In your own four walls, you sometimes have the pleasure of using drywall. These are ideally suited for interior work and are very often used as partition walls, ceiling soffits, or in the area of a sloping roof. These panels are relatively light and usually meet a certain fire protection standard. Today I will explain how to cut drywall.
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What is drywall exactly?
Drywall consists of a core made of plaster of parts, which is encased by the carrier material – the cardboard. This jacket ultimately ensures the stability of the plate.
Usually, such panels do not have a load-bearing function because the stability is fundamentally lacking. The areas of application are in demand wherever a room closure is needed that does not have to be statically stable:
- Interior walls on stud frames made of wood or metal
- Interior cladding on the rafters or a substructure
- Suspended ceiling structures
By the way, the drywall is not to be confused with the gypsum fiberboard (in this case, cellulose fibers in the plaster act as a stabilizer).
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What are the important properties of drywall?
The properties of drywall are very diverse and, in my experience, such a board has some advantages:
- Fire protection panels made of drywall can be used for fire protection closures
- The plates are light in weight
- Different thicknesses and panel dimensions available
- There are special panels for sound insulation, wet rooms, etc.
- Cutting the drywall is not difficult
Of course, such a record also has a few small disadvantages:
- Assembly is usually difficult to do alone
- It has no real carrying capacity
- If careless, it can also break easily
- If the record gets wet, it is usually broken
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Typical dimensions of drywall
The most common dimensions are 1.25 cm and 1.50 cm in thickness, although there are also 0.95 cm or 1.80 cm.
Typical sizes are from 60 cm to 125 cm in width and 200 cm to 400 cm in length.
The weight varies between about 8 kg / m² and 20 kg / m² depending on size and thickness.
Cut or saw drywall
Well, you can do both – cut the drywall and saw it too. But first things first, let’s start with the classic method:
Cut and break the drywall
What you need for this:
- Cutter knife
- The profile made of metal or a metal bracket
This is the easiest way to cut drywall. Place the plate so that it does not sag.
Then mark the point where you want to cut later and place the metal profile on it. Now take the cutter knife and cut through the box.
Now slide the plate over a hard edge to the point where you made the cut and break the plate down.
The break should now be where you cut. Now separate the lower box with the cutter knife.
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Cut drywall with a hand saw
If the board is thicker or if it does not break perfectly, there are also saws for drywall.
A good option is to use a handsaw to make the cut. This is a one-handed saw that looks a bit like a pruning saw – but isn’t.
With such a part you can make round cuts in addition to internal cuts or cut off a piece as normal. You don’t have to break anything, just cut the drywall like a wooden board.
Advantages:
- 2-component handle with a soft zone
- Incisors ground from solid for easy first cuts and quick cuts
- Induction hardened teeth for long service life, ground blade tip for plunge cuts
Work with a jigsaw
It is also possible to cut through drywall with a jigsaw. However, you need the right saw blade to do this.
If you get a sheet like this, make sure it is one for that material.
For example, choose this professional jigsaw blade from Bosch.
It is particularly suitable for use in GRP and epoxy with a material thickness of 5-20 mm and for drywall and cement fiber boards between 5-50 mm. The tooth pitch is 4.3, the total length 100 mm.
Process drywall with a circular saw
That also works – it just has to be the right circular saw blade.
It is particularly advantageous if you do it with a circular saw with a guide rail.
What to do for holes
Often times you need to cut holes in the drywall. Be it for sports or for socket outlets.
A hole saw is a suitable medium for this. You put these on a drill and can drill or saw through the plate relatively easily.
