The High Heeled Ruminations Of Melrose Plant

[mlroseplant]

It's interesting that you refer to the plywood, et al., as being 8 x 4. At least in my locale, we would never refer to it that way. It's 4 x 8 here. Plasterboard we typically call sheet rock, though I think that's a brand name. Drywall is the generic U.S. term. I'm sure if I traveled 500 miles in any direction this would change slightly, but here in central Iowa, the person who installs said material is a drywaller, but we turn the brand name into a verb to describe the process of installation. Example of a conversation you might actually hear on a construction site:

"Are you gonna rock that wall right now?

"Uhhh, I was planning on it, yeah."

"You know the fire alarm guys haven't finished that yet?"

"Well, what if we just rock one side for now?"

"They can prolly make that work. I'll let 'em know."

[at9]

As far as I'm aware, in the UK we always give the larger dimension first for sheet materials and timber. Hence 8' x 4' and 4" x 2". In the US I believe it's always the other way round.

Sheetrock is not a term used in the UK. It's always plasterboard. I don't know what term is used for the guys who instal it, but I've heard "dry wallers".

[Puffer]

On 11/26/2025 at 10:55 AM, at9 said:

In the UK, as others have mentioned, you get plasterboard in sheets of 2400x 1200mm (8x4 metric feet) and plywood etc in 2440x1220 (8x4 proper feet). When you have that sort of thing, it's often convenient to refer to 300mm as a metric foot.

Exactly (as I stated in the 'other' thread).    UK timber is invariably sold in length increments of 300mm, which is close to the imperial foot that used to be the increment.   2.4m (7.87 feet) is a very common length and still often referred to as an '8 foot' - but don't complain if it isn't quite that long when making something!

11 hours ago, mlroseplant said:

It's interesting that you refer to the plywood, et al., as being 8 x 4. At least in my locale, we would never refer to it that way. It's 4 x 8 here. Plasterboard we typically call sheet rock, though I think that's a brand name. Drywall is the generic U.S. term. I'm sure if I traveled 500 miles in any direction this would change slightly, but here in central Iowa, the person who installs said material is a drywaller, but we turn the brand name into a verb to describe the process of installation. ,...

 

11 hours ago, at9 said:

As far as I'm aware, in the UK we always give the larger dimension first for sheet materials and timber. Hence 8' x 4' and 4" x 2". In the US I believe it's always the other way round.

Sheetrock is not a term used in the UK. It's always plasterboard. I don't know what term is used for the guys who instal it, but I've heard "dry wallers".

UK Practice does vary.   It seems that '4 x 2' is very commonly used (and I favour that),  but some chippies and most timber merchants would refer to or list it as '2 x 4'.   The latter is logical in that a whole range of timber used for rafters, joists, studwork etc is a nominal 2" thick but varies in width from a nominal 2" to 8" or more, so typically listed as '2 x 4, 2 x 5, 2 x 6' etc (or nowadays by the metric equivalents: 47 x 96 etc).   But any builder or carpenter will know what is meant by a '2 x 4' (or a '4 x 2'!) even if he never worked in imperial measurements.

'Plasterboard' is the usual term for the generic product (as we have at least three major UK manufacturers) but some older folk call it 'Gyproc', which is the trade name used (though not now very prominently) by the oldest supplier - British Gypsum.   You will sometimes hear the installers called 'dry wallers', but that is not really correct as plasterboard was originally introduced as a means of boarding ceilings - walls came later!    It is more usual to call the installer a 'plasterer' (if he also skims the boards) but plasterboard is often installed by general builders or carpenters; it is not really a skilled task.   Boards often have tapered edges (filled with plaster filler over paper or mesh tape - another relatively unskilled task) rather than square (flush) edges which need tape and a full skim-over, which is where the proper plastering skills come in.

[mlroseplant]

On 11/27/2025 at 4:13 PM, Puffer said:

Exactly (as I stated in the 'other' thread).    UK timber is invariably sold in length increments of 300mm, which is close to the imperial foot that used to be the increment.   2.4m (7.87 feet) is a very common length and still often referred to as an '8 foot' - but don't complain if it isn't quite that long when making something!

 

UK Practice does vary.   It seems that '4 x 2' is very commonly used (and I favour that),  but some chippies and most timber merchants would refer to or list it as '2 x 4'.   The latter is logical in that a whole range of timber used for rafters, joists, studwork etc is a nominal 2" thick but varies in width from a nominal 2" to 8" or more, so typically listed as '2 x 4, 2 x 5, 2 x 6' etc (or nowadays by the metric equivalents: 47 x 96 etc).   But any builder or carpenter will know what is meant by a '2 x 4' (or a '4 x 2'!) even if he never worked in imperial measurements.

'Plasterboard' is the usual term for the generic product (as we have at least three major UK manufacturers) but some older folk call it 'Gyproc', which is the trade name used (though not now very prominently) by the oldest supplier - British Gypsum.   You will sometimes hear the installers called 'dry wallers', but that is not really correct as plasterboard was originally introduced as a means of boarding ceilings - walls came later!    It is more usual to call the installer a 'plasterer' (if he also skims the boards) but plasterboard is often installed by general builders or carpenters; it is not really a skilled task.   Boards often have tapered edges (filled with plaster filler over paper or mesh tape - another relatively unskilled task) rather than square (flush) edges which need tape and a full skim-over, which is where the proper plastering skills come in.

I have only worked with actual plasterers twice in my career, and one of those was a restoration project, where they wanted period correct everything. All while having modern communications and HVAC systems, HA!

If you can believe this, on larger jobs drywalling and mudding and taping are two completely separate operations, and never the twain shall meet. The drywallers are part of the carpenters union, and the tapers are in with the painters union! Both of them can be a pain in my butt.