Guides / Ceiling systems
Pick aluminium where the room is wet, humid, or full of services you need to reach again. Pick gypsum where you want one seamless, painted surface and the structure above is already sealed and insulated. The choice is rarely about looks — it is decided by moisture, fire behaviour, weight, acoustics and access to the plenum. This page works through each one, then gives a room-by-room rule and the standards that back both materials.
A gypsum ceiling is a sealed plasterboard surface that fails when it gets wet; an aluminium ceiling is a suspended metal system that does not. Everything downstream follows from that one difference. Gypsum gives a monolithic, painted finish and better fire insulation; aluminium gives removable panels, water resistance and a much lighter suspended load. If the room sees steam, water or repeated access to the plenum, specify aluminium. If it is a dry, sealed room where you want a painted ceiling, gypsum is the usual answer.
If you already have the room schedule and the ceiling plan, the fastest way to a buildable answer is to send them through and ask for a system proposal with the carrier spacing and accessory list stated — that is what the Send Drawings route is for.
Neither material is “better” in the abstract. Each wins on a specific criterion, and the room decides which criterion matters. The comparison is summarised here and expanded below.
| Criterion | Aluminium ceiling | Gypsum ceiling |
|---|---|---|
| Moisture | Does not absorb water; no rot or mould | Paper-faced; sags and stains when wet |
| Fire | Non-combustible, but conducts heat and softens | Releases bound water; insulates the structure |
| Weight | Light panel on a grid | Roughly 9 kg/m² for the board alone, plus frame |
| Acoustics | Absorbing only with perforation and backing | Sealed surface; low absorption unless specified |
| Access | Panels lift out, no repair | Sealed; services need cutting and patching |
| Finish | Metal, linear or modular, any RAL colour | Seamless, painted, joint-free in one plane |
Gypsum board is gypsum core faced with paper. The paper is the weak point: it draws water in, the core loses strength, and the board sags or stains. A single overflow from the flat above, a failed seal on a shower, or years of kitchen steam is enough. Once wet, the board usually has to come out — it does not dry back to full strength and the paper face holds stains and mould.
Aluminium is a non-porous metal. It does not absorb water, does not rot, and does not feed mould. That is why kitchens, bathrooms, laundries, plant rooms and external soffits default to a metal ceiling, and why a gypsum ceiling in those rooms is a maintenance liability rather than a saving. On an exterior soffit the question stops being a comparison at all: it becomes a wind-load and corrosion exercise, which the linear ceiling specification guide sets out under EN 1991-1-4 and EN ISO 12944.
The two ceilings protect a structure in opposite ways.
Neither statement replaces a tested assembly. In Europe the reaction-to-fire classification comes from EN 13501-1, and it belongs to the whole tested system — panel plus carrier plus clips — not to a material on its own. Gypsum board is specified to EN 520 (or ASTM C1396 in North America), and suspended metal ceilings to EN 13964. Ask for the test report for the assembly you are buying, and state which Euroclass the room requires.
A standard 12.5 mm plasterboard is roughly 9 kg per square metre before jointing, and it needs a metal frame on top of that. A thin aluminium panel clipped to a suspended grid is a fraction of the weight per square metre. The practical consequences: aluminium is easier on an older slab, allows lighter hangers, and makes a large or curved ceiling cheaper to support. Gypsum’s mass is not always a disadvantage — mass helps with sound insulation between floors — but it is a real structural input. The numbers behind suspended ceiling weights are worked through in how much a suspended ceiling weighs.
A bare aluminium panel reflects sound; it only absorbs once it is perforated and backed with an acoustic infill, and the absorption figure (NRC, measured to ASTM C423, or the weighted absorption coefficient αw in Europe) belongs to that perforation-and-backing assembly. A gypsum ceiling is a sealed surface and absorbs little unless it is itself perforated or paired with an absorber above.
The point for selection: if the room needs absorption, both materials need an acoustic treatment — the metal route reaches it with perforated panels, the gypsum route with perforated board or a separate absorber. The perforated metal path is set out in perforated acoustic ceiling panels, and the visual choice between linear, baffle and cell metal ceilings in linear vs baffle vs cell ceilings.
Above a ceiling sits ducting, cabling, sprinklers and sensors. With an aluminium system a panel lifts out and goes back in — no repair, no paint. With a gypsum ceiling the surface is sealed, so any maintenance means cutting a hatch, patching and repainting, and the patch is rarely invisible afterwards. Any room where services are dense or change often — lobbies, corridors, offices, airports, hospitals — defaults to a demountable metal ceiling for exactly this reason.
The trade-off is finish. Gypsum delivers one seamless painted plane with no visible joints or grid, which is why it survives in high-end residential and quiet hotel rooms where the ceiling is meant to disappear. If the visible grid is the objection, metal systems answer it with concealed-joint and linear options rather than losing the access — see the ceiling systems range.
For an exterior soffit or facade the list extends to wind action under EN 1991-1-4 and corrosion protection under EN ISO 12944, which is where the C3–C5 exposure categories come from.
| Room | Default | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Kitchen, bathroom, laundry | Aluminium | Steam and leaks ruin gypsum |
| Basement, plant room, external soffit | Aluminium | Humidity and corrosion exposure |
| Lobby, corridor, office | Aluminium | Repeated access to services |
| Hotel room, residential bedroom | Gypsum | Seamless painted finish, dry room |
| Cinema, studio, hall | Either, with treatment | Both need acoustic specification |
The rule collapses to one question: will this ceiling get wet, or will I need to get above it? If the answer to either is yes, aluminium. If the room is dry, sealed and never opened again, gypsum is a legitimate choice.
For a project enquiry, send the room schedule, the ceiling plan, the environment category and any acoustic or fire requirement. A system proposal with carrier spacing, accessory list and finish follows from those inputs. Send the drawings and the response comes back against a defined specification rather than a headline comparison.