How to cover metal stringers and beams with plasterboard. Finishing and cladding of stairs - types of materials and their characteristics

You hardly feel comfortable when the staircase in your house creaks and the steps sag. Everyone wants it to be beautiful, strong and durable. Nowadays, stairs, comparable in size to the creations of the fathers of architecture, are made of reinforced concrete or metal. The story will be about a steel structure lined with wood and plasterboard

So, the welding work is completed, the metal frame of the staircase is installed in its place and covered with a layer of protective primer. From below it is tightly screwed using anchor bolts to concrete floor, from above rests freely on the end of the opening in the ceiling. The weight of the structure reaches one and a half tons. For ease of movement and work, wooden blocks can be temporarily placed in place of the steps.

Metal and wood are one

What is the advantage of steel over reinforced concrete? Modern stairs are not limited to simple geometric shapes. As a rule, they are structures with many spans and turns at various angles, part of which is a complex fence made of forged metal, tempered or special glass, wood, stone and other materials. Such stairs must have increased strength in order to withstand the weight of not only people moving along them, moving pieces of furniture, household appliances, but also massive decoration of fencing, railings or handrails.

According to pre-made markings, the plinth panel that decorates the staircase from the wall side is secured with “liquid nails” and then screwed to the wall with screws. In the same way, the panel is installed and attached to the stringer with outside stairs. This work is done after finishing the steps and installing the landing.
The assembly of the steps begins by inserting into the groove on the underside of the tread using " liquid nails" the riser is glued in. It is connected to the tread on which it rests with two screws with a diameter of 6 mm through holes drilled into the tread along the center line of the joint.
The tread is installed on the metal structure and attached from below with four screws with a diameter of 6 mm through pre-drilled holes in the metal. This is what the connection between the tread and riser looks like from the end.
The marked slab is cut to the right size Using a circular saw, the ends are finished with a grinding machine. Products complex profile

usually made from prestressed reinforced concrete at house-building factories. Try bringing such a heavy and bulky structure into a house where floors are already installed. Most likely, you won't succeed. If you make such a staircase only from wood, then it will include massive and large-sized load-bearing elements and significantly limit the choice of architectural solution. Metal gives the impressively sized staircase lightness and delicacy. Any technology has its own specifics. The peculiarity of assembling a ladder on a metal stringer is that when welding load-bearing frame It is very difficult to ensure the required dimensional accuracy at the installation site. Therefore, careful measurement of the frame and fitting of parts is required. Ideal option are the performance of all work related to metal processing in the factory and installation in the span finished product . In this case, cladding the supporting metal structure with wood (on the sides and top) and plasterboard, plastic, wood, plaster (from below) will be less labor-intensive and of higher quality. The weight of this structure can reach several hundred kilograms, so Special attention

must pay attention to the safety of work.

In the architecture of private houses in Russia at the end of the 90s, the Art Nouveau style received a rebirth. The inherent lightness and plasticity of curvilinear forms are embodied in the art of building stairs. The structure that we will tell you about was designed and manufactured by specialists from three different companies. The metal frame was welded by craftsmen from the ROST company. The carpenters of JSC LESTVITSA lined the frame with wood and installed a handrail, modeled and turned in Austria. The forged fence is the work of blacksmiths from the RUSSIAN FORGING company. The handrail is perhaps the most complex and time-consuming part of the stairs. Of course, you can plan out clumsy railings or assemble them from separate wooden parts fitted to each other, as is customary in mass production. Piece carpentry products that have no analogues are created differently. A handrail with complex geometry is developed by computer modeling in three-dimensional projection (3D). Then they make a life-size model, according to which the handrail is machined at the factory from. The rotating elements are made and adjusted according to the template. Leaning on such a handrail, a person feels that this thing was created for maximum convenience and is a work of art, and not just part of a protective fence.

