DRY LINING

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Dry lining is a generic term applied to the use of (typically) plasterboard on timber or metal frames. Or (in the case of a finish to blockwork walls, on plaster ‘dabs’) as a replacement to conventional building practices (‘wet trades’) where brick or block, or more traditionally lath and plaster would be specified. The term dry lining strictly applies to the use of plasterboard to replace a sand and cement or wet plaster finish to internal blockwork, although it’s use has become more broadly associated with internal fit out throughout the building. In this application the term studwork (from the timber or metal studs that form the frame to which the boards are fixed) is more commonly used.

What are it's advantages?

The main advantages of dry lining relate to the speed of installation and lower imposed water loadings on a building.

Other advantages include the fact that the use of lightweight partitions will result in a lighter building with consequent benefits in the specification of the foundations, together with greater flexibility in designing and changing the internal shape of the house as a family's needs change. The lightweight nature of the partitions also allows far greater flexibility in the design of upper floor layouts, where a conventional brick or block partition may prove out of the question on most types of floor.

The use of dry lining systems also gives the SelfBuilder flexibility in the choice of insulation materials, which may not be available with conventional building methods. In timber frame, dry lining is implicitly the preferred method of building.

Because of the pre-finished nature of most board systems, drylining can often be undertaken by SelfBuilder himself, thus offering potential savings in the overall cost of the build.

What are it's disadvantages?

Dry lining is often viewed as being ‘not as good as’ solid blockwork. This is generally because blockwork gives a house a more substantial feel and has a number of benefits over conventional dry lining systems. These usually relate to the load-bearing, impact, acoustic and structural properties of blockwork. Taking each of these in turn:

Load-bearing walls can be constructed from either blockwork or lightweight stud. Indeed, Timber frame is based upon such systems. The practical limitations of timber frame are usually related to the number of storeys that a building has, although this limitation will only become obvious in very tall buildings beyond the scope of normal self build.

The impact resistance of traditional plasterboard is low and where high traffic areas are likely, the choice of a higher performance board should be considered. In most self build applications this usually relates to children's play areas and the like. For most day to day applications standard plasterboard is adequate. The use of a plaster skim (see later) improves the abrasion resistance as well as contributing to the overall impact resistance of a stud wall.

One of the most common complaints regarding dry lining relates to the relatively poor acoustic performance of the stud partitions. This can easily be overcome at the specification stage by careful selection of both materials and design.

Drylining has to be used with care when in wet environments; plasterboard in particular will disintegrate if allowed to remain wet over even relatively short time spans.

Finally, the structural properties of a stud partition (i.e. the ability to fix shelves and radiators to it) can again be overcome by the use of horizontal bearers (‘noggins’ - or ‘dwangs’ in Scotland). Where more flexibility is required, a high performance board can be used.