Sometimes the pipes in the bathroom and toilet look just awful: rusty, covered in cobwebs and just plain ugly. This is especially true of old Soviet-built houses. In new buildings, this problem is not so acute, because all communications are trying to mask. Many people try to paint water pipes and sewer pipes, but this only aggravates the situation: after a few months, rusty streaks appear and the coating begins to peel off. A drywall box in such a situation is the best solution. But this is far from its only use. This material is also used when creating structures on ceilings.
Brief description of material
Gypsum board sheets, like everything ingenious, are a simple solution to the problem of leveling the interior surfaces of rooms. They are also used to create decorative items.
Gypsum board sheet consists of three layers of gypsum pressed under high pressure, and two layers of thin and durable cardboard on one side and the other.
Why shouldopt for drywall constructions
This type of material and design is the most advantageous in every way compared to other options available today.
Firstly, it is relatively easy to mount a backlight in the box, which will give the living space an individuality and increase comfort.
Secondly, the materials allow you to create a variety of boxes in shape and purpose.
Third, you can easily hide indecent communications.
Fourthly, installation is quite easy. This way you can save on attracting workers and do everything yourself.
It is also important that drywall is an environmentally friendly and non-flammable material.
Work planning
Before proceeding directly to the installation, it is recommended to sketch a design sketch. Installation of a drywall box in this case will be much faster and more efficient, without stepping on a rake and annoying mistakes. Advanced users of the project's personal computer may well create a box project in a specialized software environment. To date, there are programs that automatically generate the most advantageous arrangement of sheets and cutting patterns. But for a simple project, such things should not be done. It is enough to sketch out a plan on a piece of paper in a box. A sketch of a drywall box must necessarily contain information about the material used (thickness, load capacity, etc.), aboutdimensions of the entire structure (thickness and height), the distance between the screws and other important information.
Experts recommend repairing and replacing all pipes before building a drywall box in a bathroom or toilet. In the vast majority of old houses, especially in the provinces, major repairs have never been carried out, and are not foreseen in the foreseeable future. Such communications are morally obsolete and physically worn out. The likelihood that they will leak is quite high. And if this happens, then the whole structure will have to be demolished. Therefore, it is better to play it safe and replace communications. Yes, this will increase the cost of repairs, but it will protect against unforeseen expenses in the future, which can significantly exceed the cost of repairs.
Components and necessary materials
First of all, you need the drywall sheets themselves. The choice of material depends on the conditions in which drywall will be used. It will be much more difficult to make a box for pipes from other materials, more expensive, and the effect of their use will not be the same.
The frame on which the drywall sheets are attached is assembled from metal profiles. But you can also use ordinary wooden bars for these purposes. The result will be just as good.
The drywall pipe box is twisted with self-tapping screws. Therefore, it is necessary to stock up on them.
You will also need brackets, connectors, reinforcing mesh for gluing joints.
If fixtures will be mounted in the box, then it is also necessary to think about their purchase before starting work.
Besidesdrywall, you will need the following consumables: primer, gypsum-based putty and metal profiled corners.
Required tool
When assembling a drywall box, you will have to screw in a huge amount of self-tapping screws. Therefore, in this case, you can not do without a screwdriver with a Phillips bat. In addition, drilling and cutting raise dust.
To make holes in the wall, you need a drill or a hammer drill (impact drill).
The metal profile of the drywall box is cut into parts of the required length with special metal scissors. In their absence, you can use a regular hacksaw. But this will significantly complicate the installation work.
The joints between the drywall sheets after their installation are very noticeable. Therefore, they are primed (to protect against moisture penetration) and puttied. Of course, these finishing operations are not done by hand, you need a spatula and a paint brush.
This is a harmful production factor, so the worker must wear a respirator.
Preparing for installation of a plasterboard box on the ceiling
The sequence and methods of preparatory work depend on what the design idea was, as well as on the materials that will be used. So, for example, if a stretch ceiling is installed, then there is no need to level the individual surfaces of the box. But if the drywall is planned to be painted, then it is necessary to do complex and painstaking work to prepare the surfaces. And althoughthe sequence of actions, as well as their nature, may vary depending on the specific situation, you can still give a list of the main activities:
- Cleaning the old coating. Whitewashing is easier to remove by moistening it with plenty of water. Rough cleaning is carried out with a spatula, the residues are removed with a rag. It used to be fashionable to decorate the ceilings with embossed polystyrene foam plates. It is easy to dismantle them: just pick them up with some metal object. Residual material is removed with a spatula.
- Priming the ceiling. Use of a primer both on a water, and on an alkyd basis is allowed. It is carried out by applying at least two words.
