Plasterboard work: cost per m² 2026 and the process

Plasterboard belongs to what builders call dry construction. You mix no mortar and wait no weeks for anything to dry, and a partition, a suspended ceiling or a wall lining can be finished in a few days. The construction is light, so it puts far less load on the floor and ceiling than a masonry partition. Its hollow cavity can also hide electrical cables, water pipes and ventilation ducts. That is why you see it in flat renovations, in loft conversions and anywhere a layout needs to change quickly.

It does have limits. It cannot carry as much as masonry, so if you want to hang something heavy, you need to plan for it while the wall is being built. A lightweight wall also deals with sound differently from a solid one. Buying a thicker board will not make a room quiet. The right build-up does. Where a wall is permanently damp or in direct contact with water, choose a different material, such as cement board.

If you are removing or adding a partition in a flat, it is not only your decision. In a block of flats, speak to the building management or the owners' association before you start. Whether your project needs a permit, a simple notification or nothing at all depends on local building regulations, so check with your local building authority. Do not rely on what used to apply years ago or on what a neighbour tells you.

• Standard board: for dry rooms, so partitions, ceilings and wall linings in living rooms, bedrooms and children's rooms.
• Moisture-resistant board (usually green): absorbs less water, so it suits bathrooms, kitchens and WCs. It is not waterproof, though. In a shower and around a bath you still need to coat it with a liquid waterproofing membrane, just as you would a masonry wall.
• Fire-resistant board: has glass fibres in its core, so it holds out longer in a fire. It is used in walls that separate fire compartments, on escape routes, around chimneys and in lofts.
• Acoustic board: either heavier, or perforated with small holes that absorb sound inside the room. It is useful in offices or a home cinema.
• Gypsum fibreboard: stronger and harder, holds screws better and copes with knocks. It makes sense for dry floor systems, hallways and walls where you plan to hang things.
• Cement board: contains no gypsum, so moisture does not harm it. It belongs in shower areas, outdoors and in rooms that stay damp.

Boards, metal sections, screws, jointing compound and tape should all come from one system. Why does that matter? A manufacturer guarantees properties such as fire resistance or sound insulation only for a complete system it has tested itself. If you combine parts from three different suppliers, you have no such guarantee. Boards are made to EN 520, and you will find the board type printed on the back of each sheet.

The frame of a partition is made of UW tracks fixed to the floor and ceiling, with vertical CW studs slotted into them. Which stud width you need depends on how tall the partition is and how well it should insulate. Boards are then screwed to both sides of the frame. Single boarding means one board on each side, double boarding means two, with the joints of the second layer offset from the first.

Double boarding makes the wall stiffer, better at blocking sound and longer lasting in a fire. It pays off wherever you plan to tile or hang things. If the wall will be tiled, either the studs go closer together or the wall gets two layers of board. Otherwise the board flexes under the weight of the tiles and the grout lines start to crack.

How to keep a partition quiet

Sound travels through a lightweight wall mainly where parts touch rigidly and through gaps. A few simple rules help:

• stick a flexible sealing tape under the perimeter tracks so the partition is separated from the ceiling, the floor and the adjoining walls,
• fill the cavity with mineral wool across the whole area, with no gaps,
• two layers of heavier board insulate better than one thick board,
• if you need real quiet, for example between two flats or next to a bedroom, build a twin-frame wall with two rows of studs that do not touch each other,
• do not put socket or switch boxes in the same spot on both sides of the wall, or sound will pass through as if through a hole.

Every gap that nobody filled or sealed spoils the result noticeably. In practice it often happens that an otherwise well-built partition lets sound through simply because the junction with the floor was never sealed, or because an opening was left around the services at ceiling level.

Wiring inside the cavity should be connected only by a qualified electrician. In most countries this work must be carried out or signed off by a registered or licensed electrician, who should give you a test certificate for the installation when the job is done.

A suspended ceiling is screwed to a grid of CD channels, which hangs on hangers fixed into the existing ceiling. How far the ceiling drops depends on the type of hanger and on what needs to fit above it. If you are planning recessed lights, find out in advance how much depth they need. For ventilation, check the duct size. Decide where the lights go before the grid is installed, so that a cut-out does not land exactly on a channel.

A wall lining straightens uneven walls, hides services or works as an installation wall for a wall-hung WC and basin. In an installation wall, a steel frame carries the load and the plasterboard only covers it.

If a gas pipe runs through a wall lining or above a ceiling, do not box it in yourself. Any change to it must be made by a qualified, registered gas engineer. If you smell gas, do not use electrical appliances or switches, open the windows, leave the room and call your gas supplier's emergency line or the emergency number 112.

