Home / ANALYSIS / Hospitality Trends / Wonderwall solutions

Drywall work by Lafarge on the Premier Inn Hotel.
[More Images]

Hotelier India investigates how drywall presents several benefits to hoteliers at a small premium over the traditional plaster method of constructing walls and ceilings.

Drywall refers to construting of walls or ceilings from a prefabricated material, like plasterboards or panels. A drywall system has four key components - a metal framing system, a plasterboard usually made of gypsum, jointing and finishing and the special framing needed for taking the load of planned and unplanned loadings.

Story continues below

Advertisement

COMMENT Comment on this article

A variety of solutions for hoteliers
One of the key factors that suppliers consider while identifying products for the hotel industry is fire ratings. “Partitions can be designed to achieve up to four hour fire rating,” says Olivier Chaudet, CEO, Lafarge Boral Gypsum India. However, requirements are most often below this limit.

“Usually hotels require one or two hours fire rating,” explains Venkat Subramanian, managing director, Saint Gobain Gyproc. Suppliers are also keen to make hoteliers aware that the panels offer acoustic insulation.

“Usually, hotels have insulation requirements of Rwdb (weighted reduction index, or the human ear’s response to loudness, expressed in decibels) rating of 50 - 60 for these walls,” says Subramanian.

Chaudet explains that products with NRC (Noise Reduction Coefficient) properties are used for big spaces such as conference rooms where sound quality is important.

Distinct solutions for moisture intensive areas such as bathrooms are also available. The most common drywall system hotels opt for is a one hour fire rating solution with a 56 decibel acoustic system.

Short cut to completing construction
“Gypsum plasterboards are nearly four times faster to install compared to the traditional plaster method due to the complete elimination of wet construction practices the most important criteria for a hotel,” says Chaudet.

The installation of plasterboards, suppliers agree, is slightly more expensive than the brick and plaster method. They, however, argue that it proves to be far more cost effective in the long term.

“Imaging the revenue generated by opening a hotel six months earlier – drywall offers hotels this chance to earn revenue by way of time saved,” comments Subramanian.

In the long term too, drywall solutions deliver more value. “Drywall panels offer flexibility in dividing spaces,” Subramanian says. Further, the process offers convenience in terms of renovation. “Being a dust free construction process, hotels can be renovated without having to close the hotel down,” he points out.

Chaudet adds that drywall panels in fact need to be renovated less often. This is because, as a material Gypsum is stable and hence is free from expansion and contraction versus materials such as cement and plywood.

“This makes the surface free from cracks and other problems that arise with time. Additionally, as drywall and dry ceiling systems can be provided with expansion joints, it becomes additionally durable with the capability to absorb normal deflections that take place in the buildings,” Chaudet elaborates.