One of the obligatory elements of any house are dividing walls or so-called partitions.
They play one of the main roles in creating the interior, and are also able to provide privacy to residents. Partitions can be erected in a frame way or using masonry. Almost any artificial building stone, such as silicate or ceramic bricks, tongue-and-groove slabs or large-format blocks, can be used as a masonry material for dividing walls. Each of these technologies has its own advantages and disadvantages. Let’s take a closer look at each of these technologies.
Frame partitions.
The design of frame partitions consists of profiles (mainly metal, less often wooden), which are most often sheathed with hypofiber or gypsum boards. The internal space of the partition is filled with mineral wool. Depending on the operating conditions of the room, it is necessary to select the type of sheathing. Not all materials currently available on the construction market have sufficient moisture resistance.
In “wet” rooms it is necessary to use only moisture-resistant sheets. It is possible to proceed with the installation of frame partitions only after the completion of the construction of the house box. Dividing frame walls can have a thickness of 7.5 to 15 cm. Compared to stone partitions, they are about ten times lighter. This design can be placed over the entire floor area. Frame partitions are able to provide excellent sound insulation of interior spaces.
With a thickness of only 7.5 cm, such a partition fully complies with the standards for soundproofing residential premises. It should be especially noted that the installation of frame partitions can be easily performed independently, and the work can be suspended or interrupted at any time. Installation of frame partitions requires much more time compared to building it from building stone, but they are almost immediately ready for final finishing (painting, wallpapering). The more time-consuming part of the installation of frame dividing walls is the processing of window and door openings. A wall built in this way is ready to support objects weighing no more than 60 kg. In order to be able to “hang” heavier objects on it, additional reinforcement is required using special profiles. Partitions made of masonry.
These partitions are built using one of the wall materials, and then both sides are covered with a layer of plaster or sheathed with finishing materials (wooden clapboard, MDF panels, slabs, etc.).
As a material for masonry partitions, brick (silicate or ceramic), large-format blocks (made of porous ceramics, gas or foam concrete, expanded clay concrete, polystyrene concrete) or gypsum tongue-and-groove slabs are most often used. Installation of such partitions is best done at the stage of building a box at home. The thickness of such a dividing wall can be in the range from 6.5 to 18 cm. Such a partition has a fairly large weight, as a rule, 1 m2 of such a wall can weigh from 85 to 280 kg, which limits its placement on the floor (its location cannot be arbitrarily changed ). Stone partitions provide an order of magnitude worse sound insulation of enclosing premises than frame ones.
In order to build a stone partition, it is necessary to involve a team of masons, and in the process of performing work, non-production downtime should not be allowed. In terms of construction time, such partitions are built an order of magnitude faster than frame ones, but at the same time they require significant drying time after plastering the surface. When arranging door or window openings, they require a little additional reinforcement. On stone partitions, you can safely hang objects that have a lot of weight. If the stone partitions are of small thickness, the horizontal seams during the construction process should be strengthened by means of reinforcement. The main parameters of the partition. Of course, all the properties and parameters of the finished partition depend, first of all, on the building materials from which it was built. However, it is worth noting that the material is not everything.
Of great importance is the way the partition is connected to other walls, as well as its thickness. It is worth noting that dividing walls do not carry any structural loads of the building, which is why the strength class of the material is not so important.
In this case, their maximum permissible mass, height, as well as the weight that the partition can withstand is of great importance. In addition, parameters such as resistance to heat transfer and thermal conductivity are absolutely not important, since partitions, as a rule, separate internal heated rooms. When choosing a material, however, one should not neglect such a parameter as sound insulation, the higher it is, the more comfortable conditions will be created for residents. Different wall materials have different properties, physical and technical characteristics. Some may perceive them as the advantages of this material, but for some they will seem like its obvious shortcomings. At first glance, it may seem that if building materials with optimal parameters are selected during the construction of the partition, then the entire structure of the partition will meet the desired expectations. Unfortunately, this is not always possible. So, for example, light wall materials may not always be a guarantee of obtaining a partition that is light in weight, and hollow porous ceramic blocks that have excellent soundproofing characteristics, but laid without taking into account the direction of internal voids, will only amplify sound vibrations transmitted through the partition from neighboring rooms. .
Before building a partition, you must clearly determine for yourself in advance which parameters are the main ones for you in this situation, and only after that choose a specific technology for its implementation (masonry or frame) and the type of wall material used.
• If you need a “quiet” partition, then materials that can effectively dampen noise are best suited for its construction, either fibrous (a partition of a frame structure with filling the internal cavity with mineral wool) or quite massive (for example, from a solid silicate brick ).
• If it is necessary that the finished partitions be easy to finish and sufficiently even, then they should be erected from elements that have a smooth surface and be mounted on even and thin seams. In this case, if there is no complete confidence in the high qualification of the performers, then it is best not to choose the frame technology for erecting partitions, since although the cladding plates have a smooth surface and large linear dimensions, the joints between them are quite difficult to perfectly evenly putty (on a large surface there can be spots of putty are visible).
• If you do not have complete certainty in the internal layout of the premises, then it is best to choose frame walls, as they will help to radically change the concept of planning without much effort. This design is quite easy to disassemble and install in another place without the need to check the strength of the building foundation.
• If you plan to reconstruct the premises in the near future, then you should stop at stone partitions, since after cleaning such a surface from plaster, most of its elements can be reused.
Good luck and successful construction to you.