- If there are significant cracks in the ceiling, the plasterboard box can only be assembled after they have been sealed. A reinforcing mesh is glued to such places, and then a layer of putty is applied. Further work is carried out only after the mixture has completely dried.
- Secondary treatment of problem areas with putty.
- To improve the adhesive properties, the entire surface is treated with coarse sandpaper. Of course, this step can be carried out only after the plaster has completely dried.
- A primer is applied to a rough surface; roughness also helps to increase the penetration depth of the composition, which ultimately increases the life of the ceiling.
- The last operation is the application of decorative whitewash to the ceiling.
- Control of the geometry of the surface (it must be perfectly flat even in intense light).
Assembling the box frame
The principle of assembling the skeleton of a drywall box in the bathroom, toilet or living room remains the same. The difference can only be in the composition and properties of the drywall itself. The sequence of actions is as follows:
1. Exactly along the marking lines, guide metal profiles are attached to the ceiling (to the walls). If a decision is made to build a wooden frame, it is allowed to use wooden blocks.
2. Before fixing the profiles to the ceiling, specialists usually assemble the contour on the floor. This helps to understand and realize all the possible subtleties and not make gross mistakes.
3. Holes are drilled in the ceiling, and fasteners (dowels) are hammered into them. Guides are already suspended from them.
4. Before proceeding to the next step, you need to double-check whether everything was done correctly. Even a small mistake made at this stage may lead to the need for large-scale alterations at the final stage of work.
5. Hanging elements are being cut.
6. The resulting elements are securely attached to the guides with self-tapping screws.
7. The lower contour of the box frame is mounted.
8. The next step is to lay the wiring and install lighting fixtures.
9. Crossbar installation. The distance between the stiffeners to which the drywall will be attached should not exceed sixty centimeters. Otherwise sheetsdrywall will sag under its own weight and may even break.
10. The sheet material is cut into the desired pieces, which are attached to the wooden box profile with self-tapping screws.
Fixing drywall sheets to the frame
First of all, you need to cut the drywall into rectangles corresponding to the dimensions of the sides of the frame. In this case, it is recommended that you first cut and install the sheets horizontally, and then vertically. In the case of installing a drywall box in the toilet, this rule can be deviated from, since most often the dimensions of such a design are small, while it has a large height and extends from ceiling to floor. The first piece of drywall is fixed with self-tapping screws at the top corners. Hats of hardware must be drowned in the material so that they do not stick out.
Experts in the field of finishing works say that the second and all subsequent pieces of drywall are not installed end-to-end, a gap of several millimeters is left between them. After the front panel is completely sheathed, you can begin to work on sheathing the side surfaces of the box. You can do anything with your own hands from drywall - the material is unpretentious and does not require any special skills from the performer.
When assembling a drywall box under the ceiling, the distance between fasteners cannot exceed 170 millimeters. When sheathing the same walls, the step between the screws can be increased to 250 millimeters.
Finishing the box
After all the drywall is mounted on the frame, everythingsurfaces are carefully primed and puttied. Before applying a layer of putty, all joints are glued with a strip of reinforcing mesh. As you can see from the photo, the drywall box is puttied not only at the joints of the sheets, but also at the places where the self-piercing screws are cut. The recesses formed when the screw heads are pressed in are aligned with the main plane.
Finishing sequence
The work is done in the following order:
- The entire box is treated with a primer. This increases the adhesion with fine and rough putty by an order of magnitude.
- All corners, end surfaces of sheet material, as well as joints are puttied.
- All joints are glued with adhesive reinforcing tape and then re-puttied.
- Putty is processed with fine sandpaper, after which the rough surface is re-primed
Possible finishes
A common design solution is to assemble a kind of island in the middle of the ceiling, in addition to the box around the perimeter of the room.
Most often, the surface of the boxes is decorated with the most common light-colored paint. In general, drywall is a versatile material, and can even be wallpapered or plastered. Wallpapering with wood texture imitation is widely used in the decoration of offices and reception rooms.
Some installation features
A very common design is a drywall box with backlight. Installationthe latter is preceded by the installation of GKL on the ceiling. Fundamentally, the stage is no different from installing the most ordinary box.
After that, the borders of the backlit box are marked on the drywall plane. The height dimensions of this element may vary and depend mainly on the type of lighting elements used. But the height cannot be less than 5 centimeters. The base (guide profiles) are made in most cases from a CW type profile. The remaining implementations of the remaining elements are most suitable for the CD profile.
All further work is carried out by analogy with the work during the installation of a conventional decorative drywall box in a toilet or bathroom.
Conclusion
Assembling a drywall construction on your own is a fairly simple task. But it is necessary to strictly follow the technology of work. Otherwise, the appearance of the structure, as well as its performance, will not meet expectations.
