Installing drywall control joints

The intumescent will expand when introduced to fire and completely seal off the gap on the drywall to prevent the passage of heat or flames to the other side of the wall. Products like the X Fire Rated Control Joint take out the firestopping guess work and minimize installer error. Control joints can be utilized to create a separation between adjacent surfaces on one side of the wall and may not be required at the same location on the other side of the wall Figure 1 below.

Recent firestop innovation goes far beyond just control joints. Traditional aluminum drywall reveals also require extra layers of drywall to maintain fire ratings. Today those same assemblies can maintain the fire rating without the extra drywall. The firestopping industry is undergoing massive innovation. Doing your own on-line research can open up an array of possibilities you never thought imaginable.

I want to hear from you. Tell me how we can improve. Control joints can be utilized to create a separation between adjacent surfaces on one side of the wall and may not be required at the same location on the other side of the wall Figure 1 below. Recent firestop innovation goes far beyond just control joints.

Traditional aluminum drywall reveals also require extra layers of drywall to maintain fire ratings. Today those same assemblies can maintain the fire rating without the extra drywall. The firestopping industry is undergoing massive innovation. Doing your own on-line research can open up an array of possibilities you never thought imaginable. Don Pilz has more than 33 years of experience in cold-formed steel framing, fire rated and sound wall assemblies.

Control joints. What You Need to Know About. Complete guide to proper joint treatment and surface preparation for drywall construction. Includes installation of corner beads, trim and control joints; hand and mechanical finishing with setting-type and drying-type compounds; addresses special environmental and lighting situations. Covers textures, resurfacing and redecorating. In-depth instructions for selecting, preparing and installing veneer plaster systems appearance and abuse-resistance options.

Encompasses one-coat and two-coat veneer plaster systems and specialty finishes. Describes full line of conventional plasters, laths and accessories for successful completion of plaster systems. Helps evaluate specific situations and end-use requirements to match plaster products to needs. Includes gypsum and plaster laths, beads and trims, clips and screws, framing components and specialty plasters. Comprehensive guide to plaster systems, including framing installation, base and lath application, accessories and control joints, plaster mixing and application and finishing options.

Complete information on selection and installation of acoustical ceiling systems, including design considerations. Also contains information on standards, building codes, sound control, lighting and light reflectance, fire safety, seismic considerations and HVAC. Outlines methods for matching systems to specific performance criteria. Covers fire and sound criteria, wood and steel partitions and sound control systems.

Selection of materials, regulatory requirements, handling, job conditions, movement in structures, product quality and inspection. Trouble shooting for drywall, veneer plaster, conventional plaster and cement board problems.

Cites problems and how to handle them. Defines tools and how to use them. Includes framing tools, board and lath tools, mixing equipment, finishing tools, hand and spray texturing equipment, machines, hoses, guns, nozzles, etc.

Flexo-tech produces flexible hoses and similar assemblies - nothing in the company's website resembles a drywall product. Don't waste your time there. Very informative. However, I was trying to find some info on expansion joints in drywall. Specifically, where can I find a detail or general guidelines for installing expansion joints in residential wood-framed walls and ceilings.

Does the joint need to be on framing or between framing or does it matter. How about attaching expansion joints along ladder framing between joists? In short, do I want to put the joint on the framing or between it? If I put the joint between framing on the ceiling, will it sag? Attached are the following pictures [shown above - Ed. Note that ladder framing is installed on the East end of the room where framing changes direction. Drywall seams will cross the ladders. The building is wood framed.

I have a different location that I had planned on putting the EJ on a series of ladder framing. Will that work OK? Does it matter how close to the EJ the drywall attachment screws are?

Reply: If I understand your drawing correctly, there is indeed a ceiling dimension of continuous drywall close to or even longer than 30 ft. What you want is a product like the E-Z strip expansion joint Phillips, U. National Gypsum's sketch shows it is installed mid-span between joists or studs and is secured to a backer.

Phillips and the other product manufacturers whose specifications I reviewed all require framing behind the drywall movement control strip:. Framing: The framing behind the expansion control joint should not be continuous.

This allows each leg of the joint to be attached over separate studs. You asked how sagging would be prevented if the expansion bead is in between two ceiling joists - the framing spacing requirements of the product installation specs I can find all say there are no unsupported control joints.

I'm not sure that all of drywall expansion joint control strip manufacturers specify that it must be attached over a pair of spaced studs or joists; there may be floating products that simply adhere to the drywall surface, but none of the expansion bead or expansion control joint drywall products I reviewed made that claim. Thanks Daniel for all the great info and references. My understanding of the EJ installation is that the EJ itself should be tied only to the drywall typically with staples , and not tied to the underlying support whether that be joists, or added framing at close spacing.

See Philips and Trim-Tex for example. But this is not the case for the ones I looked at. So, I have plenty of room to screw the drywall to the chord. Note that Philips says this type of joint that they sell is mostly for plaster work anyway.

In my case, the reasoning for adding close-spaced additional framing to meet EJ details eludes me. My wall studs are all tied together by top and bottom plates.

My ceiling joists are tied together at 2 ends at the walls , and also tied together intermittently throughout with 2x6 purlins. So, adding another piece of lumber is not going to make this a two piece system, ie. I understand that drywall is really tied down with screws across the whole big surface of a room or ceiling as you mentioned, which gets us into the discussion of constrained vs unconstrained movement.

Others, as you mentioned, just leave a gap between the two sheets and cover it with a piece of trim attached to one side only. In both cases, the joint is on framing and the drywall is attached to that framing. And, it apparently works. So, how is that any different than just putting an EJ there in the first place? I agree that temperature and humidity should be controlled, but real-world folks open their windows during the shoulder seasons.

Builders have no control over how clients operate their buildings. So he just easily puts in an extra 1x4 to meet the typical EJ detail. How would the EJ know the difference? How would the system react any differently? There appears to be no cumulative differential expansion between drywall and framing. The ceiling and attached drywall moves as a unit. I appreciate all that you folks do in educating us all.