How to finish a gap under plaster?

[ragged13]

Hi guys,

Few details:

1. house built in 1920's
2. Solid walls, no plasterboards
3. On brickwork there are: 1 coat of bonding coat + 2coats of multifinish.

4. There are no skirting boards, but under plaster there is a gap for them. Probably for 12mm skirting or more.

5. I'm planning to do laminated floor so skirting profile will be very low.

My question is, how to finish this gap?

All tip very welcome.

Regards

Lucas

 

[kjacko]

It sounds like you're suggesting that the skirting goes underneath and flush with the skim of the wall?
I've had this situation quite a few times and its actually a good one to be in as you can lay your floor then hide the movement gaps with your skirting, thus avoiding the need for beading.

I just used skirting that was high enough that so that i could attach the top part to the plastered wall, either with plugs and countersunk screws or grab adhesive.
For the lower part of the skirting where the brickwork is under the plaster, you could fasten battons to the wall to the thickness of the bonding/skim then nail/screw/adhesive the lower part of the skirting to the battons.

Hope that makes sense, good luck.

 

[ragged13]

I don't want to have no gap at all as I know that floor movement can occur.

But my gap would be only 10mm high, and I want to cover it with the bead, or low profile skirting board.

If I do it from the floor, then I will have a gap above the bead (or skirting),

is that what you suggest me to do?

If yes, which filler would be the best to fill this gap and have smooth surface on the plastered wall?


Thanks!

 

[kjacko]

Ok, i hope this makes what i was trying to say clearer

 

[ragged13]

Ok then, so if I fix a skirting board to batton(using adhesive)
I will have a gap between skirting and existing plaster.

So which filler should I use to fill this gap, to achieve good smooth surface,

Obviously it's not a good idea to use Multifinish (Im not a pro plasterer, but I know how to skim it on whole walls).

I thought that if I use a gypsum filler, then multifinish and gypsum filler won't match, and the paint will look different on both materials.

Regards

 

[kjacko]

eh?
What part of my picture did you not understand matey. The skirting is attached to the plastered wall. The only gaps you'll see will be slight and down to the imperfect wall and skirting. In which case you'd use decorators caulk in a gun. Run a bead of cault all along the join of the skirting and wall, then wet yuour finger and run that along the it to clean off excess and smooth in the caulk.
Is that the gap you were meaning?

 

[ragged13]

Well, I've mentioned that my skirting will be only a few cm. Not standard size. I don't like high skirting board.

I have approx. 60mm gap from existing plaster to the floor.

If I have let say 30mm bead then I still have to fill another 30mm and join existing plaster with a filler.

I've just read about term called "flashing".

Can I fill this gap with a ordinary filler, then sand it down, and then using primer smooth it over?

Thanks.

 

[kjacko]

aah...ok i get you now mate sorry. I misunderstood because it seems a weird way of doing things, but hey, its your house.
Could you not go for a 70-80mm skirting? That is way lower than 'normal' sizes and would still allow you to follow the method in my picture as you would have the top 10-20mm of skirting to fix to the existing wall.

The only other practical method i can think of would be to put some battons in (as in my diagram) then fix some strip of plasterboard to it to about 2mm shy of the level of the wall. You could dot'n'dab instead of using battons too. Then you can skim or use easyfill for the last 2mm or so to flush it with the level of the rest of the wall.
If you do this method don't let the plasterboard touch the floor hang it about 1cm off the floor. This avoid damp rising on concrete floors, but I just think its good practice regardless of what type of floor base you have whether upstairs or downstairs.

Or....you could whack a load of bonding into the whole gap to fill it, then skim/blend it in with the rest of the wall, but that would be a ballache imho.

My advice/opinions are from my DIY experience, i'm not a professional in any way, but i've done plenty of home re-modelling.

Someone may come along with a better method, in which case i'd be very interested too.

 

[ragged13]

kjacko thanks for your advises.

I think I will do skimming, using easyfill, and then use primer to avoid "flashing".

I think the hardest thing in my case is to connect different type of materials.

I never had to do it, I usually plaster whole wall, less headache [/b]