Fitting a new ceiling - HELP!

[mrmiddleman]

Hi All,

Firstly I’ll apologise for any poor descriptions here but I’ll try my best.

Moved into 1920 4 in a block, old council house. Saw the ceiling was wallpapered and didn't think twice about getting the steamer out and taking the stuff off - Now were left with what looks like unfinished chipboards. Had our plasterer who has been in the trade a good 30 yrs round who had a look and it and said he'd never seen anything like it in his life. He says you can't (or shouldn't) plaster onto wood boards so he doesn’t recommend skimming it as he couldn't guarantee the job!

So now we're left with a dilemma. Ceiling size is a 4.5m x 4.5 m square so nothing fancy - but it looks like we’re going to have to get it replaced.

Firstly - Is it easy to do yourself? From what I’ve read you get the plaster boards and nail/screw them to the existing timbers and stagger them. This sounds easy enough to do - but if it's going to be any hassle then I’ll just get somebody in to do it!

Secondly - I know plaster boards are cheap - but any idea how much ££ we're talking to fit a new plasterboard ceiling that size? I don’t need it finished (as our plasterer has agreed to do that if we get it put in) but just for the fitting?

Is there anything we can put onto the current boards as an alternative to getting a new ceiling put in? Painting wouldn't look right as the surface isn't smooth and even enough.

Any help/responses are appreciated as you have yourself a complete DIY newbie here.

Thanks
Rich

 

[D.S.D]

Hello mate and welcome,

IMO that wouldn't take any longer than two days to take the old boards off, re-board and skim. Two days is being generous. My fella done me one like that last year and he did it in a day. Still paid him for two cos that was the price. would only take about 5 boards so whatever that costs and a bag or two of multifinish. Your best bet would be to give the whole lot to your plasterer as putting an 8x4 board up when you've never done it before can be a right mare. He will fly round that in far less time than you could, prob take a few hours to board it, besides if hes anything like the plasterers I know then the joints won't be right, its on the wrong way round, not enough screws, too many screw etc etc Right moany lot them skimmers

 

[54aardvark]

Plasterboard comes in 2.4 x 1.2M sheets, go for the 12mm feathered edge, cost about £6/sheet and you'll do it in 8 sheets.

Use plasterboard screws, they have a bugle head on them and stops tearing the plasterboard as you're screwing in.

Its a bit of a hassle supporting the boards in position while you're screwing them up, but its not too bad with two people. I recently got a pair of mini-akrow props from Lidls £6.99 each absolutely brilliant, sorry can't post photo as my phone connections a bit dodgy at the moment.

When you're putting in your screws, tighten them till they're flush, just below surface of board. go in too deep and thefiller will pop out.

Fit your board so the feathered edges are adjacent, this allows about 1mm recess to allow for the tape & skim. I tend to cut off the feathred edge where it meets the wall so it is square all round the room.

Tape over all the joints - you can get self adhesive scrim which is a lot easier to deal with than paper tape.

Use joint filler to skim over all the joints, feather it out about 10mm either side of the joint then go roung with a filling knife and fill the screw heads. I use Gyproc Easi-fil - more expensive but a far superior finish and you can generally do your skim in one go - 10Kg bag should do you for that size of ceiling.

JUst as the filler is starting to tighten up (about 45 mins), brush with water and use your trowel to scrape over the surface, this gets rid of minor bumps and the gravy fills up any holes - I generally don't bother with the screw heads at this stage - a light sand whwn they're dry is OK.

Should be dry in 24 hours, you may want to tidy up with a bit of 120 grit sandpaper. Then mist coat with 30%water to emulsion (not vinyl silk) and finish with 2 coats full strength.

Hope this helps

 

[joe-90]

I recently got a pair of mini-akrow props from Lidls £6.99 each absolutely brilliant, sorry can't post photo as my phone connections a bit dodgy at the moment.

I bought a pair of those too. Within a day they'd sold out. Very heavy duty for what they are.

 

[54aardvark]

One other thing - the wall/ceiling join can be a right pain to do, skim over the tape on the ceiling and leave to dry, then do the wall otherwise you get a groove where your trowel has cut into the plaster on the other side of the joint.

Much easier - and I always suggest to clients - is coving, this means you don't have to tape the ceiling/wall joint and cuts your time (and stress levels) by at least 75%.

There are some tremendous high-density polystyrene coves about now from about £1/Metre, just stick up with No More Nails (equivelant 'cos NMN is expensive and there are perfectly good alternatives at a fraction of the cost). Plaster cove is heavier and a bit more time consuming.
Once the coving is up, just zip round all the edges with decorators caulk, prime it with an oil-based undercoat and crack on with the emulsion.

Two days, jobs a good 'un!

 

[mrmiddleman]

Thanks for all your help guys - i'll let you know how i get on! I saw those polystyrene coving things at B&Q at the weekend - do they finish up ok when painted?

Thanks!

 

[GJS]

Fit your board so the feathered edges are adjacent, this allows about 1mm recess to allow for the tape & skim. I tend to cut off the feathred edge where it meets the wall so it is square all round the room.

Sorry to butt-in but what do you do where both of the ceiling dimensions are greater than 2.4m? How do you deal with the non-feathered ends of the boards where they butt to another board end?

Thanks.