How to make a drywall partition with your own hands

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Artyom Kozoriz has compiled a step-by-step guide with which such a structure can be erected over the weekend.

1. Decide on the type of wall

There are several types of drywall partitions. The most common are metal frame walls with single or double skin on each side. The first option is more economical, the second provides better sound insulation and durability.

For the corridor, bedroom and other dry rooms, ordinary gypsum boards are used, for a bathroom or kitchen - moisture resistant. The thickness of the drywall in all cases is 12.5 mm.

If ceramic tiles are to be laid on the wall, a two-layer cladding is recommended at least from the side of the tile facing. It is allowed to install tiles on gypsum board in one layer when installing rack-mount profiles with a reduced pitch.

Depending on the width of the profiles used, different thicknesses of the partition can be obtained. The larger it is, the better the sound insulation. As a rule, profiles of 50 × 50 mm are used for corridors and dressing rooms, for bedrooms, living rooms, bathrooms - 75 × 50 mm.

2. Prepare materials

• Drywall 12.5 mm thick;
• PS profiles 50 × 50 or 75 × 50 mm;
• profiles PN 50 × 40 or 75 × 40 mm;
• mineral wool;
• screws 3, 5 × 9 mm;
• screws 3, 5 × 25 mm;
• dowel-nails 6 × 40 mm;
• reinforcing tape;
• sealing tape or sealant;
• primer;
• putty;
• plumb line or laser level;
• bubble level;
• chopping cord;
• scissors for metal;
• screwdriver;
• puncher;
• drilling crowns;
• drywall knife;
• plane;
• brush;
• putty knife.

3. Mark the frame

Use a chopping line to mark the baffle line on the floor. With a plumb line, transfer the line to the ceiling: attach the thread of the fixture to the overlap, aligning the tip of the load with the beginning, and then with the end of the line on the floor. Connect the marks on the ceiling with a chop cord.

Immediately apply the location of the doorway and upright profiles. The step of the racks is 600 mm. For a single-layer construction with subsequent tiling - 400 mm. It is convenient to start marking the rack profiles from the main walls with the selected step, and evenly distribute the remaining space at the doorway and add one additional rack on each side.

If the partition or part of it should become a continuation of the load-bearing wall, be sure to take into account the thickness of the drywall when marking. Otherwise, after sheathing, the planes of the walls will not coincide.

4. Mount the guide profiles

Next, along the outlined lines, you need to fix the guides on the floor. To increase the sound insulation, apply sealing tape to the back of the profile or apply silicone sealant.

Then, depending on the type of base, fix the guides using concrete dowels or wood screws in increments of no more than 1 m, but so that there are at least three attachment points per profile.

Install the rails on the ceiling using the same principle.

5. Fasten the rack frame profiles

Measure the height of the room and use metal scissors to cut 10 mm shorter from the profile of the rack. Starting from the walls, install the rack profiles in the guides with the desired pitch and, placing them strictly vertically using a level, fix them with screws 3, 5 × 9 mm.

On both sides of the pillars of the doorway, install additional vertical profiles at a distance of about 300 mm to strengthen the frame.

For uprights adjacent to walls or columns, apply sealing tape or sealant to improve sound insulation. Fix the extreme profiles in increments of no more than 1 m, but there should be at least three points per part. Turn all racks in the section from the load-bearing wall to the doorway with their "backs" in one direction.

6. Install the doorway supports

For reliable fastening of the door frame, the frame in the opening area is framed with supports, which are made from rack profiles inserted into each other. Alternatively, you can use wooden blocks.

Make cuts on the sides of the profile and fold the short pieces to form the letter "P". Install it as a horizontal lintel and secure along the upper border of the opening. Add intermediate posts above the lintel.

Calculate the position of the gypsum boards in advance so that the vertical joints of two adjacent sheets do not fall on the racks along the edges of the opening to which the door frame is attached. Otherwise, cracks will form on the wall in this place. Ideally, the opening should be closed with one sheet. If not, then two - with a joint above the door.

7. Cut the sheets

The gypsum boards should be 10 mm shorter than the room height. To cut them, mark them with a pencil and tape measure, and then, applying a profile or a rule, cut through the cardboard with a sharp knife. Then break the separated part and cut through the paper from the back side. Trim the uneven edge with a plane.

At the horizontal joints of the sheets, where open gypsum cores touch, chamfer at an angle of 22.5 ° with a knife or plane. This is necessary in order to properly fill the joints with putty and to avoid cracks.

8. Sand the frame on one side

Install and secure the gypsum board to the frame with screws. Wrap them evenly and without distortions, recessed caps flush with the plane and 1 mm below the sheet. To raise the slabs from the floor by 10 mm, place strips of drywall scraps under them.

Fasten self-tapping screws from the center to the edges of the sheet or from the corner to the sides with a step of 250 mm. Step back from the edges pasted over with paper by 10 mm, and from the open ones by 15 mm. Shift screws on adjacent sheets vertically relative to each other by 10 mm.

In the places of horizontal joints, install jumpers from the profile and displace them relative to each other in adjacent rows by at least 400 mm. If the first row consists of a whole sheet at the bottom and a piece on top, then the next one should be the other way around.

With two-layer cladding, the joints of the first and second layer of slabs should not coincide. Shift the vertical seams by the spacing of the posts, and the horizontal ones by at least 400 mm.

9. Cut drywall along the doorway

For convenience, the doorway is completely sewn up with sheets and, at the end of installation, is cut with a saw or a sharp knife along the contour of the frame. First, the horizontal and one of the vertical parts, and then, after "opening" in the manner of a door, the rest.

Cut drywall in the opening and fix the sheets along the contour of the profiles with screws.

10. Install the wiring

Before cladding on the other side, route the electrical cables by passing them through the prepared holes in the profiles. Or drill new ones if necessary. Place the wires perpendicular to the posts and at the same level.

After routing the cables using the drill bits, make holes for the mounting boxes for sockets and switches and install them. It is undesirable to place the sockets opposite each other on both sides of the partition - this impairs sound insulation.

11. Install the soundproofing

Gypsum boards are very thin and do not provide sufficient sound insulation, therefore, the space between the frame profiles is filled with mineral wool or other sound-absorbing materials.

Insert noise insulation between the posts. Trim the material to the correct size, if necessary.

12. Complete the veneer of the frame

After laying communications and soundproofing, you can sew up the partition from the back side. For greater strength, position the drywall so that the joints of the sheets do not coincide with the first layer of cladding on the opposite side. Horizontal joints are displaced by at least 400 mm, and vertical joints - by the width of the step of the racks.

In other words, if the partition was sheathed in front from left to right, the opposite should be done at the back. And in the same way, if on one side the whole sheet is at the bottom, then on the other it should be at the top.

Punch a hole at the edge of the doorway and cut the plasterboard along the contour of the frame. First on top and then on the sides.

13. Close up the joints

After sheathing, cover all joints of the sheets with putty using reinforcing tape. Make sure the screws are securely fastened and, if necessary, tighten the protruding heads with a screwdriver.

Then use a brush to brush off the dust in the joints of the sheets and treat all cut edges with a primer. Use a putty knife to fill the joints with putty. Glue the reinforcing tape in the center of the joint and press it in with a spatula. Apply a second layer of putty on top. Seal the attachment points of all self-tapping screws with the same composition.

After that, the surface of the partition is ready for any kind of finishing: the wall can be painted, pasted over with wallpaper, tiled or applied with decorative putty.