The landing slab is heavy and inconvenient for installation; when adjusting and installing it, workers are required not only physical strength, but also attentiveness and caution.
After installing the steps, the embedded parts of the fence are installed. To do this, drill into the steps and metal stringer according to preliminary markings required holes. The embedded parts are tightened with nuts from below.
Next comes the turn of covering the staircase frame from below with plasterboard. Sheets pre-cut to size are attached to metal stringers with self-tapping screws.
The plasterboard coating is puttied, after cleaning the surface with sandpaper, it is primed and painted with water-dispersion paint using a roller.

High art of cladding

Any metal structure can be lined with wood and plasterboard, even if this was not intended. In such cases, welded to the frame necessary details and remove the unnecessary ones. The method of fastening the cladding and its configuration are determined in each specific case separately.

The ideal factory conditions we mentioned are often not available. And if the metal structure is welded at the installation site, then the load-bearing elements of the steps must be leveled. It is also important to follow a certain sequence of assembly and finishing.

How is the cladding attached to the metal structure? Typically, screws with embedded parts, self-tapping screws and “liquid nails” (glue) are used.

Which wood is preferable for making various parts? Solid hardwoods are good for cladding: oak, ash, beech, maple and even birch, both stained and natural in color. Glued wood, coated with several layers of durable polyester varnish "Bona" (Sweden), is suitable for treads and landings: it does not warp or crack. It is better to make risers from wood slabs veneered with the same type of wood as the treads. The stringers and the wall are decorated with plinth panels made from solid wood of the same type. The bottom of the staircase is usually sheathed with plasterboard, which is then puttied, primed and painted in accordance with the designer’s recommendations.

Sections of forged fencing must be installed on the embedded parts in the steps. Then the sections are welded together, the welding points are hidden with decorative fittings.
And finally the handrail is installed. It is laid on the steel rail of the fence and screwed to it with screws through the existing holes.
Part of the handrail at the point where the handrail turns 180 is a separately manufactured transition element, the blank of which is made with a large allowance in length. To accurately connect it with the continuation of the handrail, a cardboard template is made.
The carefully marked transition element is sawed off by hand, and the end is leveled with a grinding machine. The handrail of the next flight of stairs is installed end-to-end with the transition element. The design of the steps, the shape of the grooves, the installation locations of dowels and embedded parts can be different, they are defined as project documentation, and specific circumstances during assembly. At the factory, wooden treads and risers are made with an allowance for subsequent adjustment to the wall. When installed on the frame, the adjacent part is adjusted. After careful measurements, the treads and risers are marked taking into account the unevenness of the wall plaster and inaccuracies made during the welding and installation of the metal structure, after which they are sawed off to the required size with a circular saw. The ends are polished. The landing is a massive wooden slab, the dimensions of which (in our case 130-130 cm) are determined by the width of the march. Like the step blanks, it is made with a large allowance. Installing a platform is a labor-intensive and at the same time responsible operation, requiring precise adjustment to both the wall and the metal structure. The fence is attached to a metal frame, and not to wood cladding. The connection between the parts of the fence and the stringer can be mechanical (screw, clamp), welded or glued. In this case, the forged fence is installed on embedded parts screwed to the stringers. A staircase, designed and built according to all the rules of architecture, is an expensive and complex structure, the creation of which can be done by qualified specialists. This statement does not disparage those who like to build a house with their own hands. Try it, it’s possible that you will succeed too.

For cladding and final finishing stairs you will need the following tools and materials: a circular saw, drill, screwdriver, Grinder, rubber mallet, level, spatula, brush and roller, as well as screws, self-tapping screws, dowels, silicone sealant, “liquid nails” glue, wood putty, putty for filling cracks in plasterboard joints, water-dispersion paint.

There are a number of issues to consider. After all, a flight of stairs is not only the shortest and most convenient way to move between floors, but also a design element interior space. Therefore, it is very important to consider the type of finish flight of stairs when designing. An incorrectly selected finishing material will not only lead to disharmony in the home’s decor, but will also make your home uncozy. This especially applies to stairs made of concrete.

Correctly selected cladding of the structure will not only give a unique look to the house, but will also allow it to last longer. long time. At the same time, you will not be exposed to danger, you will not have to be distracted by premature repairs and experience discomfort.

