tapered or square edge boards?

Hi all my studio is coming on well now... The internal room, ventilation routes and insulation is up... next stage is the paster board!! I have a small room and am wondering what is better or easier etc... tapered edge or straight edge plasterboard? I have acoustic sealand ready to do the edges as recomended but is is also worth doing the inner joins or is that better with "mudd"? Thanks Geoff

Mud the seams, but use acoustic sealant with backer rod where walls meet ceiling, floor, and other walls. Don't forget to start with a layer of wall, then a layer of ceiling, then a layer of wall, then a layer of ceiling, etc. --Keith :mrgreen:

thanks ! one prob you dont seem to be able to buy backer rofd in teh UK, so going to have to use lots of sealant!

Keep looking. Backer rod isn't just a sealant minimizer, it's a seal integritizer.

geoff_fry01 wrote:

Hi all my studio is coming on well now... The internal room, ventilation routes and insulation is up... next stage is the paster board!! I have a small room and am wondering what is better or easier etc... tapered edge or straight edge plasterboard? I have acoustic sealand ready to do the edges as recomended but is is also worth doing the inner joins or is that better with "mudd"? Thanks Geoff

If i had to choose in a perfect world, i'd go with untapered. The tapering is harder to cut through and you have to mud it. But in the real world if you can get a bunch of sheetrock through private sale or want ads, and save alot of money then you go with what is there.

geoff_fry01 wrote:

thanks ! one prob you dont seem to be able to buy backer rofd in teh UK, so going to have to use lots of sealant!

Backer rod is available in the UK but as is pretty typical with UK DIY products none of the big chains sell it over the counter afaik (I work for B&Q and I can't find it anywhere) but http://www.everbuild.co.uk stocks it as do a few other "trade only" places.

hi, still struggling to but backer rod.. called the company but they can sell it to me cause I am not a re-seller... they said nobody in teh UK is actually buying backer rod from them yet so cant help.. they gave me the number of someone who buys other stuff from them and I called them to see if they would buy some in to sell to me... still waiting on a call back.... Got a BIG question I need to get round my head... 1. Tapered plaster/gyproc is tapered just on 1 long side?? Correct? If so how do I ensure longer walls that require 3 separate 1800x900mm have all tapered meet tapered edges? I assume the 2 ends have the tapered pionting inwards, but what do I put in the middle. 2. is straight edge actually going to be BETTER or easier but JUST more costly because of backer rod and sealant? My local supplier "Travis Perkins" only stocks straight edge so I can easily get it?? Thanks Geoff

geoff_fry01 wrote:

1. Tapered plaster/gyproc is tapered just on 1 long side?? Correct?

It's tapered on 2 edges and square at the narrow ends where it was cut to length. The purpose if the taper is to provide a very shallow channel to allow for a better mud & tape finish.

2. is straight edge actually going to be BETTER or easier but JUST more costly because of backer rod and sealant? My local supplier "Travis Perkins" only stocks straight edge so I can easily get it??

Straight edge has an advantage in multi-layer walls because you don't need to mud & tape it. Just make sure your seams are filled. But tapered is generally used in exposed walls as it can be finished a lot nicer.

My opinion: use the same (tapered or not, preferably tapered) throughout. Yes, you'd need to tape and mud rach layer... But in my case, I didn't tape and I only did one layer of mud on the layers I won't see. If it cracks a little, so what? ;-) The advantage is that you have only one type of gypsum panel to store and deal with. Note that I am much more serious about edge sealing. --Keith :mrgreen:

guys REALLY Appreicate your replies.. I am being pulled toward stright edge at the mo... BUT I have found one supplier of backer rod in the uk but it seems pretty expensive in comparison to acoustic sealant.. http://www.countyconchem.co.uk/docs/pro ... es/rod.htm its 6mm x 500M = £30.17 but £15 delivery... or 10mm x 1100M = 70.41 but £15 delivery... I will keep searching for other suppliers but as with all of you its a constant fight between "progress" and finding teh "perfect" building supplies.. Cheers Geoff

geoff_fry01 wrote:

BUT I have found one supplier of backer rod in the uk but it seems pretty expensive in comparison to acoustic sealant..

Yes and paper is much cheaper to cover your walls with than plaster board. They both cover the walls but would you say they are equivalent? Of course not. As Sharward said, it's not a matter of saving calk, it's whether the calk will even work! If you have a large gap to fill, without the backer rod your calk joints would pull away from the surfaces they are supposed to seal and then ALL of your calking is wasted. As I understand it (and did it) you only need the backer rod at the ceiling <-> wall joints (each layer) and wall <-> floor joints. It wouldn't hurt to put it along the vertical corners too. Are 500M and 1000M the only amounts you can get? I did double layers of drywall in a 4 room studio with only 500 FEET of backer rod and still have a lot left over. len

I have bit the bullet and ordered the 6m x 500m (they cant do smaller as its per box..) and will have to double it up if any gaps are bigger but I have a small area so hope I can keep the gaps tidy and small enough... cant afford the 10mm as well... I am going to go with the straight edge gyproc using all the extra backer rod I now have for the first layer and depening on how that goes I may change to tapered for the second layer.. I am ordering the plaster separately per layer as I dont have storage and the weather is really wet at the mo. What did you mean by Do one wall then one ceiling then one wall etc?? Cheers Geoff