plasterboard battens help please

[cycloneuk]

I am currently doing some work on a house i have bought and have builders in doing upstairs, just discovered plaster on living room walls apart from chimney breast is blown in various places and very crumbly. I have taken 2 walls back to brick already and intend to plasterboard the living room myself and then get a plasterer to skim it. I have done a little dot and dab before but want to batten for the living room, looking in my local B&Q they have sawn treated timber in sizes 50mm x 22mm and 38mm x 25mm, which size would be best and what size screw/plugs should i use to fix the battens and what space between screws?

Will be able to use full size 12.5mm 2400mm boards on walls, do i batten verticals every 400mm and then either corner and 1 batten horizontal at top and a few at bottom to give support for new skirting boards?

I will have to dot and dab front insulated cavity wall since won't have room to batten due to small window cills.

 

[dann09]

You can get treated tile battens at a builders yard at a much cheaper price than at B&Q etc.

25mm x 38mm Tile battens will be adequate for what you propose.
There are treated thicker battens available.

However, be aware that the battens will follow the surface of the brickwork unless you pack them out for plumbness, and pure right angles at inside corners.

 

[1john]

use the 50mm battens as theres more room for when you have two edges of board on the batten 3" or 4" screws, size ten into red plugs give a really strong fix or use tapcons. Fix at 600mm / 2' intervals. If you pack out on your fixings to true the wall up I always apply expanding foam behind the batten, squirt it in from one side only so it can expand behind the batten and not risk pushing it forward, this takes any bounce off the walls and firms things up really nicely. You can do the front wall with small cills and either replace the cills if they are wood / PVC, if they are wooden you can cap them with PVC too.