Gypsum vs mineral fibre suspended ceilings
A suspended ceiling is a ceiling below the real one which allows to recess lights and pass air-conditioning pipes and other services.
In Malta, the term gypsum ceiling has become the normal word used to mean a suspended ceiling. However, what are the implications of having a suspended ceiling made of gypsum. If a flat gypsum ceiling is used, there is very limited access to the area behind the suspended ceiling. Meaning that a leak could result in having to replace the whole ceiling.
Some geniuses have solved this problem by proposing 60x60cm gypsum tiles. It must be noted here that suspended ceilings should be made of mineral fibre. The reason for this is that mineral fibre is a material that allows the customers to achieve acoustic comfort. Gypsum just bounces sound around the room. It is also worth noting that most gypsum tiles exceed the weight limits for the grids on which they are installed. These grids are meant for mineral fibre.
Due to this misinformation we get regularly customers who need to change suspended ceiling to mineral fibre as they have a problem with teleconferencing with their overseas partners due to the echoes of the room, or customers who had their gypsum ceiling tiles collapse thankfully while they were not on the premises or customer call centres with employees that have to communicate with clients with unbearable background noise of other telephone conversations.