Dot dab advice

[unseen]

Afternoon...

I'm after some advice regarding plasterboarding our existing building site.. er front room!...

All the plaster has been removed over the last few years as various parts were modernised and replaced.. As you can see from the attached pics..

View media item 6532 View media item 6534 View media item 6536
And a door way filled in...

What I'm wondering is can I just dot dab directly on to the walls or would it be better to coat the walls with a parge coat?

Any advice and tips welcomed!

Rob

 

[roughcaster]

There's been a few posts on here lately about plastering/dot n dabbing onto older brickwork etc......Better to clean/wet the brickwork down, PVA it, and scratch coat/parge with a 4 to 1 sand and cement, with waterproofer added to the mix. Put it on while the pva is still tacky. Preparing your walls that way,, for all the time it will take,, will give you a prepared, "clean" surface to work on, whether you dot and dab or plaster.

Roughcaster.

 

[unseen]

Thanks for that roughcaster!...

One item my brother came up with (plumber in training.. now thinks he's gods gift to diy! no offence to other plumbers mind!) quite a lot of joints are missing mortar, he was trying to suggest basically repointing the wall... But I would have thought the scratch coat would take care of all that yes?

 

[roughcaster]

Yes. A scratch coat will take care of that, but if there are any particularly "deep" ones, just fill them up first to save them from slumping,,,, make sure you clean/prep the walls each time though, that's the main thing.

Roughcaster.

 

[unseen]

Just out of interest.... Just a couple of questions.. For now!

As you can see in the pic, we've put rockwoll in the ceiling to help deaden sound noise (kids bedroom above). Would double skinning the ceiling also help kill noise or just add unnessesary weight to the joists? (I'm also debating if the rock wool was a good idea at the mo.. Not if I want to put downlighters in but thats for another debate).

As it's an end terrace of roughly 1910 build date (possibly earlier) it's solid brick walls with no cavity, would batterning the walls pack with insulation then plasterboard perhaps be a better solution? Time consuming perhaps but overall perhaps a better finish plus reduced heat loss?

Sorry if I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill.. But rather than dive right in I'd rather look at the options and do it properly first time (been there done that with other bits around the house which I'm not happy with now.. )

Thanks for all the advice so far roughcaster and for letting me know I was thinking down the right track..

 

[roughcaster]

Double plasterboarding a ceiling wouldn't do any harm as long as the joists are adequate to carry the extra weight, which in older properties is usually never a problem, and as regards to battening the wall, insulating, plasterboarding etc,,,, yes, a much better idea I would think, especially as it's a single skin wall,,,, and you wouldn't lose much room either,, a couple of inches if that. That's the best way to go. 12.5 mm plasterboard, foil backed board, taped or skimmed, painted and the jobs done in time for Christmas. Seasons Greetings to ya.

Roughcaster.

 

[unseen]

Thanks for that roughcaster,

Does anyone have any tips, sites they got info from they'd care to share regarding battening out? While trying to avoid the nightmare traffic last night (manchester grid locked! bleh! ) I took solace in B&Q... Looking at the poly insulation I can find the 25mm sheets (listed as floor insulation?) what battens would do that job with that? And would you batten the whole room or just the exterior walls? Dot dabing the interior walls?
Sorry if I'm sounding confusing, I've only ever done (well... assisted) dot dab dry lining before in other rooms of the house so this is my big solo project (god help me.. but got to learn one way or another!). If I go down the tape and filler route (not skimming) am I right in saying I need this tape? for all corners and end finishes?[/url]

 

[unseen]

Or is it standard practice to stay with 1 method through an entire room?..

I should add I'll be wanting to hide most of the cabling in conduit before dry lining (speakers/alarm/wall lights) would that in itself lead one method to be better than another?

Thanks

Rob

 

[roughcaster]

If I had to, I would always go for batten/plasterboarded walls, rather than dot and dab, given the choice,,,, whether it's on one wall, or all of the walls. It's more expensive to do than dot n dab, materials wise, but a far better method if say, you want to insulate walls, as you're intending, to run extra cables, fit sockets/ conbuits etc. The timber you would use to strap the walls, depends on the thickness of your insulation, etc...... The metal tape you mentioned in your post "is" for "taping" external wall corners, including around door and window reveals, but if you were going to "skim" the walls instead, you would use thin coat corner "beading".

Roughcaster.

 

[mebob]

Yes, I agree with roughcaster, on a property of that age with single skin walls, batten/plasterboard is the way to go. Also, it gives you the opportunity insulate, and bury your cables. You can make a saving by running a 500 guage membrane behind the battens rather than buy the more expensive foil-backed plasterboard. As for battens, I find that treated 2x1 and 25mm insul works just fine, but do take the time to get them plumb and perfectly in line, using packers where needed, because that will determine how good your finished wall is!
For me, skimming is the best way to finish, and it doesn't come back to bite you in the ass next time you decorate, as taping can, but it is more costly of course unless your doing it yourself.
One small tip on hidden cables, run them where you will always know where they are, vertically to switches and points and if you're going to fit wall lights then bring the cables in at 45 degrees to where the lights are on the wall so that when you screw the fitting to the wall they're not in the way.
Enjoy you're project, I'm off for a pint.