Step cladding

As facing material steps concrete stairs perfect tiles will do, preferably with an anti-slip coating, made of porcelain stoneware or clicker materials. Such tiles most often represent ready-made steps. Finding the right shape and size is not difficult. It is now quite common on the market. This material is best combined with skirting boards mounted on both sides.

Before starting work, all cracks, crevices and chips of the concrete staircase are eliminated using cement-sand mortar or self-leveling floor. The actual cladding of straight flights of stairs must begin from the bottom step. The procedure for finishing with porcelain stoneware is very simple and is no different from simply laying tiles. After completely laying the tiles, it is necessary to grout all the seams to give an aesthetic appearance. Of course, you can call professionals for such work, but even an ordinary person can handle it.

Covering the stairs with plasterboard

In houses where stairs are connected to a wall, or the owners have a desire to hide the stairs and adjust it to the overall design composition, the best material Drywall will serve as cladding. Besides, this type The material will easily hide all the defects of a flight of stairs. After completion of the work, it can be painted or painted with paints or other materials.

Regardless of what type of staircase you have - concrete or metal, when planning plasterboard as a facing material, it is necessary to create a metal frame from profiles for cladding the stairs.

First of all, when setting up metal frame, you need to imagine what exactly the surface of the structure will look like? The future interior of the entire house may depend on this. With the proper approach and maximum effort, this will not be difficult.

Then, the sheets of drywall are cut according to the constructed structure. This is done using the usual construction knife. It is important at this stage to take into account all the irregularities and defects in order to eliminate them in a timely manner.

Drywall sheets must be secured using screws. You shouldn’t save them or use them too often. The sheets must be adjusted to each other so that there are no gaps left. And if it so happens that the gap still remains, then the entire sheet should be replaced immediately. Otherwise, you risk distorting the entire structure.

After completion of all work, it is necessary to thoroughly clean the room. Gypsum dust and crumbs that may fall from the sheets are harmful to health, especially for small children. Therefore, take all necessary measures to prevent dust from entering your respiratory tract.

That's it, the concrete staircase is finished and you can admire the work you have done.

Our topic today is plasterboard stairs. We will find out for what purpose gypsum board can be used in the construction of interfloor stairs, what restrictions are associated with its use and how to correctly install and finish plasterboard structures.

First, about the restrictions:

A staircase made of plasterboard is just a name indicating the material decorative finishing. GCR due to its fragility cannot be load-bearing element loaded structure. Any ladder needs durable frame- steel or wood;

Stairs covered with plasterboard are used only in enclosed spaces. GCR is not used on the street at all. Even moisture resistant. Gypsum is gypsum: neither moisture-resistant cardboard shells nor antifungal impregnation will protect against its hygroscopicity;
In general, the author strongly advises collecting plasterboard structures only on a frame made of galvanized profile: unlike timber, it is not prone to deformation due to fluctuations in humidity, and is not afraid of insects and rot. However, covering stairs with plasterboard is almost always done on a frame made of timber and boards. The reason is obvious: they are much easier to attach to steel load-bearing elements;

Captain Obvious says: wooden stairs often sheathed directly along the strings, without constructing an additional frame.

You should not make step treads from gypsum plasterboard. Even if you have to lay tiles on them. The tiles do not withstand significant bending loads and will not protect fragile drywall from being crushed.

What can and should you use drywall for?

It is used for:

Masking steel frame;
Giving a smooth surface sloping ceiling rooms under the flight. It is often used as a storage room, compact bathroom or bathroom;

Please note: unlike wooden sheathing, finishing the staircase with plasterboard allows you to lay tiles on it. Tiles with rubbed seams will reliably protect gypsum boards from high humidity, typical for baths and toilets.

Sheathing of the fencing frame(wooden or metal). A continuous fence is especially desirable if there are small children in the house;

Partition structures, enclosing the room under the stairs;
Wall finishes adjacent to the flight of stairs.

Frame construction

How to line a staircase with a steel frame with plasterboard?

Obviously, first you need to sheathe it with timber, building an additional frame - this time directly for attaching the gypsum board. At this stage we will encounter several problems.

