Plastering void chimney breast shelf

[JordanG]

Hi,


I am in the late stages of finishing a property renovation and need some advice on plastering/skim.

We have a plan for a chimney breast integrated shelf to house a sky box/dvd. With cable runs running behind the new dot and dab.


The cupboard is positioned in the old fireplace opening. I plan to screw some plasterboard accross the bottom section of the cupboard (marked with red) and skim flush to existing plaster with some jointing tape on the seams.

I have bought some stop bead to pin around the face of the opening of the shelf so I can run skim flush with the opening of the shelf giving a clean edge look.

Any ideas what I should do to fill the void around the sides and top of the cabinet? I was thinking expanding foam + EML? Will I be able to use just multi finish straight onto this? Or will it require bonding first?

Never done any plastering work before so correct me if I am talking rubbish haha

Many thanks

This is the finished look I am going for

 

[23vc]

Expanding foam or bonding coat. Then fix the stop beads

Is the cupboard flush with the existing plaster though? It looks set back from the pic

 

[JordanG]

Hi,

Thanks for your help. At this moment the cupboard is set back 3mm from current finished plasterboard. I have 25mm x 3mm deep stop bead pinned on around the opening now so stop bead is flush with existing plaster as it stands.

I may buy 57mm x 13mm stop bead as below and set cabinet further back. 25mm is giving me no room for error or much to work with lol

https://www.diy.com/departments/galvanised-steel-stop-bead-l-3m-w-57mm/35782_BQ.prd

 

[23vc]

Don’t use that, it’s for rendering
Post a pic of how you’ve got it now with the bead? Sounds like you’re on the right lines.

 

[JordanG]

Hi,

This is what I have currently

 

[23vc]

That’s unlikely to work, the skim will craze and crack where it’s in contact with the wood/ply of the cupboard, on the flat part of the bead.
I’d take beads off, fill gap between existing opening and cupboard (see my first response above), re fit the beads so they abut the cupboard but the bead is fixed to the foam/bonding not the cupboard itself. For this to work though, the cupboard front needs to be pretty much flush with the existing plastering.

 

[JordanG]

Okay thanks, I did put PVA onto the wood first before fixing the beads. I will follow your instruction. Can I use multi-finish directly onto to the foam or do I need to use bonding first?

Many thanks

 

[23vc]

You can multi straight onto foam.
With this approach though, the front edge face of your cupboard will still be showing. If that’s not what you want, then to get a completely seamless look, these things tend to be completely done using plasterboard, corner beads and skimmed, but that’s a bit more work.

 

[JordanG]

Okay thanks. Yeah I should have done this before plasterers came in. Thanks for your help though will give it a go.