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Installation and laying

The laying is prepared before the first box is opened.

Laying a gypsum panel is not complicated work, but it does not forgive improvisation. A sculptor, a tiler, a dry-liner or a good decorator will carry it through without difficulty by following the sequence.

What follows is the general run of it. The detail is settled on the project, with the adviser, because it depends on the substrate and the setting-out.

The six stages of laying

  1. Survey and setting-out

    The wall is measured, then the modules are recalculated against the actual dimensions. Lay several panels on the floor before bonding: this is where the arrangement of the pattern is fixed, and the only moment it can be corrected at no cost. Backlighting is decided now, never afterwards.

  2. Preparing the substrate

    The surface must be flat, dry and clean. Any irregularity is made good with plaster before laying. A primer is not compulsory but improves adhesion.

    • Plasterboard, concrete, brick, aerated concrete
    • Clad timber: practised, to be confirmed on the project

  3. Cutting and fitting

    The last row is cut to the height under the ceiling. Cutting is done with a fine-toothed saw, the arris is dressed with sandpaper. Panels are not laid on a moving surface: a sliding door or an internal window will crack the joints.

    • Sandpaper, 120 grit

  4. Bonding and laying

    A thin bed of mortar on the wall or on the panel, the excess removed with a notched trowel. The panel is offered up to the marks and moved millimetre by millimetre, top to bottom then left to right, to drive out the air. Rows go up from the bottom, starting at one edge.

    • Drying between two rows: 20 to 40 minutes

  5. Jointing

    Two families of module, two treatments. Models with an exposed joint keep their line, it is part of the drawing, and go straight to painting. Models with no joint are filled and sanded until the wall reads as a single pattern.

  6. Finishing and painting

    Gypsum takes paint with no specific primer on a sound substrate. The colour is chosen with the relief in mind: a dark colour eats the cast shadow, a light one gives it back. It is the last adjustment, and the most visible.

Laying on plugs

A second method, when bonding alone is not enough. Preparing the wall is identical. Plaster mortar remains compulsory: it takes up the irregularities that a screw does not.

  1. Mark the line with a level.
  2. Drill four holes per panel, at least 5 cm from the edges, with the panel laid flat.
  3. Countersink the holes so the screw head sits below the surface.
  4. Offer up the panel, mark its edges and mark the drilling points through its holes.
  5. Take the panel down, drill the wall, fit the plugs.
  6. Apply a thin bed of plaster mortar to the wall.
  7. Put the panel back on the marks and screw it home.

The choice of screws depends on the wall material. The source gives common sizes without imposing them: they are validated on the project, with the adviser, and not from a web page.

Tools

You are not laying it alone

Laying can be carried out by our fitters, or by your own contractor with our support. In both cases we supply the dimensioned setting-out, the joint details and the recommended tools.

A question during the works is settled on the telephone, not through a form. The adviser knows the reference being laid and its setting-out.

Request a call back+33 6 09 37 79 36