Drylining Walls and Ceilings

Before a wall or ceiling gets its smooth, finished skim, something has to provide the flat surface underneath. On a lot of jobs, that’s plasterboard rather than wet plaster built up in layers, a process known as drylining. It’s quicker to install than traditional wet plastering, dries faster, and gives a reliably flat base to work from.

What drylining involves

Plasterboard sheets are fixed either directly to a masonry wall using adhesive dabs, or onto a timber or metal stud frame, depending on the wall type and whether insulation or services need to run behind it. Ceilings are drylined by fixing boards to the joists above or to a suspended grid where the ceiling needs to be lowered or levelled. Once the boards are up, the joints between sheets are taped and filled to stop cracks appearing along the seams later, and screw heads are filled flush.

Choosing the right board matters. Standard boards suit most rooms, but bathrooms, kitchens and other damp areas usually need a moisture-resistant board, and some jobs call for fire-rated or acoustic board depending on what the wall needs to do.

How the job typically runs

On a masonry wall, drylining with adhesive dabs means the boards are fixed straight onto the brick or block once it’s checked for level and squareness. Where a stud frame is being built first, for instance to add insulation, run cables, or straighten a badly out-of-true wall, the frame goes up before the boards. Ceilings usually take longer per square metre than walls, since boards are heavier to handle overhead and need proper support until fixed. Once everything is up and jointed, the surface is typically skimmed for a fully smooth finish, though some jobs are left with a taped-and-filled finish only, depending on the specification.

What to expect

Drylining is a drier, dustier job in terms of cutting boards and sanding joints, but it doesn’t carry the same lengthy drying-out period as wet plastering built up in multiple coats. Rooms still need to be cleared and protected, and it’s worth flagging anything that needs to run behind the boards, such as sockets, pipework or extra insulation, before boards go up, since that’s far easier to plan for in advance than to add afterwards.

Coverage

Drylining work is carried out across Bradford and the surrounding towns, on everything from single-room refurbishments to full house strip-outs. Get in touch for a free, no-obligation quote once you know roughly what the room needs.