Plasterboarding around a door. Where to stop

[diytrainee]

Hi all, think this will be an easy one for you.

I've built a stud wall with a door opening in it. When I'm boarding the wall do I bring the board to the end of the door opening or the door liner. I'm thinking it's the door opening but just wanted to check.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Board upto the door frame (door lining) then the architrave will hide the edge of plaster board.

Andy

 

[noseall]

You need to fit the liner before boarding and fit the boards up to the liner.

Ensure whenfitting the liner/casing that you have a decent clearance for the door fit - say 6mm or 3mm up each side. This will inevitably close when skimming, more notibaly so at the bottom of the casing.

 

[fenny666]

the norm would be to fit boards before the liner - board the wall and cut out the door - its much simpler than cutting around the liner or worse ,piecing boards in which gives you joints on the door legs or head which can cause plaster to crack if the door is slammed and naturally makes the wall weaker.
also skim it before you fit the frame the arch will tidy eveything up.

 

[Micilin]

the norm would be to fit boards before the liner - board the wall and cut out the door - its much simpler than cutting around the liner or worse ,piecing boards in which gives you joints on the door legs or head which can cause plaster to crack if the door is slammed and naturally makes the wall weaker.
also skim it before you fit the frame the arch will tidy eveything up.

I wouldn't advise this unless you ensure you are spot on with the boards and skim ie , plumb, same margin etc

The norm is as noseall and andy say, lining first , then work into it.
You can do it the other way , and it is often done but it is not as good a job as you have to be spot on with boards and the skim ie you can't make up any difference with the skim

You can put the joins in the board wherever you like, regardless of method

 

[fenny666]

@micilin
ive assumed we are talking metal stud partition as this is the modern most efficient method.timber stud is old hat.

if it is metal stud then what i said as regards board joints running up door legs and across door heads is a definate no no. possibly not as important in a timber stud wall although i would still consider this bad practice.
also as regards board joints with metal stud, boards must be be staggered each side of wall.to suggest you put board joints 'wherever you like' is bad advice.

as regards the forming of a doorway - measure the frame to be fitted and add 10mm to the width and height and use these dims to form the doorway.

next, board the entire wall and cut out the doorway by following the form with your pad saw.

this is the norm.i do this everday for a living.

 

[Micilin]

@micilin
ive assumed we are talking metal stud partition as this is the modern most efficient method.timber stud is old hat.

if it is metal stud then what i said as regards board joints running up door legs and across door heads is a definate no no. possibly not as important in a timber stud wall although i would still consider this bad practice.
also as regards board joints with metal stud, boards must be be staggered each side of wall.to suggest you put board joints 'wherever you like' is bad advice.

as regards the forming of a doorway - measure the frame to be fitted and add 10mm to the width and height and use these dims to form the doorway.





next, board the entire wall and cut out the doorway by following the form with your pad saw.

this is the norm.i do this everday for a living.

But your studwork is spot on !

For a diy person, it's better to have the lining in first, then plaster into it.

Then you can be sure your wall is fine.

When I say you can join the board wherever you like, this still applies . If you want to cut the board first and fix, nothing stopping you doing it with a lining in - if you can use a tape measure.

I appreciate that you do it every day, and you seem meticulous, but on site I'm afraid I could not see a contractor allowing that amount of wastage of board (a 2m2 hole cut both sides of the door) . And I've never seen any problem with cracking around the door if everything is fixed right, scrimmed right

You may think timber stud is old hat, but then you must have been lucky to avoid all the timber framed developments going on all over the place.

Nothing wrong with what you are doing, you are going the extra mile/belt and braces and fair play to you - but I can't say I've ever seen it done like that as the norm, although often we do dwellings with the doors fitted afterwards, to keep the frames clean/undamaged

BTWE do you always manage to cut out the door both sides, still stagger the joints and still not have any joints around the head or legs

 

[Micilin]

Also , make sure you have your padsaw in the room before you put up the last board

 

[fenny666]

i can see what your saying as regards it being easier for a diyer to plaster into the lining - but your average diyer wont even attempt to plaster the wall if he expects even a half decent finish.

also if you were to attempt to finish the wall, as a diyer, a better option would be to tape and joint the wall - this is dead easy although somewhat dusty.but a very good finish can be achieved even for someone who has never done it before.

yes you can cut around the liner if you wanted to but, why fanny about doing that if you don't have to?

timber frame is old hat. you do get firms who only use timber stud because thats what they've always used. i suppose they employ the 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' mentality.eco houses etc may use timber frame as a spec.but ultimately metal stud is faster, more efficient hence why timber stud in general is outdated except in specific circumstances.

as regards door waste , there's a right way and a wrong way and to be regarded as a good fixer it has to be done properly.i see people cut corners all the time in my game and when they are out of work, i am not.and dont forget, its only waste if it cant be used elsewhere.

done properly you should never have a joint on the head as most heads are set at around 2110 where the standard board is 2.4 and above.as regards joints on the legs it can happen on corridors where there are lots of doors ,the solution is to'rail' the boards horizontally.

definately a top tip about the pad saw!