Material

The timber for the frame should be:

Having the correct geometric shape (without humps and propellers). You can sort warped timber by checking it with a rule or simply looking along its surface tangentially;
Free from falling knots larger than a third of the section, cross-layers, oblique cracks and rot;
Dry (10-12% humidity). The so-called wood natural humidity will inevitably warp during the drying process.

Hint: to build a frame for gypsum plasterboards, inexpensive wood is usually used. coniferous species- pine, spruce and fir.

For reliable protection to prevent warping and biological effects, it is advisable to impregnate the block with drying oil heated in a water bath or any other water-repellent impregnation.

Fastening

How to attach a block or boards to profile pipe steel frame? The answer depends on what loads the corresponding node will be subjected to.

Image	Description
	For loaded connections (for example, attaching staircase balusters to the frame), both parts are drilled and connected with bolts and wide washers on the beam side. The washer distributes the load over the surface of the wood.
	For an unloaded frame, you can use the installation of the block using metal screws with press washers and drills.

Sheathing with plasterboard

How to cover a staircase with plasterboard using a finished product wooden frame?

Cutting parts

Drywall is cut along curves or broken lines with a narrow hacksaw with medium teeth or, which is much faster, with a jigsaw with a wood saw. The teeth of the file should be directed upward, towards the sole of the jigsaw, otherwise the tool will be pushed away from the cut, and it will turn out uneven.

Attention: when cutting, it rises into the air a large number of dust, which then settles on all accessible surfaces. The room must be cleared of furniture and household appliances, the doors must be securely closed adjoining rooms and, if possible, open all windows.

Along straight lines, it is more convenient not to saw the gypsum plasterboard, but to break it, having previously cut it by a quarter to a third of the thickness.

The step-by-step instructions look like this:

Mark the edge line;
Press a steel ruler, corner or profile along the marking;
Draw the plasterboard along the ruler with a knife several times;

Place the sheet with the cut on the edge of a table or other elevated surface (for example, on a stack of sheets of drywall waiting for their turn) and break it off;
Cut off the cardboard shell from the back;
If there are any protrusions on the edge that are bothering you, remove them with a plane.

Fastening

How to cover a gypsum board staircase with your own hands? It’s very simple: the parts cut in place are attached to the wooden frame with phosphated self-tapping screws 25 mm long. You can use self-tapping screws for both drywall and wood: their price is the same, and the differences come down only to different thread pitches.

However: with a two-layer sheathing, the second layer is mounted with 40 mm fasteners.

A few subtleties:

The step between the fastening points should not be more than 20 cm on vertical surfaces and 15 cm when hemming the span from below;
Self-tapping screws should not be screwed in closer than a couple of centimeters from the edge of the sheet, otherwise it may crumble;
When screwing several self-tapping screws into a block minimum distance from each other, they should be arranged like a snake so as not to split wooden element frame along the fibers.

Finishing a staircase opening in a stone house is often done without a frame: gypsum board is glued to the walls using a mounting gypsum glue. It is successfully replaced by gypsum putty.

The fastening process is very simple: the glue is applied in beads to the sheet itself or to the walls of the opening, after which the gypsum board is pressed against the walls and aligned according to the rule or long level light blows.

Pre-finishing

A staircase covered with plasterboard, with treads and risers installed, must be prepared for finishing. As a rule, the role of a finishing coating for gypsum plasterboard is water-dispersion paint. Here are the preparation steps.

Jointing and reinforcement of seams

From the rectangular edges of the parts that were cut off in place, you need to chamfer 2/3 of the thickness of the drywall. The easiest way to do this is with a utility knife. The goal is to allow the putty to penetrate the joint as deeply as possible when filling it.

The captain is obvious: the semicircular factory edges of the PLUK do not need to be joined.

Then all seams are glued with reinforcing fiberglass mesh with an adhesive layer - serpyanka. Reinforcement will avoid the appearance of cracks at the seams due to changes in the linear dimensions of plasterboard sheets with fluctuations in humidity and temperature.

