Manufacturing of frames for drywall, their types and elements, installation of metal and wooden structures for the installation of partitions and wall cladding. The drywall frame is the load-bearing base of the cladding. Plasterboard sheets, fixed on it, allow you to mask not only the irregularities of the walls, but also to implement many design ideas for decorating the premises. In addition, the structure of the frame makes it possible to secretly carry out engineering communications, as well as to perform heat and sound insulation of walls or partitions made with it. Today we will look at how to make a drywall frame yourself.
The main types of frames for drywall
Rigid wall frames are made of galvanized metal profiles or wooden beams. There are several types of metal profiles:
- Guide profiles UW or PN … Their cross section is U-shaped. Its standard height is 40 mm, width is 50, 75 or 100 mm. Such profiles serve as a kind of rail for attaching the rest of the frame elements in them.
- Rack profiles CW (PS) … They also have a U-shaped section and are intended to form a wall frame, are installed vertically in the UW guide profiles and have transverse dimensions of 50x50, 50x75 and 50x100 mm.
- Ceiling profiles CD (PP) … They have a U-shaped cross-section of 60x27 mm and are used as the main elements of ceiling and wall frames.
- Guide profiles UD … They are used for fixing CD ceiling profiles and have dimensions 28x27 mm.
- UA profiles … They are a modified version of the CW profile, they have greater rigidity due to the thickened walls.
- Corner profiles UP … These are perforated corners used to strengthen and align the joints of adjacent walls.
All guide profiles "U" have smooth walls, and the support profiles "C" are ribbed, which gives them greater bending strength. Various profile extenders, straight suspensions, anchor clamps, dowels and self-tapping screws are used to connect the frame elements for drywall from a metal profile to each other or to attach them to the base. The standard length of metal profiles is 4 or 3 m. Wooden wall frames are made of timber. The cross-section of their racks should not be less than 40x70 mm, and of horizontal elements - 30x50 mm. For sawn timber, coniferous wood is used, its moisture content should not be higher than 15%. Before installation, the timber is impregnated with antiseptics and fire retardants to protect the frame from insects and accidental fire.
Installation of a metal frame for drywall
Before installing a plasterboard partition of any thickness, the adjoining walls must be plastered and the floor covered with a leveling screed.
Materials and tools for a metal frame for drywall
For the manufacture of a simple partition up to 100 mm thick, the UW and CW profiles are sufficient. If a wall of greater thickness is required with a gasket in its cavity of utilities, profiles UD and CD should be used. In this case, on each side of the wall, it will be necessary to install parallel guides, located at the required distance from each other.
To attach the profiles to each other in the frame, you will need straight suspensions and small screws of the "flea" type with tips in the form of a drill. To fasten the entire structure to the adjacent walls, you will need plastic dowels and impact screws.
The finished frame will be sheathed with plasterboard sheets 12.5 mm thick, which should have wide beveled chamfers at the edges and gray or green. The usual wall gypsum board is gray, moisture resistant, which can be used in the bathroom or in the kitchen - green. The sheets are fastened to the frame with self-tapping screws for metal 3, 5x35 mm, which have piercing tips and countersunk heads. You need to buy them too.
To strengthen the doorway in the frame, you need an AU profile or a wooden beam. In addition, you should stock up on sealing tape, which serves as insulation of the partition from the walls, ceiling and floor, mineral wool to fill the cavity of the partition and a metal corner to decorate the slopes of door or window openings.
The set of tools intended for the manufacture of a metal frame for drywall should include: a building level 120 or 80 cm long, a tape measure, as a rule, a cord, a plumb line, metal scissors, a hammer drill, a drill with a reverse or a screwdriver.
Manufacturing of a metal frame for a partition
As an example, consider the formation of a partition frame from CW and UW profiles. First, the location of the future structure should be marked on the floor. Here you need to take into account the following points:
- It is rare when the walls of rooms are joined at perfectly right angles. This is especially true for older buildings. At different ends of opposite walls, the distances between them can vary by several centimeters. This must be taken into account when marking a new partition or wall and bind not to one structure, but to both, located parallel to each other. In this case, all distances should be averaged, thereby avoiding obtaining the visual curvature of the resulting room.
- When marking the wall line, it must be borne in mind that it is necessary as a guide for the installation of the guide profile. Therefore, in fact, the partition will be slightly "shifted" by the distance of the thickness of the plasterboard sheathing and its finishing layers. After drawing the line of the planned partition on the floor, it must be projected onto the ceiling. This is done using a plumb line. If you use a laser level instead, the task will be much easier. After receiving two lines, one on the ceiling and the other on the floor, their ends must be connected along the walls and check the verticality of the proposed partition with a building level.
If there is a positive result of this check on the ceiling and floor along the contour lines of the partition, you should fix the UW guiding profiles. Their installation must be carried out using a sealing strip, which is laid between the profile and the base surface. The profiles are fastened along the edges and every 0.5 m using dowels and impact screws.
After that, the posts from the CW profile should be fixed at the edges of the rails. First, with two support profiles, you need to form a doorway at the selected place of the future partition. It is most convenient to start attaching the racks from the lower rail, and then thread them into the upper UW profile, leveling them in a strictly vertical position. Only then can the support posts be fixed with self-tapping screws in the upper rail. All racks are located face-to-face towards the opening.
Support profiles for window or door openings must be reinforced with wooden beams. To do this, you need to insert them into the racks and fix them with self-tapping screws. The cross-section of the bars must correspond to the width of the profiles. AU profiles can be used as an alternative to sawn timber.
