Summary: Learn how to dry line a wall and dry line a masonry wall.
Dry lining is an alternative to plastering and is often used on stud walls. But it is also suitable for masonry walls. Dry lining uses the plasterboard surface as the decorative area or the surface that is wallpapered or painted. Dry lining plasterboard differs to ordinary plasterboard as it has a slightly recessed area at the edge of the board, which is also tapered.
There are three methods of fixing the plasterboard to the wall:
This method involves sticking the plasterboard to the wall using dabs of dry wall adhesive. The dabbing out method is not suitable for external walls prone to damp.
A plumb line can be dropped from your mark on the ceiling to the floor to serve as an additional guideline for the front edge of the board.
Apply dabs of adhesive at regular intervals down the length of the wall keeping inside the chalk line for the edge of the board.
The batten method involves fixing the plasterboard to a timber framework that has been fixed to the wall.
Push small offcuts or shims behind the timber battens to correct any unevenness.
The metal track method of dry lining is a modern version of the wooden batten method.
Place the vertical tracks on the brackets and secure them by folding the wings of the bracket around the track.
Screw the plasterboard into the tracks firstly at the top and bottom. The edges of two sheets of plasterboard must overlap the vertical metal track.
When the plasterboard is fixed to the wall you need cover the joints with a jointing compound, which is applied in three layers.
The layers required to cover the plasterboard joints.
The main problem with dry lining is when you have to cut the plasterboard to fit and have no recessed and tapered edge. To overcome this, apply the compound to the flush joints and smooth when it has dried. The finished joint may be slightly proud of the rest of the wall's surface, but so slight it will not be noticeable.
Cut the jointing tape to the required length and fix it over the corner's edge, folding it around onto the adjoining walls.
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