Preparation of putty

Gypsum universal or finishing putty prepared from the dry mixture immediately before use. Lifespan construction mixture after mixing with water it does not exceed an hour, so it is prepared in small portions (no more than 3-4 kg).

How to do it:

Pour 1.5 liters of water into a clean and as wide as possible container (for example, a plastic paint bucket);

Add 2.4 kg of dry mixture, scattering it as evenly as possible over the surface of the water;
Allow the plaster to swell for five minutes and stir with a spatula, construction mixer or a whisk clamped into a screwdriver.

Attention: if you pour water into dry plaster, lumps will form at the bottom, which will be very difficult to break during mixing.

Puttying

The seams are puttied in two stages:

First, the seam is densely filled through the cells of the serpyanka;
After drying the first layer, the serpyanka is covered with a second one using a wide spatula.

Often, staircase sheathing has to be puttied over the entire surface. The fact is that the seams between the edges of locally cut sheets, thanks to the serpyanka, stand out as thick. If you apply a millimeter layer of putty to the entire finish, the surface for painting will be perfectly smooth.

Finishing touches

After puttying, all we have to do is put a few final strokes on our masterpiece:

Sanding the putty is done after it has completely dried with a hand float or sander. Be sure to protect your eyes from plaster dust. You need to grind with the light as bright as possible and falling at an oblique angle, which will highlight all the irregularities with a shadow;

Then the staircase filing is swept away from gypsum dust or vacuumed;
The last stage before finishing- gypsum board primer with penetrating primer. The type of bonding primer must match the type of paint you choose: latex - for latex paint, silicone - for silicone, etc.

Conclusion

As you can see, stairs and drywall go well together. Find out more about using gypsum boards for finishing works The video in this article will help you. Good luck!

The staircase must guarantee safe movement and harmoniously “fit” into the interior. It is necessary to protect the structure itself from premature wear, and save home owners from the need to constantly repair the structure and experience discomfort while using it. Finishing stairs will allow you to rationally solve the entire range of problems, for which we can use a wide range of finishing materials. Let's discuss the choice of cladding method and find the best option.

In essence, staircase cladding is decorative design existing wooden frames, metal structures or concrete marches with landings. The final result must be combined with optimization performance characteristics and with the formation comfortable conditions. An important argument justifying the preference for the material and method of implementation is the question of whether the staircase can be finished with your own hands. By summing up the arguments “for” and subtracting all aspects with the wording “against”, the owner will make a smart choice.

The list of arguments for choosing a finishing material includes decorative, insulating qualities, operational safety and the ability to do the work yourself

Basically, the solution to this arithmetic problem is based on three “pillars”, these are:

design configuration;
preferred soundproofing parameters;
user population.

An important aspect of the choice of finishing material is the configuration of the structure; a staircase with winder steps is easier and more aesthetically pleasing to finish with wood

Possible for self-execution the method depends on the desire of the owner to finish the staircase himself, on his diligence and availability of skills. Of course, you need to take into account whether a staircase is installed in the central or utility area and the degree of presentability of the structure.

Choosing finishing materials for stairs

The surfaces of concrete, metal and wooden stairs are finished completely or partially, a combination is applicable different materials. For example, the finishing of the steps of a concrete staircase can be made of wood, and the use of nickel-plated parts as a fence is quite suitable, forged products, glass.

Cladding concrete and metal stairs with wood goes perfectly with glass railings

The risers and side parts of the stringers can simply be painted, and the treads can be lined with stone and a matching plinth can be laid. It is quite possible to finish the stairs with a wear-resistant laminate of class 31, parquet slats, and anyone floor covering. There are a lot of options, let's consider each of them.

Stair carpeting

It is preferred to decorate the stairs with carpet for families with small children, in houses where older people live who are sensitive to the excessively loud noise of steps on a stone surface. Often carpeted line the central staircases of respectable organizations.

Finishing stairs with carpet is preferred by families with small children and elderly people; the advantages of the coating are the absence of noise and pleasant tactile sensations

Elastic soft material no need to cut, it is laid immediately. The fastening is made using plastic wooden skirting boards, most often with brass rods, which must be fixed in the treads with specific clamps. If the tread protrudes too much, additional rods are used.

