How to plasterboard a stud wall

Video by Tommy's Trade Secrets. This walk-through is based on the video “Tommy’s Trade Secrets — How to Plasterboard A Stud Wall” from Tommy’s Trade Secrets, which covers the practical order of work and the common mistakes to avoid. Worth watching before you load the van with boards — the bit about keeping board edges landing on stud centres is the single most useful thing in it.

1. Check your stud frame before you buy anything

Standard plasterboard sheets are 1200 mm wide, so your studs should be at 400 mm or 600 mm centres for board edges to land in the middle of a timber. Measure across your frame before ordering. If the spacing is slightly out — and in older properties it often is — you will need to add a new stud or pack one out to give the board edge something solid to fix to.

Check the frame for plumb as well. A stud wall that leans or twists will push the board face out of line and make the finishing coat harder. It’s much easier to pack out a stud with a thin piece of timber now than try to skim over a hollow later.

2. Add noggins at mid-height and at board joints

Noggins — the short horizontal timbers fitted between the studs — serve two purposes. First, they stiffen the frame so the boards do not flex. Second, any horizontal board joint needs to land on a noggin, otherwise the edge has no support and will crack through the plaster before long.

Fit noggins at roughly mid-height on a full-height wall, and wherever you know a board will end. Standard 12.5 mm wallboard is 2400 mm tall, which won’t reach ceiling height in most rooms with a ceiling above 2.4 m, so plan the joint position before you start cutting. To be fair, most UK ceilings in modern houses are close enough that you get away with a single sheet, but check first.

3. Cut boards to length and width accurately

The simplest way to cut plasterboard is to score the paper face deeply with a sharp Stanley knife against a straight edge, then snap the board away from you over your knee or a batten. Run the knife along the back paper and the cut is done. Keep the blade fresh — a dull knife tears the paper and leaves a ragged edge that is harder to joint neatly.

For cut-outs around sockets and light switches, measure twice and mark the position on the board face. A padsaw or jab saw works well for internal cuts. If you’re nervous, cut slightly on the small side first — you can always open up the hole, but you can’t close it again.

4. Fix boards to the studs with the right screws

Use 38 mm drywall screws for 12.5 mm board into timber studs. Drive them flush with the paper face, not proud and not so deep that they break through the paper — the holding power comes from the paper, not the gypsum core. A drywall screwdriver with a depth-stop takes the guesswork out of this.

Space fixings at no more than 150 mm around the perimeter of each board and 300 mm in the field. Start from the centre of the board and work outwards so the sheet pulls flat against the studs without buckling. Mind you, if a stud is bowed, no amount of screwing will pull the board truly flat — that stud needs straightening before you board.

5. Stagger the vertical board joints

Never run vertical joints up the same stud from floor to ceiling. Stagger them by at least one stud bay so that joints on one row land between the joints on the row above or below. This is the same principle used in brickwork and for the same reason — it spreads any stress and stops a single straight crack running from floor to ceiling.

Where two tapered edges meet along a stud, you get a natural recess for jointing tape and filler. Where a cut edge meets another cut edge, there is no recess, so you will need to bevel the cut edges slightly with a surform or a rasp to create one. It’s a small detail but it makes a significant difference to the finished look.

6. Leave a small gap at the floor and seal the perimeter

Keep the bottom of the boards roughly 10 mm off the floor. This stops the board wicking up moisture if the floor ever gets wet, and gives you room to adjust position before fixing. The skirting board will cover the gap when the job is done.

Once all the boards are up, check every fixing is flush, fill any gaps between boards and the ceiling or adjacent walls with a fine filler or jointing compound, and tape the joints ready for a plasterer or for direct decoration if you are using a jointing system rather than a skim coat. That said, in most East Kent homes a light skim is the norm — it gives a much better surface for paint than bare jointed board.

When to call a handyman

Call Richard if the stud frame needs rebuilding or packing out before boarding can start, if you are working around existing electrics or plumbing that need boxing in, or if the room is an awkward shape with lots of cut boards and tricky angles. Boarding a whole room single-handed is also slow work — having someone to hold sheets while you fix them makes the job considerably quicker and safer, particularly near the ceiling.