Dry line.

obi604

Hi.

I know walls can be dry lined etc few silly questions on it.

- I think dry lining is mainly done on internal walls .......can it be done on external walls.
- for internal wallls, is it only advisable to do on the external *facing* walls
- what is rough cost per square metre
- related to above point, do Costs change if it has to be done on a tiled bathroom wall V standard plastered concrete wall V (maybe studded wall)
- are there loads of different types of dry lining and prices vary massively ?

obi604

any comments on this?

jlm29

I don't know the answer to a lot of your questions, but I've recently got one room dry lined, so I'll tell you what I've gathered!

It's more common to get the internal "outside walls" done- some people don't bother getting inside walls done.

You can get your house insulated externally- but it's not called dry lining- I can't remember what it is called though!

We got a room done, it's 26sq yds I think, so a decent sized room.
I'm not sure of cost per metre, but we had all walls dry lined, and the ceiling. There used to be a wood panel ceiling, and slabbing over it was more time effective than taking that down.
The had to put up a partition wall at one side, before slabbing that wall, and we also had an old archway that they boxed off before slabbing that (the archway didn't go anywhere, it was just a decorative feature, but it wasn't deep enough to build in shelves or anything).
There was also a fair bit of fixing up to do around the window of our room- it used have this awful wood panel surround, so that's just plastered now and looks a lot better.
There was an old fire place removed and some heat resistant board put in there, so it's ready for a new stove. There were also two radiators moved. And when it was dry lined and plastered, new skirting fitted.
The total cost was just under 4K- maybe €3800.

There were a good few labour days for us, with prep work etc, so i know it might be hard to gauge the actual cost of the dry lining!

And yes- there are different types of insulation, different thicknesses etc, but we just went with whatever they recommended

Dudda

I think dry lining is mainly done on internal walls .......can it be done on external walls.

You can insulate internally or externally.If you do it internally it involves drylining. If you do it externally it’s usually more expensive but a better job, less disruption internally and you don’t loose floor area. If you’re doing the whole house look at external insulation. If you’re very stuck budget wise and only doing a room or two go internal.

for internal walls, is it only advisable to do on the external *facing* walls

Yes for internal insulation you only need to do external facing walls. No point drylining walls between internal rooms unless you’ve serious noise transfer issues and even then there are better options available.

what is rough cost per square metre

For internal insulation it varies on how much you want to do, how many windows and doors to cut around, any radiators to move, how many electrical points to modify, thickness of insulation, any other work you’re doing, will you reskim the ceiling, etc. A grant is available for both internal and external insulation but it must be done by an approved contractor.

related to above point, do Costs change if it has to be done on a tiled bathroom wall V standard plastered concrete wall V (maybe studded wall)

The internal insulation includes a new internal finish which can be painted or tiles over. If you’ve tiles or something else existing these can quickly and easily be ripped off to allow for the insulation to be fitted.
are there loads of different types of dry lining and prices vary massively ?
The most common thing is an insulated plaster board which is fixed to the wall and gets a skim coat of plaster. Other alternatives are fixing timber or lightweight metal studs which have insulation between them and then have plasterboard over. If you’ve a very uneven wall or a stone wall like in a cottage this is used to create a flat surface. The types of insulation vary so you can get wood fibre or wool insulation if you want to be more environmentally friendly. Note that different types of insulation have different thermal performance. You might need twice as much sheeps wool in thickness to get the same thermal performance than a chemical based insulation board which would also be cheaper.

Other things to note:
First obvious enough but get a few quotes and check the quality of their work if you can.
If you put insulation internally you run the risk of air getting cold between the new internal insulation and the original external wall. Here the moisture in the air (although small) will condense and convert back to water. This can lead to loads of problems like stains, mould growth, reduced thermal performance, etc. It can be covered by you’re new clean plastered wall so might not be obvious. You need what’s called a interstitial condensation risk done. This varies from house to house and for all insulation types so don’t just follow a rule of thumb or what a builder tells you. If you’re getting for example Kingspan insulated plasterboard slabs they’ll advise on this. Most companies whoever you get your insulation from should be able to help if you ring and ask to speak to someone in their technical department. All companies I’ve dealt with (which is a lot) do it for free as they’re interested in you buying their product and want to make sure it’s installed correctly.

obi604

Thanks Dudda. Some great insight there.