 

[Micilin]

i can see what your saying as regards it being easier for a diyer to plaster into the lining - but your average diyer wont even attempt to plaster the wall if he expects even a half decent finish.

also if you were to attempt to finish the wall, as a diyer, a better option would be to tape and joint the wall - this is dead easy although somewhat dusty.but a very good finish can be achieved even for someone who has never done it before.

yes you can cut around the liner if you wanted to but, why **** about doing that if you don't have to?

timber frame is old hat. you do get firms who only use timber stud because thats what they've always used. i suppose they employ the 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' mentality.eco houses etc may use timber frame as a spec.but ultimately metal stud is faster, more efficient hence why timber stud in general is outdated except in specific circumstances.

as regards door waste , there's a right way and a wrong way and to be regarded as a good fixer it has to be done properly.i see people cut corners all the time in my game and when they are out of work, i am not.and dont forget, its only waste if it cant be used elsewhere.

done properly you should never have a joint on the head as most heads are set at around 2110 where the standard board is 2.4 and above.as regards joints on the legs it can happen on corridors where there are lots of doors ,the solution is to'rail' the boards horizontally.

definately a top tip about the pad saw!

I agree metal stud is better than timber stud - but I'm afraid most of the sites around our way are timber framed - for cost, not quality or green reasons. And in these houses, there is very little studwork built in situ of any kind

I also agree that doing the right way is better, and boarding over the head will also help to ease poor studwork.

And spot on about it not being waste until there is no where for it to go

I still say though that I have very rarely seen it done like this on site, and have never seen any problems with cracking around doors


IF we have a door with one stud on LHS to give room for an architrave, then how do you stagger the joint on the other side - do you rail the boards on one side of the wall.


As it's a DIY forum , we get a lot of people doing their own skimming - and why not have a go if you fancy it !!

 

[fenny666]

i suspect your refering to flat pack housing where everything is prefabricated panels which are just fixed together on site.so i guess im wrong in suggesting timber stud is old hat- there is a use for it - cheaply built bashed up housing, but on my side of the industry - commercial, apartment blocks, schools etc. timber stud is rare.
our difference of opinion is just down to different experiences i suppose.

as regards staggering of boards - your typical wall will have studs at 600mm centres to accomodate 1200mm wide boards so you have a stud either side of board with one down the centre.on the opposite side of the wall the edge of the board should be fixed on this centred stud which gives a 600mm stagger.if the board edge where to land on the door leg on one side it cannot land on it the other side as it would be 600mm away from the leg so it would only be necessary to rail it one side.

the cracking issue is not one that would be apparent initially but one that could appear over time,long after you've left the job so you'd be none the wiser.

i agree fair play to people who want to have a go themselves.but somethings like plastering are best left to someone with alot of practice.to any one considering finishing a plasterboard wall themselves, especially if you intend having any type of lighting close to the wall which will show up every lump and bump, use tapered edge boards and just tape and joint it.its very dusty but you can achieve a very good finish.

 

[Richard C]

You should always fit the door linings first, board up to them & then skim so the plaster is flush with the face of the liner. What is this partition wall dividing? In some cases they need to be sound insulated to comply with Building Regs.

so i guess im wrong in suggesting timber stud is old hat- there is a use for it - cheaply built bashed up housing, but on my side of the industry - commercial, apartment blocks, schools etc. timber stud is rare.

You certainly are ; it’s extensively used in domestic housing & not just flat pack as you call it; but, personally, I would never buy a property internally partitioned with studwork. I can’t imagine why any DIYer would choose metal studwork when building a new partition.

use tapered edge boards and just tape and joint it. its very dusty but you can achieve a very good finish.

As for tape & fill, OK in commercial buildings & office partitioning but, IMO, it has no place in domestic housing; it’s cheap, nasty & nowhere near as durable as a plaster finish.

 

[Micilin]

No, not talking about flatpacks. Blocks of flats, houses, nursing homes. Developments with 100s of units.

Now I prefer bricks and mortar, but the trend in SE England for the past several years has been timber framed .

 

[Micilin]

No, not talking about flatpacks. Blocks of flats, houses, nursing homes. Developments with 100s of units.

Now I prefer bricks and mortar, but the trend in SE England for the past several years has been timber framed .

 

[fenny666]

like i said - different experiences - from my experience timber is rare. and further to this i am refering to timber stud partitons as opposed timber frame which cant be compared to metal stud as this is designed for partitioning and wall lining not structural.

@richard c

your clearly an advocate of timber stud - though i struggle to see why.i'd be interested to hear your arguments for timber as i cant see any.
- from a diy point of view a metal stud partition is a very simple system that any budding diyer could manage with better results than a timber stud.
for a start you'd want to achieve a straight, flat wall. how can you acieve this with timber?no piece of timber is perfectly straight and even if it were at time of installation it wouldn't stay like that forever.to emphasis this look at domestic ceilings that are boarded directly to joists that are not wallpapered just skimmed.chances are you'll see cracks,dips even the individual boards as they are moved out of position.i can see why you suggest fitting door liners first so as to even out the timber with plaster but this is totally unnecessary with metal stud as they are perfectly straight and will stay straight!
- as regards a materials point of view timber stud requires a greater mass of materials which obviously involves more manual handling and much more physical effort than when erecting metal stud which (boarding aside) is very light work
- efficiency wise there is no comparison.metal stud is much much faster.
- you could argue that a timber stud partition is stronger however metal stud gains its strength when boarded and can be built to suit any spec required.

as regards tape and jointing - what are you talking about???
- you state cheap as being a negative - odd.unless your minted and like splahing loads of cash then fair point.
- from a diy perspective achieving a really good finish is perfectly attainable with t&j where plastering is not.
- durability wise plaster is liable to chips and scratches the same as jointing compound.if you are refering to the exposed face of the plasterboard then dont forget plasterboard IS plaster all be it with a layer of paper on it. repairing damage is much the same procedure.
- to say its "nasty" - well dont know about your personal experiences but it it's never done anything to upset me.

also as regarding regs as well as sound, fire and moisture need to be took into consideration.