To extend the service life of the carpet, lay felt or similar material. You can decorate any structure with carpet by fastening the folds with pins or bent needles.

Finishing stairs with carpet: method and equipment for installation roll covering to the winder steps

Linoleum, rubber mats, laminate

They only cover the treads. Rubber non-slip mats and cut linoleum are attached to wooden steps with metal strips and corners. Corners are used for fastening to the long side of the tread, and strips to the end part. They are simply glued to concrete and metal surfaces with a special compound.

Planks and corners are also used for fastening laminate flooring. To cover the tread, you will need a solid strip; for the riser, the material is cut with a jigsaw along a pre-marked line.

Laminate is used for cladding stairs metal corners and planks, corners are installed along the long side of the tread, instead end strips plinth can be used to fix the material

Note. At the design stage, the type and size of fences and the location of the component parts must be taken into account.

Clinker steps, tiles, porcelain stoneware

Ready-made clinker and porcelain stoneware steps with anti-slip coating are a wonderful option produced by manufacturers for all types of structures. You can select and purchase now full set for arranging the entire structure with skirting boards mounted on the left or right. With the help of a ready-made kit, finishing the steps of the stairs is very simple if the dimensions of the building elements correspond to the dimensions of the products. If the sizes do not match, you will have to make a screed concrete mixture.

Finishing stair steps ready-made kits made of porcelain stoneware is easy and quick, the surface of the steps is equipped with an anti-slip texture

Ceramic tiles it will need to be trimmed, which not all performers do aesthetically. It is not recommended at all for cladding a spiral staircase: there will be a lot of unsightly seams. Tiling of straight flights should begin from the bottom step.

It is quite difficult to neatly and beautifully tile the steps of a staircase; even professionals often refuse to lay floor ceramics on winder steps

Natural stone finishing

It is carried out in the same way as tiling the stairs, because the granite, marble, non-porous sandstone or basalt used for finishing is supplied in a similar format. The disadvantages of the material are the loud noise effects from footsteps and the cost. Porous rocks are unnecessarily difficult to care for.

Stair cladding natural stone attracts with long-term operational life, repels with high cost, the need to hire finishers, not everyone is satisfied with the sound of footsteps and the feeling of cold

Budget solution - paint

If you are absolutely not interested in the presentable finishing of a staircase made of concrete or metal, if it leads to a basement or other domestic premises, you can simply paint all the components of the structure with a composition containing water-repellent properties. The paint will protect the material, but the steps will remain cold. It won’t get rid of loud footsteps either. True, if the facing of the steps of a concrete staircase combines dark wooden treads with risers painted with light paint, the design will become more elegant and visually lighter.

Coloring - budget practical solution, protecting the material from premature wear

A staircase made of lumber can be painted or coated with translucent protective and decorative enamel, transparent or tinted varnish, or antiseptic impregnation with a dye.

Interesting option painting stairs with wooden steps on bolts and a metal bowstring

Wood and its priorities

Lightweight material with excellent thermal insulation and decorative qualities, easy to process, combined with all existing options cladding, looks organically in any interior. Facing a concrete staircase with wood will slightly increase the weight of an already bulky heavy structure and will give the unattractive structure a respectable appearance. You can decorate a structure of any configuration with wood, install beautiful fences with figured balusters, use artistic carvings.

Wood is a material with excellent aesthetic and thermal insulation properties, it is easy to process and slightly increases the weight of the structure

The main advantage is that the wood will make the steps warm, so you can walk on them even barefoot without fear. Therefore, for owners of country houses, it is a priority to finish metal stairs with wood, because it, just like concrete, does not please the owners comfortable warmth.

Modular staircase with a metal stringer frame with wooden steps

In such cases, either only treads or all elements of the step are installed on top of the previously laid one on the welded metal ridge. moisture resistant plywood. After covering the steps, you can cover the entire structure with plasterboard.

