How to mount drywall on walls without a frame

Gusevsky Andrey Anatolyevich

Plasterboard sheets can be glued directly to the walls, without making an additional frame for their installation

It is unlikely that there will be a person in our country who would not know what drywall is, and moreover, would not be aware of how to work with it. The mass of information on the network, and numerous television programs telling how to make repairs using this material, have made many real masters.

But, despite this, in most cases it all comes down to the construction of complex crates and frames, and in this article we will talk about how to fix drywall on walls without a frame, and talk about situations when this installation method is more acceptable and relevant. So, let's begin!

In which cases the frame is not needed

The application of glue, its quality and texture characteristics, depend on the thickness of the drywall and on the surface of the walls on which you will glue it

Logically, you can understand that wall cladding with drywall without a frame is much more profitable and convenient. Indeed, we save building materials, and as a result, money, and gain time, because basically it is spent on it frame mounting.

So why is this method less popular among builders, and it is practically not mentioned in TV shows?

Pasting walls with plasterboard sheets without building a frame is much simpler, easier and less costly.

The fact is that fixing drywall to a wall without profiles has a number of limitations, which are quite common in an ordinary house or apartment.

Here are just a few of them:

• Wall humidity. Moisture is the first enemy of drywall. Even if you buy moisture-resistant sheets, with frequent, and even more so, constant contact with moisture, they will quickly become worthless. Gypsum itself does not tolerate water, like paper, and it is they that are the main components of this material. So, if your walls are “sweating” then either you need to fix it, or it’s better to completely abandon this installation method.

Drywall is not moisture resistant, so the walls must be additionally primed and treated with moisture repellents, so that subsequently the drywall does not bloom

• Curvature. Fixing drywall to a wall without a profile is possible only with a relative evenness of the base. The maximum allowable difference is 2 centimeters. It can still be compensated for by small inserts. If the difference is larger, then the walls will have to be leveled, and this is both financial and time costs.
• Communications. Often, under a drywall mounted on a frame, all communications passing along the walls are hidden. This electrical wiring, and heating pipes, and even ventilation ducts. Mounting the sheets directly to the wall, you will not be able to hide all this, which means that you will have to either hide all communications inside the wall or let them outside the finish, which does not always look attractive.

Using the frame, you can hide pipes and wires, the method of installing drywall with glue does not allow you to hide communications

As you can see, there are not so many limitations, but they are very common, and probably this is the secret of the popularity of wireframe construction, which all of these problems can easily be solved.

As for the advantages of a frameless method of fastening, in addition to the fact that the price of such a finish is much lower, you also save space.Even the narrowest profile, when mounted on walls, will steal at least 5 centimeters of area from you, and multiply this by 4 walls and now you have 20 centimeters missing.

Wall decoration with drywall without creating an additional frame is good for small rooms, as it does not take extra centimeters of room area

This is especially true for apartments of the old fund, where every square centimeter is worth its weight in gold, and one of the main tasks of repair is not to conceal an already small space. So, with the question of whether it is possible to mount drywall on the wall, we figured out, which means we can go directly to the process itself, which, although not complicated, requires knowledge of certain subtleties and nuances.

Preparation and installation

Before gluing drywall sheets on the wall, it must be carefully prepared, otherwise you run the risk of getting mold and fungi in the future

Any repair, and leveling the walls with drywall without a frame even more, begins with careful preparation. As for the set of tools that we need, it is so simple that we won’t even focus on it, but to prepare the surface, we need to devote maximum of our time, since this will determine how long your finish will last, and how high quality it will be.

After gluing a sheet of drywall on the wall, it is necessary to press it and hold it a bit so that the glue grips the surface as tight as possible

The first thing we need to do is remove from the walls all that is unnecessary, which can interfere with the work. The case concerns not only communications or decorative interior items, it goes without saying, but also the remnants of the old finish.

If your walls were glued with wallpaper, soak them with soapy water and remove them with a spatula (seeHow to remove wallpaper from the walls correctly and without torment), if the surface is painted, then everything is somewhat more complicated. You have to buy a special wash in the store, apply it to the walls and wait a few hours, after which the paint can be removed with the same spatula or trowel.