The next stage of work is the installation of support profiles along the entire length of the future partition between the upper and lower guide. The first CW profile should be installed at a distance of 55 cm from the adjacent wall, and all others - no more than 60 cm from each other. Distances are measured from the center of each post. Verification of their vertical position is mandatory.
In order to form the horizontal upper part of the doorway or the horizontal sections of the windows in the frame, the UW guide profile should be used. You will need a piece of it 30 cm longer than the width of the opening. First, two marks should be applied to the profile shelves, located at a distance of 15 cm from each of its edges. After that, you need to cut along the marks of the profile shelves at an angle of 45 degrees to its base. Then the edges of the workpiece should be bent until a U-shaped element is obtained.
The workpiece obtained in this way must be put on the side posts of the opening with bent edges and raised to the desired height. After that, it remains only to fix this element in the opening, screwing its edges with self-tapping screws to the side support profiles. The window openings of the frame are formed by a similar method.
Now the resulting metal structure, consisting of guides, support profiles and openings, can be sheathed with plasterboard sheets.
Making a metal frame for leveling walls
This work requires almost the same materials and tools. When constructing a frame for plasterboard for cladding an existing wall on its irregularities in terms of removing them, you do not need to pay special attention. The magnitude of the largest difference on the surface of the structure should simply be taken into account when marking the location of the guide profiles. In this case, a certain indent must be made from the wall, which is necessary for placing communication systems and thermal insulation material behind the future cladding. After determining this distance on the floor, it is necessary to draw a line of the frame boundary parallel to the existing wall and project the markings onto the ceiling surface using a plumb line or a laser level, as in the previous case. Then, along the marking lines, you need to fix the guide profiles on the floor and ceiling using dowels and self-tapping screws with a fastener pitch of no more than 1 m.
After that, it is necessary to determine the location of direct suspensions on the wall, which should fix the position of each rack-mount profile of the future frame. The uprights should be installed in such a way that the joints of the sheets fall in the middle of the profiles. Therefore, you need to navigate here by the width of the drywall used. In any case, the distance between intermediate posts should not exceed 1 m.
It is recommended that the lines of the posts be applied to the wall. After that, focusing on the markings, several straight hangers should be installed for each rack. They are attached to the wall using a punch, hammer, dowels and self-tapping screws.
At the final stage of manufacturing a frame for drywall, it is necessary to install rack profiles on the wall. To do this, their ends should be inserted into the cavities of the guides of the lower and upper profiles. Then they must be set one by one in a strictly vertical position using a building level and fixed in the guides with self-tapping screws of the "bug" type.
The final fastening of the racks and ensuring the rigidity of the frame structure is carried out using straight hangers fixed to the wall, to which each vertical profile is screwed with screws in several places along the entire height.
The resulting frame can be additionally reinforced with jumpers made from pieces of rack-mount profiles. To do this, you will need to use metal scissors to make blanks of the required size and fasten them to the racks using small self-tapping screws.
Installing a wooden frame under drywall
To make a wooden frame for drywall, you will need a hacksaw or a saw, a drill, metal corners, wood screws, a level, mounting dowels, a screwdriver and a screwdriver.
Making a wooden frame for a partition
The wooden frame of the partition should be made according to a previously prepared drawing, which should indicate all the dimensions and locations of the openings. The assembly of the structure must begin with the installation of the bars of the upper and lower strapping. They are fastened to the ceiling and floor using dowels and self-tapping screws.
After mounting the strapping, vertical struts are attached to it, their correct position should be controlled by a level. Self-tapping screws for wood are used as fasteners.
Then, between the vertical wooden posts, the supporting horizontal rails should be fixed. Their cross-section can be smaller than that of the racks, but not less than 30x50 mm.
After one side of the partition is ready and sheathed with gypsum board, it is necessary to lay insulation, electrical wiring in a corrugated sleeve or lay pipes as necessary. Insulation in this case plays the role of soundproofing material. After filling the cavity of the partition, it should be sheathed with gypsum board on the other side.
Making a wooden frame for wall cladding
Installation of such a frame is advisable if the height of the walls exceeds 3 m or they have a poor-quality plaster layer that forms surface irregularities.
First of all, it is necessary to mark the wall and identify its defective places. After that, in accordance with the measurements, you need to install the crate. Its installation should begin with the installation of a horizontal bar on the floor. Then vertical slats are attached to it, retreating 10 mm from the edges of the sheathing. The step between the slats should be 600 mm.
After checking the vertical position of the rails with a building level on the ceiling, you need to fix the second horizontal beam and attach the free ends of the racks to it. If the floor is uneven, for the correct laying of the horizontal bar, you can put pieces of slats or chipboard trimmings under it.
In order not to make cutouts in the gypsum board when constructing a frame near window or door openings, the vertical racks can be moved to the desired distance. A wooden frame for plasterboard wall cladding can be assembled more easily if you perform this procedure on the floor. From the supporting horizontal and vertical beams, you need to assemble a frame, the size of which will correspond to the size of the wall. Then, wooden auxiliary beams and slats should be installed in the frame in increments of 60 cm.
The thermal insulation must be fixed on the wall and closed with a frame, which is attached with screws and dowels. After installing the frame for drywall, it can be sheathed with sheets.
How to make a frame for drywall - look at the video:
The GKL frame mount, although it makes it easy to level the walls and carry out hidden communications, at the same time reduces the size of the premises. This should be taken into account by homeowners with a small usable area. But in general, the choice is yours. Good luck!