In a loft, plasterboard goes below the roof insulation. Between the insulation and the boards there must be a continuous vapour control layer, with taped joints and carefully sealed connections to the walls. Why is this so important? Every unsealed opening, even for a single electrical box, lets warm, moist air from the home into the insulation. There the moisture condenses and the insulation gets damp. Cables therefore belong in a service void below the vapour control layer, never through it.

You can hang a picture, a light shelf or a light fitting on cavity fixings that open out behind the board. Kitchen cabinets, a wall-mounted television, a basin, a radiator or a heavy shelving unit need reinforcement, though. This goes into the frame before the wall is closed. It can be a timber batten, a sheet of OSB or a system support rail between the studs.

Before the wall is covered, photograph the reinforcements and mark them on a sketch, with measurements from the floor and the corners. Hunting for a reinforcement in a finished wall usually ends with several unnecessary holes.

The joints between boards are filled together with reinforcing tape, the screw heads are covered with compound and external corners are protected by corner beads. How smooth the surface should be is usually described by finish levels Q1 to Q4:

• Q1: joints are only filled at a basic level. This is enough under tiles or as a base for a further layer.
• Q2: standard jointing, where the joint blends smoothly into the board surface. This is the usual base for matt paint.
• Q3: joints are finished wider and the whole surface gets a thin skim, so that it absorbs paint evenly and has the same texture everywhere.
• Q4: the whole surface is skimmed. This level is used under gloss paint, under finely textured wallpaper and on walls lit by light from the side.

Agree the finish level with your tradesperson in advance, because the amount of work differs a lot between levels. If a large window or an LED strip lights the wall from the side, standard jointing will show every joint.

Plasterboard goes in only once the wet trades are finished and plaster and screeds have dried. In damp, cold conditions the boards warp and the jointing compound cracks. Manufacturers therefore state the temperature and air humidity needed during installation and jointing. You will find these figures in the technical data sheet.

Plasterboard lets you build shapes that would take a long time in masonry: niches in the bathroom and living room, shelves set into the wall, curved partitions or a ceiling on several levels. Curves are made with bendable channels and thinner boards that are dampened or scored before bending. Bear in mind, though, that every edge and corner means more beads, jointing and sanding. A shaped construction therefore takes much longer than a flat wall.

A popular detail is a recess by the window that hides a curtain track or an LED strip. There are two ways to build it. It can be part of a lowered ceiling that stops a short distance from the window wall, or a separate box of boards fixed to the ceiling. Before installation, find out the size and weight of the track and the curtains. They decide how deep the recess must be and whether it needs reinforcing. An LED strip needs an aluminium profile to carry heat away, and you must be able to reach the power supply, for example through an access panel.

Plasterboard is also used where regulations require a construction to resist fire for a certain time. Typical cases are separating a garage from the living part of a house, escape routes in blocks of flats or encasing steel and timber beams. The resistance does not depend on the board alone. The whole build-up matters: which boards and how many layers, which studs, the mineral wool, the screw spacing and the sealing of every penetration with fire-rated sealants and collars.

If a construction is meant to protect against fire, it must be built exactly to the manufacturer's tested system and to the fire safety design prepared by a fire safety specialist. If you later cut a hole in such a wall for a cable or a light, it must be fire-sealed again. Otherwise the wall loses its fire resistance.

You can repair a hole left by a wall plug or by a door handle yourself, well enough that it disappears after painting. Have plasterboard filler, reinforcing tape, an offcut of new board of the same thickness and fine sandpaper ready.

1. Clean loose edges from small screw and plug holes, fill them with plasterboard filler and sand once dry.
2. For a larger hole, cut the damaged area back to a neat rectangle with a sharp knife or a plasterboard saw.
3. Insert two strips of timber or offcuts of channel into the opening and screw them to the surrounding board as a backing.
4. Cut a patch from new board of the same thickness to fit the opening exactly and screw it to the backing.
5. Cover the joints around the patch with reinforcing tape and apply filler.
6. Once dry, apply a second, wider coat of filler so that the patch blends smoothly into the surrounding surface.
7. Sand with fine sandpaper, dust off and prime.
8. Paint the whole wall, or at least the area from corner to corner, so that no difference in shade shows.

• Walls and ceilings are flat, which you can check with a straightedge and with light falling from the side
• Joints and screws do not show under the paint and the jointing matches the agreed finish level
• Edges are straight and protected with corner beads
• Junctions with masonry, ceiling and floor are closed with a flexible seal and free of cracks
• Access panels are fitted wherever valves, services or ventilation will need to be reached
• You have photographs of the services and reinforcements taken before they were covered, ideally with measurements
• For wiring in the walls, you have received the electrician's test certificate
• For fire-rated constructions, you have received documentation of the manufacturer's system used