Internal doorway, blocking up and finishing

Hi,

I'm new to these forums but hopefully some friendly people can help me out with a few questions...

I've recently become the proud owner of my first house We have some plans to do a bit of renovation and I decided I would like to try and do as much of the work myself as possible as I think it's all important life skills to learn! So a few weeks after moving into the house, I promptly started ripping the architraves off an internal doorway that I'm planning to block up, as there is another door into the room that we will be using.

I started by building a stud frame and fitting plasterboard to fill the hole, but now I have come up against a few issues / questions and I'm not quite sure how to proceed. Hopefully you guys can help me out:

• 
  - When pulling off the architraves, some plaster and underlying render (about 1 inch thick) came off the wall. What's the best way to patch this up? The local DIY store recommended ready-mix cement?
  
  - The plasterboard I've fitted is a couple of centimetres sunken in from the original render. Do I need to re-fit the plasterboard so as to make it flush, or should I put render on top of the plasterboard, or is there a better approach? I can't think how I can make the framing so that the plasterboard is perfectly flush.
  
  - The existing render and plaster has cracked at one of the top corners of the doorway up to the ceiling. There are also a couple of bits of loose render along the sides. Should I pull this off the wall and patch it up with new render and plaster? I'm a little concerned about making it worse and having to re-render the entire wall
  
  - I'm probably going to get a professional plasterer to skim the wall once I'm finished so is there anything I need to bear in mind to make his job easier? Would I be better off getting him to sort out my render problems also?

I would really appreciate anybody who finds the time to read through my post and offer any suggestions.

Cheers!

No pro's answering, so here's my 2p worth, firstly this might help:

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=161001

As the last post - I'd go for plasterboard 3mm lower than existing finish and get a plasterer in to skim the opening (and the damaged edges etc).

As you have started - you might be able to pad out the to 3mm with a second layer of plasterboard. You said you were probably going to get someone to skim the lot at the end anyway - probably worth getting them to quote and agree what you need to do first.

Stevesey - thanks very much for taking the time to read and answer. I managed to get some advice from a builder today and he suggested the same. Pad out the plasterboard with another layer so that its a few mm shy of the existing plaster.

As for the thick layer that came off, he said this is most likely browning or bonding and that I could patch this up prior to plastering. Only thing is I don't know what I'm looking for in the diy shop as they didn't have anything labelled browning or bonding that I could see. Suppose I should just ask

Instead of buying a bag of bonding you could pack to areas out with off cuts of plasterboard

Stevesey - thanks again! Off to wickes for me tomorrow then

Pigeon - I thought of that too but the gaps are just small enough that I think it could be a hassle trying to cut and fit odd bits of plasterboard. Worth bearing in mind though as I'm sure this won't be the last of my forays into diy plastering!

scifi76 said:

Stevesey - thanks again! Off to wickes for me tomorrow then

Pigeon - I thought of that too but the gaps are just small enough that I think it could be a hassle trying to cut and fit odd bits of plasterboard. Worth bearing in mind though as I'm sure this won't be the last of my forays into diy plastering!

Click to expand...

I see what you mean, bag of bonding won't break the bank anyway, wrap it in a black bag when finished to keep it good for a while longer as you say you might need it again