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Armstrong launches time-saving plasterboard ceiling suspension system

Drywall Grid System by Armstrong delivers up to 40% installation time savings.

Armstrong Ceilings has formally launched its time-saving Drywall Grid System (DGS) to the UK market following its stunning use on the largest hospital building project in Europe to date.

A new DGS brochure showcases the project Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow as well as other UK DGS projects, and in the United States where the system has been popular for years, the NOAA offices in Alabama and the Pennsylvania Academy of Music.

Now that the system is launched to the UK office, education, retail, leisure and hospitality sectors, giving specifiers the option to use as a standalone, wall-to-wall, or in combination with Armstrong tiles and Axiom perimeter systems as a fully compatible solution.

Up to 40% quicker to install, the DGS suspension system for plasterboard ceilings is available in three versions – standard for typical flat installations, faceted for curved and domed ceilings of any radius, and Shortspan for smaller areas such as corridors.

Designed for strength, but using 15% less steel, the CE-marked Drywall Grid System utilizes Armstrong’s popular T-shaped grids and can easily incorporate service elements such as light fixtures, access panels and air diffusers or ventilation systems.

A total of 70,000 linear meters of DGS were used at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital – flat DGS was installed alongside Armstrong’s bespoke pre-engineered Axiom perimeter solutions in the stunning reception atrium and curved DGS was used for the nurses’ stations in the wards.

The Drywall Grid System launch is supported with a technical brochure and also features on the Armstrong website (www.armstrongceilings.co.uk) and the Ceiling Systems App available from both the Apple store as well as the Google Play store. Just click on one of the links below with your mobile device www.armstrong.com/CeilingDownloads-Apple or www.armstrong.com/CeilingDownloads-Android.

Dry Wall Grid specialist Martin Dalby recently joined the Armstrong UK sales team and will support customers with technical training and on-site installation and support.

For further information, please contact Armstrong Ceilings on Freephone 0800 371 849 (UK) or 1800 409002 (RoI). Visit www.armstrongceilings.co.uk.

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It’s a cover up!

Although modern renovation plasters are a superb alternative to tradional types; don’t overlook the possibilities impervious coverings – along with hybrid and insulated plasterboards. So says Hudson Lambert, director of Safeguard Europe.

Impervious coverings come in a few varieties, yet easily the most popular are meshed cavity drainage membranes. These are attached to walls using special fixing plugs, and then can be plastered over using traditional gypsum, lime or other plasters. Effective as they are, it should be remembered that despite a notional air gap behind the membrane, these systems are not breathable and will drive rising damp further up the wall unless controlled at source using a high specification remedial damp-proofing cream or rod.

More recently, fleeced DPMs are a natural development from meshed cavity drainage membranes. First, a flexible waterproof adhesive is applied to wall, then the fleeced DPM applied over adhesive and, finally, traditional plasters can be applied on top.

These have the same disadvantages as meshed cavity drainage membranes; yet are faster to apply and their lower profile makes it easier to blend them in with existing plaster finishes.

Beyond these two types of membrane are new systems based around ‘hybrid’ plasterboard. The design intention of these is to utilise the convenience of plasterboard, yet enhance it to reliably allow its on walls susceptible to damp. This is especially useful in situations where speed is important (e.g. tenanted properties where decanting may be inconvenient) and decoration can take place as soon as the system is installed (when using dry joints rather than a plaster skim).

Although they are not suitable where wall surfaces are particularly uneven, they are Breathable (except where foil-backed or insulated plasterboard is used) and BBA approved types are available – which acts as reassurance to clients such as local authorities.

Installation is relatively straightforward: water-repellent/salt-disrupting silane cream is applied to wall and plasterboard applied in the traditional way (although water/salt resistant MS-polymer adhesive is used instead of traditional gypsum-based plasterboard adhesive). ‘Synergistic’ chemistry ensures a high strength chemical bond between the silane cream and the MS-polymer adhesive (due to covalent bonding between the silane components of both materials).

While a plaster skim is usually applied over the plasterboard, using a ‘dry jointing’ method allows the fastest results – and means walls can be re-plastered and re-decorated in less than 24 hours.

If required, the system can be used in conjunction with insulated plasterboard. However, as is always the case when using internal wall insulation, certain precautions are required to minimise condensation risk and it will hinder drying out of the wall compared with when standard (porous) plasterboard is used.

For more information please visit www.safeguardeurope.com.

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