The steps of a metal staircase can be completely covered with wood or only wooden treads can be installed

Step-by-step cladding of stairs with wood

It will be possible to sheathe a concrete staircase with wood almost two months after it is poured. During this period, the concrete will release all excess moisture so that the lumber installed on top of it does not warp, dry out later, or become deformed. Quantity and labor intensity technological stages depend on the quality of the fill. Full cycle work on covering a concrete staircase with wood will include:

Alignment. The surface of a monolithic structure with a fair number of imperfections will need to be leveled. For this, standard alignment methods are used. concrete base: screed and joists. It will take a week or two for the polymer self-leveling mixture to harden. concrete screed will harden and lose moisture again for about two months. It's better to use lags. And they are built faster, and the weight of the stairs will not increase too much.

Important. If it was initially planned to clad a monolithic structure with wood, the thickness of the structure must be taken into account when designing. finishing material. Particular care should be taken when assembling the formwork for pouring a concrete staircase, so that you do not have to correct the discrepancy in the size of the steps using leveling.

Wood cladding on concrete stair treads is laid on top of waterproof plywood

Laying plywood with moisture-repellent properties over screeds, joists, or over steps that have been cleared of build-up and plaster. The material must be selected with a thickness of 12 mm, it is secured with dowel nails.
Fastening step elements to plywood. This is done using glue and screws.
According to the markings, install the plinth and balusters, then attach the handrails and decorative parts of the fences.

Most often, cladding stairs with wood predetermines the use of sanded and processed paint and varnish compositions details. However, no one forbids performing paint and varnish work after.

Knowing the technology of covering and finishing stairs is necessary not only for those who decide to do the work themselves, but also for those who decide to hire finishers and choose the best way cladding. The information obtained will help the owner to identify violations and suppress the desire of workers to save on time and materials.

First, about the restrictions:

A plasterboard staircase is just a name indicating the decorative finishing material. Due to its fragility, gypsum board cannot be a load-bearing element of a loaded structure. Any staircase needs a strong frame - steel or wood;

Stairs covered with plasterboard are used only in enclosed spaces. GCR is not used on the street at all. Even moisture resistant. Gypsum is gypsum: neither moisture-resistant cardboard shells nor antifungal impregnation will protect against its hygroscopicity;
In general, the author strongly advises assembling plasterboard structures only on a frame made of galvanized profile: unlike timber, it is not prone to deformation due to fluctuations in humidity, and is not afraid of insects and rot. However, covering stairs with plasterboard is almost always done on a frame made of timber and boards. The reason is obvious: they are much easier to attach to steel load-bearing elements;

Captain Obviousness suggests: wooden stairs are often sheathed directly along the strings, without constructing an additional frame.

You should not make step treads from gypsum plasterboard. Even if you have to lay tiles on them. The tiles do not withstand significant bending loads and will not protect fragile drywall from being crushed.

What can and should you use drywall for?

It is used for:

Masking steel frame;
Giving a smooth surface to the sloping ceiling of the room under the bay. It is often used as a storage room, compact bathroom or bathroom;

Please note: unlike wooden sheathing, finishing the staircase with plasterboard allows you to lay tiles on it. Tiles with rubbed seams will reliably protect the plasterboard from the high humidity typical of baths and toilets.

Sheathing of the fencing frame(wooden or metal). A continuous fence is especially desirable if there are small children in the house;

Partition structures, enclosing the room under the stairs;
Wall finishes adjacent to the flight of stairs.

Frame construction

How to line a staircase with a steel frame with plasterboard?

Obviously, first you need to sheathe it with timber, building an additional frame - this time directly for attaching the gypsum board. At this stage we will encounter several problems.

Material

The timber for the frame should be:

Having the correct geometric shape (without humps and propellers). You can sort warped timber by checking it with a rule or simply looking along its surface tangentially;
Free from falling knots larger than a third of the section, cross-layers, oblique cracks and rot;
Dry (10-12% humidity). So-called wood with natural moisture content will inevitably warp during the drying process.

Hint: to build a frame for gypsum plasterboards, inexpensive coniferous wood - pine, spruce and fir - is usually used.

