We moved into a 1968 house last year and we are about to start on renovation of the front room next year. the job is going to be a complete tear down as pretty much everything needs sorting....uneven floor, uneven sagging ceiling and an awful skim job on the walls! We are also planning to (Building regs approval pending) remove the fireplace and create a media wall elsewhere - so a few jobs!
The walls are quite unusual, they are thin cinder blocks built directly on the floorboards - i have seen a timber beam underneath one, but not checked all of them. the cinder blocks run to approximately top of doorframe height - at which point they become drywall, which carries on up above the ceiling. the ceiling boards stop short of the walls, and gyproc coving covers the gap. The outside walls also have plasterboard at the tops, but i can't see if the rest of the walls do - it doesn't sound like it.
The question really is the best approach to finishing the walls - as the fireplace is coming out there will need to be some remediation of the main wall in the room anyway, but i'm thinking of going back to bare brick,. then battening and boarding. I would dot and dab, but as the walls are "not all there" in some places i'm a bit loathed to do so. I'm also in a quandry what to do about finishing - trying to find a decent plasterer in our area that isn't (a) booked up for a year or (b) costs a ridiculous amount or (c) wants to do the whole job because skimming will be too small a job, is difficult. I can plaster but i'd take forever! I've heard a lot of new builds now are being drywalled then lined instead of plastering. this sounds like a quicker easier option, but obviously need to be sure the tapered board seams are good, and not sure how i'd apporoach external corners?
Has anyone else seen these sort of walls before and give any advice?
The walls are quite unusual, they are thin cinder blocks built directly on the floorboards - i have seen a timber beam underneath one, but not checked all of them. the cinder blocks run to approximately top of doorframe height - at which point they become drywall, which carries on up above the ceiling. the ceiling boards stop short of the walls, and gyproc coving covers the gap. The outside walls also have plasterboard at the tops, but i can't see if the rest of the walls do - it doesn't sound like it.
The question really is the best approach to finishing the walls - as the fireplace is coming out there will need to be some remediation of the main wall in the room anyway, but i'm thinking of going back to bare brick,. then battening and boarding. I would dot and dab, but as the walls are "not all there" in some places i'm a bit loathed to do so. I'm also in a quandry what to do about finishing - trying to find a decent plasterer in our area that isn't (a) booked up for a year or (b) costs a ridiculous amount or (c) wants to do the whole job because skimming will be too small a job, is difficult. I can plaster but i'd take forever! I've heard a lot of new builds now are being drywalled then lined instead of plastering. this sounds like a quicker easier option, but obviously need to be sure the tapered board seams are good, and not sure how i'd apporoach external corners?
Has anyone else seen these sort of walls before and give any advice?
