Drywall is the term used for a common method of constructing interior walls and ceilings using panels made of gypsum plaster pressed between two thick sheets of paper, then kiln dried. Drywall construction is used globally for the finish construction of interior walls and ceilings. Drywall construction became prevalent as a speedier alternative to traditional plaster interior finish techniques, which involved hand-placing base, scratch and finish coats in successive layers by hand. (See also, the history of Homasote , a dry applied wall or ceiling board finish system.) Drywall, by contrast, required hand finishing only at the fasteners and joints. The new process required less labor and drying time, lending its name to the panels used in the assembly.
Panels installed may be known as gypsum board , wallboard , plasterboard (USA, UK, Ireland, Spain, Australia), Gibraltar board or GIB wall and ceiling linings (in New Zealand trademark of Winstone Wallboards), rock lath , Sheetrock (a trademark of USG Corporation, rigips (Germany and Central Europe - after the Rigips brand), alçıpan in Turkey, and placoplatre (France).
History
“ Sackett Board ” was invented in 1894 by Augustine Sackett. It was made by layering plaster within four plies of wool felt paper. Sheets were 36" x 36" x 1/4" thick with open (untaped) edges."
" Gypsum Board " evolved between 1910 and 1930 beginning with wrapped board edges, and elimination of the two inner layers of felt paper in favor of paper-based facings. Later "air-entrainment technology" made boards lighter and less brittle, then joint treatment materials and systems also evolved. "
" Rock Lath " was an early substrate for plaster. An alternative to traditional wood or metal lath it was a panel made up of compressed gypsum plaster board that was sometimes grooved or punched with holes to allow wet plaster to key into its surface. As it evolved, it was faced with paper impregnated with gypsum crystals that bonded with the applied facing layer of plaster.
Manufacture
A wallboard panel is made of a paper liner wrapped around an inner core made primarily from gypsum plaster, the semi-hydrous form of calcium sulfate (CaSO 4 ·½ H 2 O). The raw gypsum, CaSO 4 ·2 H 2 O, (mined or obtained from flue gas desulfurization (FGD)) must be calcined before use. Kettle or Flash calciners typically use natural gas today. The plaster is mixed with fiber (typically paper and/or fiberglass), plasticizer, foaming agent, finely ground gypsum crystal as an accelerator, EDTA, starch or other chelate as a retarder, various additives that increase mildew and fire resistance (fiberglass or vermiculite), wax emulsion for lower water absorption and water. This is then formed by sandwiching a core of wet gypsum between two sheets of heavy paper or fiberglass mats. When the core sets and is dried in a large drying chamber, the sandwich becomes rigid and strong enough for use as a building material. .
Drying chambers typically use natural gas today. To dry 1 MSF (1,000 square feet) of wallboard, between 1.75-2.49 million BTU is required. This is the main reason why organic dispersants/plasticisers are used i.e. to reduce the amount of water to produce gypsum slurry flow during wallboard manufacture.
Specifications
USA and Canada
Drywall panels are manufactured in 48 inches (120 cm) wide panels in varying lengths to suit the application. Common panel thicknesses are 1/2" and 5/8", with panels also available in 1/4" and 3/8". 5/8" panels are used where a fire-resistance rating is desired or where additional mass is needed for the reduction of sound transmission.
Drywall provides a thermal resistance R-value of 0.32 for three-eighths-inch board, 0.45 for half inch, 0.56 for five-eighths inch and 0.83 for one-inch board. In addition to increased R-value, thicker drywall has a higher sound transmission class.
Europe
In the UK and Europe, plasterboard is manufactured in metric sizes, with the common sizes being corollaries of old imperial sizes.
Most plasterboard is made in 1200 mm wide sheets, though 900 mm wide sheets are also made. 1200 mm wide plasterboard is most commonly made in 2400 mm lengths, though 2700 mm and 3000 mm length sheets are also commonly available.
Commonly used thicknesses of plasterboard available are 12.5 mm (modern equivalent of half an inch), typically used for walls, and 9.5 mm (modern equivalent of three-eights of an inch), typically used for ceilings. 15 mm thick board is commonly available, and other thicknesses are also produced.
Plasterboard is commonly made with one of two different edge treatments — tapered edge, where the long edges of the board are tapered with a wide bevel at the front to allow for jointing materials to be finished flush with the main board face, and plain edge, used where the whole surface will receive a thin coating (skim coat) of finishing plaster.
Construction techniques
As opposed to a week-long plaster application, an entire house can be drywalled in one or two days by two experienced drywallers, and drywall is easy enough to use that it can be installed by many amateur home carpenters. In large-scale commercial construction, the work of installing and finishing drywall is often split between the drywall mechanics, or hangers , who install the wallboard, and the tapers and mudmen , or float crew , who finish the joints and cover the nailheads with drywall compound.
Drywall is cut to size, using a large T-square, by scoring the paper on the front side (usually white) with a utility knife, breaking the sheet along the cut, scoring the paper backing, and finally breaking the sheet in the opposite direction. Small features such as holes for outlets and light switches are usually cut using a keyhole saw or a small high-speed bit in a rotary tool. Drywall is then fixed to the wall structure with nails, glue, or more commonly in recent years, the now-ubiquitous drywall screws .
Drywall fasteners , also referred to as drywall clips or stops , are gaining popularity in both residential and commercial construction. Drywall fasteners are used for supporting interior drywall corners and replacing the non-structural wood or metal blocking that traditionally was used to install drywall. Their function serves to save on material and labour expenses; to minimise call backs due to truss uplift; to increase energy efficiency; and to make plumbing and electrical installation simpler.
Drywall screws heads have a curved taper allowing them to self-pilot and install rapidly without punching through the paper cover. These screws are set slightly into the drywall. When drywall is hung on wood framing, screws having an acute point and widely spaced threads are used. When drywall is hung on light-gauge steel framing, screws having an acute point and finely spaced threads are used. If the steel framing is heavier than 20-gauge, self-tapping screws with finely spaced threads must be used. In some applications, the drywall may be attached to the wall with adhesives.
After the sheets are secured to the wall studs or ceiling joists, the seams between drywall sheets are concealed using joint tape and several layers of joint compound (sometimes called mud ). This compound is also applied to any screw holes or defects. The compound is allowed to air dry then typically sanded smooth before painting. Alternatively, for a better finish, the entire wall may be given a skim coat , a thin layer (about 1 mm or 1/16 inch) of finishing compound, to minimise the visual differences between the paper and mudded areas after painting.
Another similar skim coating is always done in a process called veneer plastering, although it is done slightly thicker (about 2 mm or 1/8 inch). Veneering uses a slightly different specialised setting compound ("finish plaster") that contains gypsum and lime putty. For this application blueboard is used which has special treated paper to accelerate the setting of the gypsum plaster component. This setting has far less shrinkage than the air-dry compounds normally used in drywall, so it only requires one coat. Blueboard also has square edges rather than the tapered-edge drywall boards. The tapered drywall boards are used to countersink the tape in taped jointing whereas the tape in veneer plastering is buried beneath a level surface. One coat veneer plaster over dry board is an intermediate style step between full multi-coat "wet" plaster and the limited joint-treatment-only given "dry" wall.
Fire resistance
When used as a component in fire barriers, drywall is a passive fire protection ite
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