Interior and finishes

Wall Finishes & Linings

Internal finishes are judged by eye, which makes the substrate underneath them unusually important. Most complaints about a painted or plastered wall are really complaints about preparation, suction, drying conditions or movement in the background — not about the finish material itself.

These entries describe the lining and finish materials and the conditions they depend on. They contain no application instructions, no coating specifications and no product-specific method statements; those come from the manufacturer's own documentation and the tradespeople doing the work.

43 reference entries · educational materials reference · suitability always depends on the complete assembly and qualified professional review

Scope

What this category covers

Where the boundary of this part of the library sits, including what it deliberately leaves to qualified professionals.

Board and wet-applied linings for internal walls and ceilings
Decorative and protective coatings and coverings
Panelling and acoustic wall linings
Not covered: application methods, coating specification or product-specific instructions

Start here

Frequently referenced entries

A starting point, not a ranking — these are simply the entries most people arrive looking for.

Plasterboard →A factory-made lining board with a gypsum core faced in paper, fixed to studs or bonded to masonry to form a flat internal surface ready for decoration.Gypsum plaster →A wet-applied gypsum-based plaster used for internal undercoats and skim finishes, setting comparatively fast to a hard, smooth and relatively vapour-closed surface.Emulsion paint →A water-based, film-forming wall and ceiling paint in which pigment and binder dry to a continuous film that sits on the surface rather than bonding chemically into it.

All entries

Every wall finishes & linings entry

The complete set for this category, in reference order.

Entry describes

Role in an assembly

Part of a building

Plasterboard →A factory-made lining board with a gypsum core faced in paper, fixed to studs or bonded to masonry to form a flat internal surface ready for decoration.

Gypsum plaster →A wet-applied gypsum-based plaster used for internal undercoats and skim finishes, setting comparatively fast to a hard, smooth and relatively vapour-closed surface.

Lime plaster →A slower-setting, softer and more vapour-open internal plaster, traditionally used on solid-walled and timber-lath buildings where compatibility with the background matters.

Clay plaster →An unfired earth-based internal plaster of clay, sand and fibre, valued for a matt mineral texture and humidity buffering, but not intended to resist liquid water.

Polished plaster →A decorative burnished finish built from very thin mineral layers and worked to a sheen, where the result depends more on the applicator's skill than on the material itself.

Emulsion paint →A water-based, film-forming wall and ceiling paint in which pigment and binder dry to a continuous film that sits on the surface rather than bonding chemically into it.

Mineral silicate paint →A mineral coating bound with potassium silicate that reacts chemically with a mineral substrate and stays highly open to water vapour, rather than forming a film over the top.

Wall primer and sealer →A preparatory coating that is not a decorative finish: it evens out substrate suction, improves adhesion and holds back staining before the visible finish is applied.

Wallpaper →A decorative sheet covering hung with adhesive, made as paper, vinyl-faced, non-woven or natural-faced material, whose finished look depends on the wall behind it.

Timber wall panelling →Wood or wood-based wall lining in boards, sheets or framed panels, fixed to battens or a solid background, whose fit depends on how timber and the room move together.

Acoustic wall panels →Wall-mounted panels made in felt, fabric-wrapped, slatted timber or mineral-cored forms, considered within a wider acoustic conversation and also chosen as a visible finish.

Cork wall covering →A wall covering made from granulated or sliced cork bark, supplied as tiles, rolls or panels, giving a warm textured surface that takes pins readily and marks easily.

Timber Lath →Traditional split or sawn timber lath used as a plaster background, and how it differs from expanded metal lath in movement, decay risk and the way plaster keys.

Plaster Beads →Metal and PVC profiles buried in plaster or render to form and reinforce arrises, stops and reveals, unlike joinery trim fixed over an already finished wall.

Jointing Compound →Filling and feathering compound used with tape to close plasterboard joints and cover fixings, as distinct from a wet plaster skim applied across the whole wall face.

Board Adhesive →Gypsum-based adhesive dabbed onto masonry so plasterboard can be fixed without a frame, and what that direct-bond lining means for voids, services and later fixings.

Drylining Framing →Light steel track, stud and furring profiles that form the non-loadbearing frame a board lining or partition is fixed to, rather than a finish in themselves.

Insulated Board →A factory-bonded panel in which plasterboard and a rigid insulation core are made as one product, fixed and jointed as a single lining rather than as two separate site-built layers.

Calcium Silicate Board →A low-density mineral lining sheet made from lime, a silica source and reinforcing fibre and then autoclaved, giving a paperless board that cuts and machines cleanly indoors.

Gypsum Fibreboard →A homogeneous lining panel of gypsum reinforced throughout with cellulose fibre and made without paper liners, so it is denser than plasterboard and is cut and jointed differently.

Fibrous Plaster →Cornices, roses and enrichments cast off site in moulds from gypsum plaster reinforced with hessian scrim and laths, then delivered and fixed as components rather than run in place.

GRG Panel →Thin cast panels and formed shapes made from a gypsum matrix reinforced with glass fibre, moulded for curved and sculpted interior surfaces and intended for internal use only.