Important! When working with paint washes, be sure to protect the respiratory tract and eyes, as well as carefully ventilate the room. The fact is that the wash itself is a very toxic solvent-based substance, so be prepared that the next couple of hours in the house there will be a persistent smell of chemistry.

The photo shows an approximate set of tools that you may need to install drywall on the walls.

Now that the walls are cleaned, they must be treated with a primer with an antiseptic or special impregnation of deep penetration. This point is very important, since the primer creates an environment in which bacteria are not able to multiply, which means that fungus and mold will not appear on the walls.

After application, the walls must dry thoroughly, and only after that can you proceed directly to the installation. The drying process, depending on the room temperature and moisture level, can take from an hour to several days, but in no case do not start work while there is at least a drop of dry primer on the walls.

Installation: method one

Drywall mounting glue can be applied not to sheets, but directly to walls

There are two options, how to fix drywall to the wall without profiles, and we will dwell on each, and you can already choose which method suits you more based on the features of the room in which you are doing the repair. So, the first way is gluing sheets of drywall to the base.

It is believed that this is the easiest and fastest way, but it has several disadvantages:

• Drywall glue, has poor adhesion to non-mineral surfaces. If your walls are stone or concrete, then there will be no problems, but if they are built of wood, then it is better to refuse this installation method.

On block and stone walls, drywall adheres and holds better and tighter

• Drywall bonding occurs in one approach, therefore, if some part of you was left without glue, you accidentally missed it or the paste was not so plentifully plastered, it will not work to fix the situation.
• If there are elements of the old finish on the wall that you could not remove, it is likely that the drywall sheet will peel off over time.

If none of the above scares you, then you can safely get down to business.

First of all, we cut sheets of drywall to the size we need. How to do this is described in detail in one of the articles on our website, so we will not repeat it, and proceed immediately to applying glue.

Drywall sheets need to be immediately measured and cut into necessary pieces

There are some of the most optimal ways to apply glue, in which the surface will be smudged as much as possible, and there will be a minimum of unused areas:

• Criss-cross
• Smooth lines in one direction.
• Cage. Lines are drawn in two directions.
• The snake.
• Along the perimeter and crosswise.

Immediately after applying the glue, we apply the sheet to the wall and press it tightly. Curing of the solution occurs within a minute, but for the sake of fidelity it is better to hold the sheet for three or four minutes.

You must immediately apply the drywall sheet to the wall as soon as you apply the glue, and press it down slightly for better adhesion

That's all, the first element is ready, and you can move on to the next, and so on around the perimeter of the room. As you can see, the process is incredibly simple, and if you do the repair yourself, this is the easiest option you can come up with, and if you still have any questions, we recommend that you watch the video in this article, which shows a detailed instructions on how to attach drywall to a wall without a profile.

Second way

With these plastic nails, you can mount plasterboard sheets on the walls

The second method of installation is that the drywall sheet is attached to the wall using building dowels with plastic caps, as shown in the photo.

This option is considered more preferable, since you can adjust the force of pressing the sheet to the base yourself. It is also very convenient in cases where weaknesses have been identified on the attached sheet. As you remember, when using glue, this defect could no longer be fixed, but here, you just need to hammer another dowel and that's it.

Important! Hammering the expansion bolt shield, control force of a clip. If you hammer in the fasteners deeper than they were set, pulling it out will not work.

The photo shows an example of installing drywall on the wall with dowels, without crate

So, for this installation method, we need a hammer drill and a drill of the corresponding diameter. Everything is done very simply: attach the sheet to the wall, and drill through it the base itself. It is better to start fastening from the center of the sheet, and from this place move to the sides.

Depending on the evenness of the walls, you may need from 8 to 20 dowels, but do not save on them, the stronger the fastening, the longer the wagon will last.

And in conclusion

In the photo we see an example of applying glue to a sheet of drywall

As you can see, installing drywall on walls without a frame is not a complicated process, and most importantly, quick. But if you, after reading our article to this place, still cannot determine with what way you will do it, and whether you need a wireframe in your particular case, here is a small table that will certainly help you decide.

Well, now you are fully armed with the necessary knowledge, which means that you can safely get to work, and remember, whatever method you choose, careful preparation of the foundation is important first and then, your decoration will serve faithfully for more than a dozen years .