Everything for boarding and skimming in one place - plasterboards in standard, moisture-resistant, fire-rated and acoustic grades, plus bonding coat and finishing plaster, angle beads, scrim tape, adhesive and coving.
Choosing the right board
Board grade is dictated by the room and by what the wall has to do. Standard board covers general walls and ceilings. Moisture-resistant board belongs in bathrooms, kitchens and utility rooms. Fire-rated board is required for party walls, integral garage walls and anywhere needing compartmentation. Acoustic board is the choice where sound reduction matters - party walls in semis and terraces, home offices and media rooms.
Thickness follows the same logic: 12.5mm is standard for walls and ceilings, with 9.5mm used on some ceilings where joist centres are tight. Where a wall needs both a fire rating and sound reduction, check whether a single specialist board meets both requirements or whether a double layer is called for.
Bonding, hardwall or finish?
The three do different jobs and are not interchangeable. Bonding coat is an undercoat for low-suction or uneven backgrounds. Hardwall is the undercoat for brick and block with higher suction. Finish plaster is the thin skim coat that goes over board or over a set undercoat - two passes, trowelled up. Getting the undercoat wrong is the most common cause of a skim that blows or crazes later.
Working out quantities
Screw fixings run at roughly 300mm centres on walls and 230mm on ceilings. For a full breakdown of sheet counts, screw quantities and plaster coverage on a given room, our plasterboard calculator guide walks through the sums, and our drywall fixings range covers board-to-stud and board-to-masonry work.