Gypsum Block →Solid cast gypsum units with interlocking edges, laid in adhesive like small masonry to form a frameless monolithic partition that needs no studs, no cavity and no board layer.

PVC Sheet Cladding →Rigid PVC sheet wall lining closed with capping trims or welded joints, and why the trade name hygienic cladding describes a product family rather than an outcome.

GRP Lining Sheet →Thermoset glass-reinforced polyester wall lining sheet, usually bonded to a board backing, and how it differs as a material family from rigid PVC hygienic sheet.

Shower Wall Panel →Decorative faced panels jointed with profiles or shaped edges to line bathroom walls without grout, and why a panel is one component rather than a wet-area strategy.

Wall Protection →Surface-mounted rails, sheets and corner angles fitted over a completed wall finish as replaceable sacrificial components rather than as a finish in their own right.

Vinyl Wallcovering →A wallcovering whose decorative face is a vinyl layer carried on a woven scrim, non-woven or paper backing, used where a wall takes more contact than paper allows.

Textile Wallcovering →A wallcovering with a genuine woven or non-woven textile face, hung so that the cloth itself is the finished surface rather than a printed imitation of one.

Grasscloth →Wallcovering faced with plant material such as grasscloth, sisal, jute or paperweave, laid onto a paper backing, where variation and visible seams are inherent.

Glass Fibre Covering →A woven glass fibre fabric hung on walls and ceilings to be overpainted, where the finished appearance comes from the paint and the weave rather than from any printed pattern.

Lining Paper →Plain paper hung as a preparatory layer to even out a background before painting or papering, graded by weight and never intended to be the finished decorative surface.

Surface Film →Thin pressure-sensitive film wrapped onto existing doors, joinery and panels to change their appearance without replacing the substrate beneath it.

Tadelakt →A lime-based wall finish of Moroccan origin, compacted and burnished by hand and then treated with soap, giving a dense, seamless and characteristically undulating surface.

Thermal Lining →A backed lining roll hung like lining paper before decoration, and why it is neither an insulation layer nor a treatment for damp in a wall.

Demountable Partition →Factory-finished panel, post and track partition systems designed to be unclipped and reconfigured, as distinct from a framed partition built and finished in place.

Reed Board →Mats or boards of compressed reed stems bound with wire, fixed as a background that gives lime and clay plasters a mechanical key rather than acting as any kind of finish itself.

MgO Board →A mineral construction sheet bound with magnesium oxide and a magnesium salt and reinforced with mesh, whose salt chemistry gives it moisture and fixing behaviour unlike cement boards.

Insulating Plaster →A plaster or render coat whose aggregate is a lightweight insulant such as cork, perlite or expanded clay, giving a thick, soft, low-density coat rather than a conventional sand-based one.

Textured Coating →A family of thick interior coatings applied far heavier than paint and patterned while still wet, so that the surface conceals the background rather than following it smoothly.

Woven Wire Mesh Panel →Metal fabric woven from wires, rods, cables or spirals and tensioned between fixings as a facing component, as opposed to a rigid sheet punched with holes.

Wattle and Daub →A historic infill technique in which a woven wooden lattice fills a timber frame panel and is daubed through its thickness with an earth, fibre and binder mixture.

Stone Honeycomb Panel →A thin sawn stone face bonded to a lightweight honeycomb backing, making a composite lining panel that is emphatically not solid stone and not the stone cladding entry.

Browse by role

By the role the material plays

The same entries, clustered by what they typically do in an assembly. A material can appear in more than one cluster because it genuinely plays more than one role.

Substrate and base

Backgrounds and bases that other materials are fixed or applied to.

Thermal layer

Materials whose role in the build-up is thermal.

Insulated Board →

Moisture and air control

Thin layers that control where moisture and air are allowed to move.

External surface

The visible outer face of a wall or roof.

Internal surface

The visible inner face people see, touch and walk on.

Jointing and fixing

Materials that bond, seal, support or connect other materials.

Where they appear

Parts of a building this category touches

An orientation aid only — it does not imply that any entry is suitable for that part of a particular building.

External walls · 5
Internal walls and ceilings · 43
Wet areas · 3

Elsewhere on Build Design Hub

Planning guidance for this subject

This library explains what materials are. These sections help with choosing between them and preparing for the conversation.

Wall and surface finish guides →The choosing-and-planning side of wall finishes.Wall finish ideas →Design directions for walls and surface treatments.Material and finish decisions →Preparation before a finishes conversation.

Building Systems Encyclopedia

The assemblies these materials sit in

A material page explains what a substance is. These pages explain how the assembly around it is organised, what roles its components perform and which interfaces matter.

Interior assembliesInternal Partitions, Linings, Ceilings and Wet Areas →Internal elements whose behaviour comes from the framework, the void and the perimeter behind them rather than from the board or tile on the visible face.Building envelopeExternal Wall Build-Up Systems →Complete external walls read as a layer order: where in the thickness of the wall water is stopped, and in which direction the wall is allowed to dry afterwards.

Materials & Systems Encyclopedia

Reference entries for building materials, product formats and system components — what they are, what their behaviour depends on and what to ask about them.

Browse the full Materials Library →

HELPERG Ecosystem

Web products

Mobile apps