So just want to put some shelves up on a fairly new build (about 25 years old) and would like to know about the construction. Was it standard practice to put wooden batons up at intervals in a room and for plasterboard to then be screwed to the batons?
Wood behind plasterboard
- Thread starter iffy100
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Not common practice no. More of an alternative solution, if say a wall needed pipes hiding, or insulating, or the wall was coated with something, or the wall needed thickening out to meet another etc.
Generally, 25 year old builds with internal blockwork, would have dabbed plasterboard walls.
Drill and fix with (min) 70mm long screws
Establish what the construction method is , guessing may end in tears .
Exactly why I'd never buy one.
You can hang a picture frame from the plasterboard. Anything heavier needs attaching to the block behind it, packing out to the plasterboard surface level. I used thick washers for a radiator I fitted once to someone else's house. It worked, but it was horribly fiddly.
They're designed to be sold profitably, not to be lived in comfortably or repaired.
My stepson once purchased a 1980s building. The bathroom wall/hallway wall were 9.5mm plasterboard glued to 25mm plasterboard (which in turn was glued to another 9.5mm). The wall was held in place by 1" by 1" timber at the top and bottom.
So hollow? You can use standard plasterboard fixings.
Metal stud partitioning.
Stud walls have been around for centuries. How have you managed to avoid hollow backgrounds for so long, lol.
I know of them, but intentionally avoid them. Only buy anything built before they started making houses out of paper.Stud walls have been around for centuries. How have you managed to avoid hollow backgrounds for so long, lol.
Unfortunately I can't stop relatives buying them, then demanding I do "little jobs" for them, which turn out to be an ordeal as their house is modern junk.
How? Many houses old and new have stud partitioning and all have ceilings.
Eh? Houses are stronger now than they have ever been. Timber frame houses with ply sheathing are incredibly strong, robust and well insulated as are most new homes.
Lucky them.
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we have some walls in our workshop like that, horrible things. If you can find the metal stud, drill a small pilot hole and get a self tapper in - surprisingly strong
Other than that its the usual plaster board fixings, which are never very strong.
You can get an electronic Stud Finder. I find a Neodynium magnet more reliable. Just swirl it around on the wall surface, it should find the screw or nail heads under the surface by sticking to them. Pencil a circle where it sticks, move on. You should see lines of circles, these are your studs. You may also feel a bit of cling from the studs themselves with metal studs.
Plasterboard (or lath and plaster) on a timber frame was commonly used a century or more ago, most often in upstairs walls. If you can find the timber you can get a solid fixing into it with long woodscrews. But dot & dab plasterboard is much more of a problem, due to the air gap and the fact that there's no reliable way of finding the odd solid bit.
Plasterboard fixings are not strong enough for anything substantial. However good the fixing, it's ultimately attached to two sheets of paper with a thin layer of plaster between them.
You need to get a solid fixing into the block behind AND have a solid support between the thing you're fixing and this block, don't rely on squeezing against the plasterboard as it may bend or snap.
Plasterboard (or lath and plaster) on a timber frame was commonly used a century or more ago, most often in upstairs walls. If you can find the timber you can get a solid fixing into it with long woodscrews. But dot & dab plasterboard is much more of a problem, due to the air gap and the fact that there's no reliable way of finding the odd solid bit.
Plasterboard fixings are not strong enough for anything substantial. However good the fixing, it's ultimately attached to two sheets of paper with a thin layer of plaster between them.
You need to get a solid fixing into the block behind AND have a solid support between the thing you're fixing and this block, don't rely on squeezing against the plasterboard as it may bend or snap.
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