Building Construction Handbook, Eighth Edition

Fixing ~ the detail below shows board fixing with nails or screws to
timber battens. This is an alternative to using plaster dabs and
pads shown on page 639.

Typical fixing ~

batten

spacing (c/c)

block or

brickwork background

38  19mm softwood

battens nailed or screwed

to background at

450 mm spacing

9.5 mm tapered edge

wallboard secured

with 30  2mm

galvanised nails or

dry-wall screws at

150mm spacing

900 mm

Guide to securing plasterboard to battens ~

Board Board Batten Nail or dry-wall
thickness (mm) width (mm) spacing (mm) screw length (mm)

9.5 900 450 30

9.5 1200 400 30

12.5 600 600 40

12.5 900 450 40

19.0 600 600 60

Horizontal joints are avoided if possible with cross battens only
required at the top and bottom to provide rigidity. Board fixing is
with galvanised steel taper-head nails of 2 mm diameter (2.6 mm dia.
for 19 mm boards) or with dry-wall screws.

Plasterboard Fixing