Pladur: the drywall in your Spanish quote
Pladur appears in every Spanish renovation quote and confuses every foreign owner. It is simply a brand of plasterboard that became the generic word — and well executed, it beats brick partitions at almost everything.
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Short answer
What is pladur and when does it pay off?
Pladur is plasterboard on a metal frame with mineral wool in the cavity — Spain’s equivalent of drywall, named after the dominant brand. A new partition goes up in days, with no wet trades or drying time, and weighs four to five times less than brick, which is why in flats with timber-and-vault floors new partitions are almost always built dry. Within a full renovation, which in Barcelona runs €780–€1,600 per m², dry partitioning is one of the best-value line items on the quote.
| Criterion | Dry partition (pladur) | Brick partition |
|---|---|---|
| Weight on the floor slab | 25–30 kg/m² | 120–180 kg/m² |
| Time | Days, no drying | Weeks, wet trades |
| Wiring and plumbing | Through the cavity, no chasing | Channels cut into the wall |
| Sound insulation | Double board and wool: more per euro | Depends on thickness and mass |
| Hanging weight | With reinforcement planned in the cavity | Direct, with the right plug |
The misunderstanding
It sounds hollow when you knock, so people assume it insulates badly. The knock has nothing to do with real acoustic insulation: a double-board partition with mineral wool insulates more than hollow brick of the same thickness. What fails is not the system — it is the cheap execution with a single board and an empty cavity.
Why here
In a period finca, dry construction wins on weight
The reason pladur is the norm rather than an option in Barcelona’s older buildings is structural, not aesthetic.
Timber beams and vaulted floors
A floor of timber beams with ceramic vaults was never designed to take new brick walls wherever the owner fancies. At 25–30 kg/m², the dry system lets you redraw the layout freely without loading the slab — which matters doubly in a building where the structure legally belongs to the community, not to your flat.
The lining against the party wall
Against airborne noise from the neighbour, a free-standing lining with double board and mineral wool is the most effective measure that exists without touching the shared wall. The key is that the frame must not touch the original wall: screwed directly, sound crosses through the rigid contact and the gain is lost.
The downpipe crossing your flat
The building’s downpipe is a communal element even where it crosses your kitchen. A plasterboard boxing with an access hatch is the correct way to hide it: invisible day to day, reachable the day the comunidad needs maintenance. Boxing it in solid masonry with no hatch is a future demolition, announced.
Three-metre ceilings
With tall ceilings, the suspended ceiling only needs to drop where ducts and services run — a strip, not the whole flat — and the rest of the room keeps its original height. It is a freedom new-builds cannot offer.
Where not
Where brick still rules
There is no absolute winner, only situations. These belong to masonry.
Better in brick or block
- Permanently damp zones with unresolved ventilation — though for a standard bathroom there is moisture-resistant board
- Walls that carry load or form part of the structure
- Facades and any separation from the exterior
- Where thermal mass is wanted, which board does not provide
Wall-hung toilets and heavy units
They can hang on drywall — but only with a specific carrier frame or reinforcement inside the cavity, decided before the boards close. Planned during the works the cost is negligible; discovered afterwards, the wall opens again. This is why TV position, kitchen wall units and the wall-hung toilet are decided before the first screw, and it is the one photo checkpoint a remote owner should ask for.
Quality
How to read the pladur line in a quote from abroad
The difference between excellent and mediocre dry walling is visible before the boards close, never after painting — which makes it the easiest trade to verify remotely with photographs.
What to demand in writing
- Density and thickness of the mineral wool, not just the word insulation
- Number of boards per face, and of which type
- Moisture-resistant board in bathrooms and kitchen, fire-rated board where required
- Reinforcements planned at every point that will carry weight
- Acoustic band under the floor and ceiling profiles, so vibration does not pass to the slab
The sign of poor work
Fine cracks along joints and corners a few months in: almost always insufficient joint taping or studs set too far apart. It can be repaired, but it means refinishing and repainting the whole wall.
When to distrust a price
A dry-walling line far below the other quotes usually means a single board per face and an empty cavity. That partition goes up just as fast and looks identical once painted — and insulates half as much. It is one of the savings you hear every single day.
Frequently asked
Common questions
A brand of plasterboard that became the generic Spanish word for drywall: metal profiles, mineral wool in the cavity and boards screwed to both faces. Several equivalent manufacturers exist; quotes use the brand name for all of them.
No — executed properly it insulates more. A double-board partition with mineral wool beats hollow brick of the same thickness acoustically. What insulates badly is the cheap build with one board per face and an empty cavity.
Yes, with reinforcement placed inside the cavity before the wall closes. Decide where the TV, wall units and any wall-hung toilet will go before the first screw: planned in it costs almost nothing, afterwards the wall has to be opened.
Yes, with moisture-resistant board and proper tanking in the shower zone. It is standard practice in renovations and allows niches and access hatches without chasing walls. What it does not tolerate is permanent damp with unresolved ventilation.
Weight. At 25–30 kg/m² against 120–180 for brick, it lets you redraw a layout on timber-and-vault floors without overloading a structure that legally belongs to the whole building, and services run through the cavity without chasing.
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