For reliable protection against warping and biological influences, it is advisable to impregnate the block with drying oil or any other water-repellent impregnation heated in a water bath.

Fastening

How to attach a block or boards to a profile pipe of a steel frame? The answer depends on what loads the corresponding node will be subjected to.

Image	Description
	For loaded connections (for example, attaching staircase balusters to the frame), both parts are drilled and connected with bolts and wide washers on the beam side. The washer distributes the load over the surface of the wood.
	For an unloaded frame, you can use the installation of the block using metal screws with press washers and drills.

Sheathing with plasterboard

How to cover a staircase with plasterboard on a finished wooden frame?

Cutting parts

Attention: when cutting, a large amount of dust rises into the air, which then settles on all accessible surfaces. The room must be cleared of furniture and household appliances, the doors to adjacent rooms must be securely closed and, if possible, all windows must be opened.

Along straight lines, it is more convenient not to saw the gypsum plasterboard, but to break it, having previously cut it by a quarter to a third of the thickness.

The step-by-step instructions look like this:

Mark the edge line;
Press a steel ruler, corner or profile along the marking;
Draw the plasterboard along the ruler with a knife several times;

Place the sheet with the cut on the edge of a table or other elevated surface (for example, on a stack of sheets of drywall waiting for their turn) and break it off;
Cut off the cardboard shell from the back;
If there are any protrusions on the edge that are bothering you, remove them with a plane.

Fastening

However: with a two-layer sheathing, the second layer is mounted with 40 mm fasteners.

A few subtleties:

The step between the fastening points should not be more than 20 cm on vertical surfaces and 15 cm when hemming the span from below;
Self-tapping screws should not be screwed in closer than a couple of centimeters from the edge of the sheet, otherwise it may crumble;
When screwing several self-tapping screws into a block at a minimum distance from each other, they should be arranged in a snake pattern so as not to split the wooden frame element along the grain.

The finishing of a staircase opening in a stone house is often done without a frame: gypsum board is glued to the walls using gypsum mounting adhesive. It is successfully replaced by gypsum putty.

The fastening process is very simple: the glue is applied in beads to the sheet itself or to the walls of the opening, after which the gypsum board is pressed against the walls and leveled according to the rule or long level with light blows.

Pre-finishing

A staircase covered with plasterboard, with treads and risers installed, must be prepared for finishing. As a rule, water-dispersion paint acts as a finishing coating for gypsum boards. Here are the preparation steps.

Jointing and reinforcement of seams

The captain is obvious: the semicircular factory edges of the PLUK do not need to be joined.

Preparation of putty

Gypsum universal or finishing putty is prepared from a dry mixture immediately before use. The lifespan of the building mixture after mixing with water does not exceed an hour, so it is prepared in small portions (no more than 3-4 kg).

How to do it:

Pour 1.5 liters of water into a clean and as wide as possible container (for example, a plastic paint bucket);

Add 2.4 kg of dry mixture, scattering it as evenly as possible over the surface of the water;
Allow the plaster to swell for five minutes and mix with a spatula, a construction mixer, or a whisk held in a screwdriver.

Attention: if you pour water into dry plaster, lumps will form at the bottom, which will be very difficult to break during mixing.

Puttying

The seams are puttied in two stages:

First, the seam is densely filled through the cells of the serpyanka;
After drying the first layer, the serpyanka is covered with a second one using a wide spatula.

Finishing touches

After puttying, all we have to do is put a few final strokes on our masterpiece:

Sanding the putty is done after it has completely dried with a hand float or sander. Be sure to protect your eyes from plaster dust. You need to grind with the light as bright as possible and falling at an oblique angle, which will highlight all the irregularities with a shadow;

Then the staircase filing is swept away from gypsum dust or vacuumed;
The last stage before finishing is priming the gypsum board with penetrating primer. The type of bonding primer should match the type of paint you choose: latex for latex paint, silicone for silicone, etc.

Conclusion

As you can see, stairs and drywall go well together. The video in this article will help you learn more about using gypsum boards for finishing work. Good luck!

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