plastering problem

[tenroom]

I have a concrete ceiling in my flat. The water mains for the block run across the ceiling of my flat (and those of my neighbours on the same floor) which is on the top (2nd) floor. There is a wooden access panel which covers the mains water pipes which run through a 30 inch wide channel cut into the concrete. I recently had the wooden panel changed as condensation on the pipes was causing water to drip onto the panel which eventually over time rotted the wood. Now the pipes have been fully re-lagged and a new wooden panel put up, I want to have the ceiling redecorated.

Thing is, a plasterer told me he couldn't plaster on wood as it wouldn't hold and that I ought to change the material used for the access panel.

Firstly, I don't know what to use and secondly, I've lived in the flat for many years and can remember the ceiling looking fine 10 years ago so the original idea to use wood couldn't have been that unsound.

A carpenter friend suggested i use something called eml to cover the wood and then get the plasterer to do is thing.

Any suggestions ?

 

[Nestor_Kelebay]

Here's the thing:

Wood is a natural material that swells and shrinks with changes in it's moisture content arising from changes in the relative humidity of the air around it (or from condensation dripping onto that wood from the pipe above).

If I wuz you, I think what I'd do is drywall screw some dimensionally stable waterproof material to that wood cover, plaster skim coat over that
dimensionally stable material, and then paint that skim coat.

For example, plasterboard is much more dimensionally stable than wood, but it's not really waterproof. A cement board (of the kind used to set tile on around a shower) would be both dimensionally stable and waterproof. In any event, the paint will peel off if the substrate gets wet, but at least the repair will be just a matter of repairing the skim coat of plaster and repainting. You won't have to replace the dimensionally stable board.

(Basically, there's enough wiggle room in the bending of the drywall screws and the crushing of the materials they're screwing together to account for any differential movement between the wood cover and the dimensionally stable material you screw to it. I think if your plasterer or painter saw a dimensionally stable material screwed to the wood cover, he wouldn't have any problems with skim coating over it with plaster.)

(Also, you can get "J molding" to finish the cut edge of any material you put up under that wood cover from any drywall supplier. The J-molding just snaps onto the edge of any 3/8, 1/2 or 5/8 inch thick material, and it comes in either metal or white vinyl.)

 

[tenroom]

Thanks for your advice. Another mate has told me to take down the wood and replace it with plasterboard as there's no way on God's green earth the pipes are going to drip condensation on it as they've been SERIOUSLY lagged and insulated. Then a plaster skim ready for painting.

Hope it works !