When you look at your painted wall, all you see is the finished product. It looks good and finishes walls and ceilings off nicely, but what’s really behind all that paint and texture? The old days of lath and plaster are well behind us, and the development of gypsum board has come along way to suit our building needs.

Drywall Basics: 1/2″ & 5/8″

The basic, of course, is your standard 1/2’’ drywall, which is a standard wall covering in most residential homes. 5/8’’ is typically used on your ceilings, but there is an alternative 1/2’’ high-density board that can be used. The benefit of this product is that any off cuts that would typically be thrown away, can now be used on your walls to save on waste product. 5/8’’ drywall is used in a lot of fire rated areas due to the fact that two layers of this product will provide a one hour burn protection rate, which will help response time for fire fighters, and possibly save other parts of your home or building from damage.

One of my favorite products is aqua board. This mold and mildew resistant drywall is the only thing I ever would suggest to put in a bathroom area. Bathrooms tend to always have a higher humidity due to hot showers and a large area of water usage. Paint, although helping to protect, is not a safe guard to protecting what is behind your walls. For the minimal additional cost, don’t use any thing else!!!

Looking to sound proof your upper floor, theater, or bedroom? There are a couple solutions for this. Using a product called resilient or “rez bar”, you will stop vibrations from traveling in your wall cavities. It is a piece of metal that is screwed to your wall studs, and then the drywall is fastened to it. Combined with a drywall product called “Quiet Rock”, you will be able to turn your stereo loud without bothering people in the next room. Quiet Rock has a layer of plastic sandwiched in the middle of the gypsum, which deadens noise transfer substantially.

Knowing these things will help you to properly finish the walls in your home to make you feel safe and sound. Alair Homes is considered among the best custom home builders and renovators in Red Deer, give us a call and we’ll provide you with a free quote and show you why we are a step above.