Checking a plasterboard specification
How do I confirm the values a plasterboard spec claims?
Specifications quote product data — a thickness, a weight, an EN 520 type, a reaction-to-fire class — and those numbers are copied from documents that get revised. A specification can outlive the data sheet it quoted, carry a transcribed digit, or name a board that has since been renamed or superseded. None of that is unusual, and none of it is malicious: it is what happens when live product data is frozen into a document.
Checking the claimed values before you price takes minutes, and the difference is commercial as much as technical. An error found before pricing is a query to the client; the same error found after award is your problem — and usually your margin.
The five-minute check
Take each specified board and confirm its claimed values against the manufacturer's current published declaration — the product data sheet or declaration of performance in force today, not the edition the spec's author happened to have.
- Confirm the product exists under the name the spec uses — names and thickness variants change more often than specifications assume.
- Check the performance values — EN 520 classification, reaction to fire, weight, thermal conductivity — against the current declaration.
- Check the formats: the specified width, length and edge profile must actually be produced for that board.
- Note the document and revision you checked against — a dated citation is what turns “we think this is wrong” into a professional query.
Turning a discrepancy into a stronger bid
A discrepancy is not an accusation; it is a query: “the specification cites X for this board; the manufacturer's current data sheet declares Y — please confirm which governs.” Raised before pricing, that reads as diligence, and it protects both sides from building a contract on a wrong number.
The price that follows is more considered: built on confirmed data, qualified where the specification was ambiguous, and compliant with what the specifier actually meant. That is a competitive position, not a slower one — and it is visible professionalism before a single board is ordered.
drywallDB is built for exactly this check: every value it holds is recorded verbatim from an archived manufacturer document and displayed beside its source and revision, so confirming a specified board — or drafting the query when it doesn't match — is a search and a click, not an afternoon of PDF hunting.
Frequently asked questions
- Does a check prove the specified values are true?
- It confirms them against the manufacturer's current published declaration — the strongest available reference, and the one a specification should follow. drywallDB records declared values verbatim with their sources; it does not re-test boards.
- What should I do when the spec and the data sheet disagree?
- Query it with the specifier before pricing, citing the document and revision you checked against, and price on a stated assumption if the answer can't come in time. Never silently price the wrong number.
- Is this only worth doing on large tenders?
- The check costs minutes at any scale, and small jobs absorb a wrong board just as badly — a mis-specified thickness or fire class discovered on site costs the same trip back to the merchant whatever the contract value.
Related guides
- EN 520 board types explained — What do EN 520 Type A, D, E, F, H, I, P and R mean?
- Reaction to fire vs fire resistance — Are 'A2-s1, d0' and '60 minutes' the same kind of fire rating?
- Plasterboard weight: kg/m² and per board — How heavy is a plasterboard, and why do brands declare it differently?