UPVC, aluminum, cement board, gypsum board and SY panel are common materials used for light weight partition in Nepal. Light weight partitions are done for reducing vulnerability of building under earthquake. In this article, UPVC, aluminum, cement board, gypsum board and SY panel have been compared on the basis of strength, aesthetics and durability.
Strength
Strength is the foremost thing a client looks for while building his house. Aesthetics without looks holds no value. The strongest among the UPVC, aluminum, cement board, gypsum board and SY panel is cement board. Cement board is reinforced by fiber. Gypsum board is only made up of gypsum and therefore not as strong as cement board. If you compare among Aluminum and UPVC, Aluminum is said to be stronger than UPVC. SY panel is also strong, but not as stronger as Gypsum Board. Therefore, if strength is the only choice, you can go with cement board partition. But cement board is not good in damp places because of seepage reasons. So when aesthetics comes into place, it is not a good choice.
Design Flexibility
We talk about colors for design
flexibility. In Nepalese market, Aluminum comes in more range of color than
UPVC. Cement board comes in a few colors and mostly in plain color. Paint needs
to be applied for cement board. So you can also get a wide range of color
finishes in cement board. Gypsum board doesn’t come in much variety of colors.
Gypsum board is mostly white. Fire resistant Gypsum board is pink in color whereas
fire and moisture resistant gypsum board is green in color. You have to paint
the Gypsum board too.
With respect to indoor and outdoor use, Gypsum board is not moisture resistant and cannot be used in harsh and high-moisture environment. Cement board has good strength and weather resistance, but is prone to seepage. UPVC is good for both indoor and outdoor whereas Aluminum is more preferred than UPVC for durability reasons.
Environmental Friendly Qualities
All of the materials- UPVC,
Aluminum, Gypsum Board, Cement Board and SY Panel are said to be recyclable.
However, the degree of recyclability is different. Aluminum is most easily
recyclable among all. Aluminum takes only 5% of the energy on which it was
manufactured for recycling. UPVC is also
fully recyclable, but it takes a bit more energy than Aluminum. Gypsum Board is
also 100% recyclable. SY panel is recyclable to a great extent whereas cement
board is the least recyclable among this.
Durability
With reference to durability, we can say that Aluminum as interior partition and UPVC as exterior partition are durable. We can say that Aluminum is a bit more durable than UPVC. The debate between Aluminum and UPVC as the best partition material will never reach its resolution though. Cement board is quite durable, but Gypsum board is less durable as compared to Cement board because it is least resistant to weather. SY Panel is a panel where polystyrene foam is used as an infill material. It is also durable for a long time.
Learn about cement board in detail.
Cleanliness
Talking about cleanliness, UPVC
can easily be said to be the cleanest among all other alternatives discussed in
this article. SY Panel is also among the cleanest alternative because the outer
plate of SY Panel is made up of Zinc or sometimes UPVC itself. Gypsum wall
looks cleaner, but it is not among the cleanest options because Gypsum wall is
prone to moisture. Cement fiber board is also not clean because of the moist it
absorbs and low quality of finish it will have on external cladding. Aluminum
is cleaner in the initial days of installation, but easily catches dust and
dirt material and is a bit more difficult to clean than UPVC material.
Density
Among all the partition options,
SY panel is the lightest option. The density of SY panel is 124 kg per cubic
meters. Lighter than SY panel is Gypsum board with density 668kg per cubic
meters. Heavier than Gypsum board but lighter than Aluminum and cement board is
UPVC with density 1430 kilograms per cubic meters. Cement board varies in its
density from 1500 kilograms to 1950 kilograms per cubic meters. The heaviest
among all the partition option discussed is Aluminum with 2700 kilograms per
cubic meters of density.
Thermal Insulation
UPVC is said to be a better
insulation than Aluminum for thermal insulation. The UPVC has R-value of 0.67 whereas
Aluminum has R-value of 0.61. The R-value of cement board and gypsum board
depends exclusively on their thickness. The manufacturer of SY Panel is a company
located in Nepal. So, you can easily find R-value of SY Panel as well.
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1 year ago