Spec Finish

Technical BS8000-8 code of practice is to be revised after 28 years. NEWGUIDANCE FOR DESIGN AND INSTALLATION OF DRYLINING FROM BSI 16 www.thefis.org B SI will publish a revised BS8000-8 code of practice for plasterboard partitions and dry linings which was last reviewed in 1994. This is a long way past the regular cycle of reviews preferred by BSI. Unusually this series of standards will now include design so will be known as BS8000-8Workmanship on construction sites – Part 8: Design and installation of dry lining systems – Code of practice. The starting point was to consider what other standards carried similar guidance which included: • BS8212:1995 Code of practice for dry lining and partitioning using gypsum plasterboard • BS5234-1 :1992 Partitions (including matching linings) - Part 1: Code of practice for design and installation • prEN 15303 Design and application of plasterboard systems on frames - Part 1: General The task of amalgamating these into a single document to identify where there was duplication and gaps was carried out by Paul Tollervey at Knauf. This allowed a business case to be put to BSI and the long task of rewriting the guide began, resulting in almost 80 pages of text, tables and illustrations. The purpose of BS 8000-8 is to encourage good design and workmanship by providing: a) guidance for designers on the selection of systems; b) guidance for installers on the correct sequence and method of installation; and c) updated tolerances reflecting use and material installation and methods of measurement. This is a full revision of the standard, and introduces the following principal changes: 1) clarification of tolerances; 2) advice when installing dry lining to Steel Framed Systems (SFS); 3) testing of dry lining systems; and 4) expansion of relevant performance recommendations. Although the guide has been written solely around the use of Gypsum based plasterboard many of the recommendations are transferable to other board types used in drylining construction, they should, however, be checked with the system owners; that is the organisations who own the test data. The scope covers the performance- critical aspects of the components and workmanship used in drylining systems such as separation, fire, stability, applied loadings, acoustic, thermal and aesthetics. It covers the impacts on performance such as design considerations, site conditions, tolerances and penetrations and defines the clear and repeatable measurement of tolerances and deviation methods. It also establishes for all stakeholders, such as manufacturers, specifiers, installers and clients, a clear, unambiguous and realistic level of expectation. The standard is intended to be easy for the delivery team to use and understand and can be used for education and training purpose. The core tolerances haven’t changed from the original draft but the methods of measurement and illustrations to describe deviation bands came under particular attention during the review. FIS will produce separate guidance and a recorded webinar to explain the code of practice in more detail for its members. The drafting panel of which I was chair will move on to produce a checklist to accompany the code of practice early next year. The existing guides can be purchased from the BSI online shop by visiting https://knowledge.bsigroup.com/ search?query=BS8000-8 Joe Cilia, FIS Technical Director Drylining is required to meet a number of performance requirements