Dry lined walls concerns question(s)

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Hi All

We viewed a house today as possible purchase and as far as I could tell many of the walls were dry lined. Now it was my understanding that such dry lining was "stable" and other than painting required very little maintenance or renewal is ever needed.

However, I was surprised to see some of the joint lines/areas noticably proud as if the tape used to cover and seal the joint had failed because the edges of the platerboard panels had expanded. I can not think how else to describe it but what could be the cause of "effect" and how would one go about decorating with appropriate remedial action to make the walls totally smooth (again). The effect was not along the whole joint line just in places but at least once I think on every wall with no clear (external) cause.

Any feedback and pointers as to what would cause the effect and how to remedy it and if this is not simply a decorating problem who do I talk to for advice? I would hope to get as well informed as possible before we go the next step in our buying decision and have the cost of surveying to then tell us bad news :(

TIA :)
 
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I used to live in a house like that and all the walls were dry lined. Paper joint tape was used as the walls were not plastered and this caused many problems when coming to strip the walls. The original emulsion paint would lift with the paper and bring the face of the plasterboard off with it. The only remedy then would be to re-plaster. Or lots of filling and rubbing !
 
Hi both

Thanks for the feedback.

As mentioned it was only our first look round and from what I can recall apart from the places where the plasterboard seemd to have 'erupted' and made it look like the mid Atlantic rift in few places (another way of trying to describe the 'look & feel' of the oddity) I am fairly sure I could see the outline of the tape and some long line cracks in some places associated or not with the other oddity.

Does this suggest that it was never plastered in places because I surmised that with dry lining a skim coat is applied to cover the whole area(s) to give a smooth overall finish.

Now, if the skim coat was poorly applied i.e. far too thin and/or it was never skimmed in the first place then either each joint will need raking out and filling in and sanding smooth OR they will need sanding flat then taping (I think there is now a woven type of tape that allows for movement and is filler receptive?) and a skim coat applied to finish them.

Either way it will be time and/or money involved.

However, I am still no wiser as what could have caused the edges of the plasterboard to 'erupt' in places.

Thanks again for any further feedback and guidance :)
 
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Is the dry lining (Gyproc) been applied with the Dot & Dab method or is it on wooden joists ?
 
Third_Eye said:
Is the dry lining (Gyproc) been applied with the Dot & Dab method or is it on wooden joists ?

Good question but sadly I have no idea, the house was as far I know built in 1976 & as such I have yet to find out whether any of the walls had work done on them that may have used either method as part of said work since it was built! Is there a way of telling what method was used by visual examination and/or 'wall tapping'? And based on the answer what does that suggested as the cause of the oddity?

:)
 
We owned a house in York (Haxby) a few yearas ago which was like this - all the lints were slightly proud.

I think plasterers new to the technique either did not get sufficient dab in the centre of the board or didn't use a straight edge.

Ours was just cosmetic but was aparent on a smooth wall with a light close to the surface.
 
Searcher said:
Third_Eye said:
Is the dry lining (Gyproc) been applied with the Dot & Dab method or is it on wooden joists ?

Good question but sadly I have no idea, the house was as far I know built in 1976 & as such I have yet to find out whether any of the walls had work done on them that may have used either method as part of said work since it was built! Is there a way of telling what method was used by visual examination and/or 'wall tapping'? And based on the answer what does that suggested as the cause of the oddity?

:)

Wall taping, yes.

Knock with your fingers on the obvious gyproc jionts. Satrting from bottom to top. If it sounds solid all the way up, then it is more than likely the gyproc has been applied over wooden jiosts.

However, if it sound changes whilst knocking all the way up then this would prob indicate that it is Dot & Dab.

Also, is there any obvious screws/nails ?
 
IJWS15 said:
We owned a house in York (Haxby) a few yearas ago which was like this - all the lints were slightly proud.

I think plasterers new to the technique either did not get sufficient dab in the centre of the board or didn't use a straight edge.

Ours was just cosmetic but was aparent on a smooth wall with a light close to the surface.

This may not have been the Plasterers fault.

As an square edge gyproc may have been used.

Then the Builder decided to get Ames Taping done.

This can cause the prob you have/had.
 
From an Ames Tapers opinion this sounds to me like the classic ames taping botched job.
The tapered edge joints have not been properly filled with joint filler (fast set), they are then top coated with finish 1 or 2 coats if your lucky that shrinks back after a few weeks of the heating being on and in natural light you can see a ripple at each tapered edge.
If you hold a trowel or sharp straight edge along the joints you will probably see a gap which should not be visible if the job is carried out correctly.
These joints should be flat and should not be seen at all!!
Anyway to fix you would need to fill down every joint with filler, sand and then finish off joint cement, then sand again.
A bit messy and a lot of painting work to go over.
 
Thanks for all the feedback and shared experiences of dry lined panels joints 'showing'.

We are still discussing whether to go back for a second viewing at which time I can/will give the walls a much more critical examination but based on the consensus (?) they will require significant raking out, joint cement filling and sanding finishing with a paint job. But what I am still unclear about is the odd eruption in some places along the joints ~ what could have caused these???

Thinking about what I recall ~ I am sure I could see the joint tape without any edge lighting in various join lines floor to ceiling and at the points of oddity the tape was split i.e. I reckon I could slip paper into the gap and the eruption I am trying to describe now makes me think the water got into the edge of the panel and expanded the Gyproc, if that were the case why is it apprently fairly random and what would a repair look like if it were sanded back flat thus removing the outer "paper" layer of the Gyproc panel?

So, apart from DIYing if I got a pro in who knows dry lining and can make sure any remedial work is done to 'industry standards' (?) what sort of cost would I be looking at bearing in mind most of the walls in the whole house could require some such attention (I think).

Thanks again for any added answers and guidance. :)

PS On a secondary but related note - we have never lived in a dry lined house and though we do not put much on the walls I surmise for pictures and lighter mirrors using standard hooks with masonary nails is fine but what about hanging a cupboard or fixing a tall wardrobe with top fixings (against toppling)? Are there specific "fixings" that you use by drilling through into the brick/block wall OR are you stuck with having to fix to the Gyproc joists. Oh, but that would not work if they were fixed by Dot & Dab !!!!
 
The problem with all your questions is they cannot be answered.

As reading about an situation is different from actually seeing it.

Structural reasons can be causing the probs, Poor workmanship, not enough dabs behind gyproc, screws/nails bouncing. The list can go on and on.

Best thing to do is get an full survey done on the house. Not the cheap one but the dearest one. Then any probs relating to the gyproc will be worded in the surveyors report.
 

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