sheets are painted green, the markings are blue.
- For lining chimneys, fireplaces and rooms with high fire safety requirements. Despite the fact that cardboard in any type of GKL does not burn, but only chars, GKLO additionally contains a large amount of reinforcing fibers and additives in the core, so that the middle part of the sheets does not deform during a fire. Such sheets have a standard width and thickness, their length is 2, 2.5 or 3 meters, they are painted in light pink with red markings.
- For creating arches and other curved structures. Despite the fact that ordinary wall drywall can be bend in several ways, for these purposes it is better to use flexible arched drywall sheets.The composition of their core contains fiberglass threads, which in general also strengthen the material. Due to its small thickness of 6.5 mm, such drywall is easy to bend and give it any curved shape. Its width is standard, length is 3 meters, color is light gray.
The following photo shows the process of creating an arch from drywall sheets.
The scope of drywall is so wide that it can explain the popularity of this building material for interior decoration.
Classification of drywall sheets according to GOST
GCL can be classified in two ways:
- according to GOST 6266-97;
- in accordance with GOST 32614-2012.
The differences between these two standards are primarily in the time of their adoption. GOST from 1997 divides drywall into 4 main varieties:
- Ordinary drywall sheets (GKL).
- Moisture resistant plasterboard sheets (GKLV).
- Fire-resistant drywall (GKLO).
- Combining the properties of fire resistance and moisture resistance drywall (GKLVO).
The following photo shows how the main types of drywall differ in color.
GOST, published in 2012, was developed jointly with Knauf. According to him, drywall is now called gypsum building boards and is divided into eight types:
- Type A, which is the standard GCR.
- H - moisture resistant plates (the same as GKLV).
- F - refractory gypsum boards (or GKLO).
- D - plates with different densities depending on their operating conditions.
- I - extra hard gypsum boards.
- E - plates used for facade work and having the properties of minimal water absorption and vapor permeability (GKLV with improved characteristics).
- P - plates on which it is supposed to apply plaster mixtures or lay tiles.
- R is a building material that allows you to create fairly strong bends in any direction.
Nowadays, almost all drywall on the construction market is produced under the Knauf brand. These are the same gypsum building boards. GKL from Knauf has better characteristics compared to other manufacturers, however, the price of material from more well-known brands may be higher. The following photo shows one of the types of gypsum building boards of the Knauf brand.
Standard dimensions, weight and strength of drywall
Gypsum boards have the following dimensions:
- The length can vary from different manufacturers from 1.5 to 3.6 meters. The most common indicators are 2, 2.5 and 3 meters.
- The standard width is 1.2 meters, but smaller products with a width of only 0.6 meters can also be found on sale. This parameter greatly simplifies the transportation of this building material and reduces its weight.
- The thickness indicator varies between 6–12.5 mm. Most often, the thickness of drywall depends on its purpose. For example, a minimum thickness is needed to create arches and other curved structures, while thicker sheets are used to build walls. In addition, you can find especially durable plates, the thickness of which is 25 mm.
When buying drywall boards, it is worth remembering that there are two different categories of this material - A and B. In the first case, the dimensions of the sheet deviate from the standards set by GOST by no more than a couple of millimeters. In the second, even the squareness parameter may have deviations. And although most manufacturers do not indicate the category at all, since they produce category A drywall, this factor should be taken into account.
The weight of drywall is significantly lower compared to other building materials. Moreover, this applies to any type and size of GKL - the additives present in the material slightly increase its weight.Even a plasterboard wall reinforced with a metal frame will be much lighter than, for example, a brick wall.
One millimeter of sheet thickness is one kilogram per square meter, this is how the nominal weight of the GKL is calculated.
The strength of the product depends on its purpose, as well as on the quality of the materials used in the manufacture. Since the choice of both cardboard and gypsum composition is not regulated in any way, and manufacturers may well choose the composition of gypsum boards themselves, the quality of cheap brands can be significantly lower than world manufacturers, such as the Knauf mentioned above.
Various forms of edges of drywall sheets
In addition to all of the above, drywall sheets or slabs have different types of edges, namely:
- rectangular or straight edge (PC);
- thinned on one side (UK);
- semicircular on one side (PLC);
- thinned and semicircular on one side of the sheet (PLUK);
- the rounded edge of the sheet (ZK).
In the photo you can clearly see how the various edges of drywall boards look like.
Different types of edges are needed in order to simplify the process of processing joints between drywall boards.
Keeping in mind the above characteristics, types and brands of drywall, you can easily choose the option that is needed to repair your apartment.
