While getting my weekly Beeny-fix from Property Ladder last night, I was intrigued to see this week's punter building stud partitions using metal struts rather than the usual 2x4 timber I'd have expected. What's the deal with this stuff - is it for fire regs or something? If not, what's the advantage over timber?; the metal version looks much harder to work with.
David
I didn't see the programme. What size were the metal struts? Partitions in offices are often made with metal frames into which slot pre-papered modules made out of two sheets of plasterboard with honeycomb cardboard between. This results in a wall which is only about 1.5" thick as opposed to 4" or more for a conventional stud partition. Was this what they were using?
I've always used 2x3. Well, 50x75mm, anyway. This gives 75mm + 2x9.5mm +
2x2.5mm skim = 100mm, or 75mm + 2x12.5mm = 100mm.Christian.
It's cheap, easy to carry up five flights, takes up little storage as it 'stacks'. We used it for the interior fit of our office, you'll see it used commercially and quite a few major housebuilders use it. There's little to fix anything to at first but all the offcuts come in handy for reinforcing corner details and the like. THere is a particular screw they recommend which aren't too cheap, and the edges can be vicious. Care needs to be taken when pulling through cables. Personally, I prefer banging hefty nails into CLS timber, and where you know there will always be something decent to provide support for a fixing.
It doesn't shrink or warp and is always straight. They are available in Wickes. If using on an outside wall, beware of vicious cold bridging, even if a metals stud is screwed to an outside wall that forms the end of a partition wall. In these cases always use maybe a wooden spacers between the cold surface and the metal stud. The metal studding can also act as sound amplifiers, as sound may travel down the metal. Steel framed buildings are famous for this.
"I was intrigued to see this week's punter building stud partitions using metal struts rather than the usual 2x4 timber I'd have expected. What's the deal with this stuff" [..]
it's cheap and very easy to use, no sawing or nailing, just a snip with pincers and a special tool crimps cross struts together... I've never seen internal stud walls go up so quick
Wilson Connolly (Wilcon) use them in new builds
Les
The frame end up a hell of a lot lighter than the timber ones.
OT, but was I the only one who wondered how an unemployed person, with no more that a few tens of thousands of pounds to his name (according to him), two mortgages totalling nearly £500k (+ a shop), was continuing to buy properties?
Wonder what his dad were doing?
You can watch Dino do it here....
IMM wrote
Rubbish. It is frequently used to form rooms needing exceptional sound insulation, using two separate partitions close together with acoustic insulation between . I specified it for a new Hearing and Speech Therapy Suite at a Health Centre.
Toby wrote
60's
Not so.
Which is rather different to one stud wall. And spaced stud wall with suitable acoustic insulation will reduce sound. The air gaps is very important at suppressing sound.
the other end of the block was heard. The managing agent's surveyors pointed to the steel construction, saying it was common in this type of construction. In another block I lived, of and timber and brick, no such thing ever happened. One surveyor told us that newer blocks always had concrete frames, which reduced sound travel through the block, amongst other benefits.
Yeah, and next time you visit one of their show houses, try leaning on a partition wall, and seeing how far you can make it flex before the pictures fall off. Been there :-)
It's frightening - and as much as I hate ordinary stud partitions, they are infinitely better than a bit of bent tin held together with two sheets of 9mm plasterboard. Well, that may not be what the partition is
*actually* made of, but it sure feels like it!I suppose they're relatively easy to pull down, and don't need a skip in order to get rid of. The particular house I'm thinking about had one of these walls as a particularly stupid partition between slightly oversized kitchen (described as kitchen/breakfast but useless for that due to corridoor) and well undersized dining room. They would have been much more useful as a single room.
The same house also had a wobbly bathroom wall where the mirrors swung every time you opened the door, and pictures drooping on their picture hooks, pulling out of the plasterboard.
Hwyl!
M.
Its actually pretty good, and is THE cheapest way to created offices in modern open plan type ofice psace. I have used it many times for that, and if done to spec, is no better nor worse than a stud wall. Normally ite boards are papered with vinyl before going up, and cover strips stick over the joins, wuth frames etc from powder coated aluminium extrusion. You can even stick insulation in it - and wires can be easily inserted through teh farme before the final cladding goes on.
I wouldn't use it in a period house, but for a loft/warehouse type conversion? Why not?
Thst poor installation. You need to have the channel at teh top of teh wall properly installed.
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