Repairing partition wall after removing render

[PeteJ]

If anyone can recommend the best way to finish off this job that would be brilliant - I've stopped to have a think about this one as I want to avoid weakening the non load supporting partition wall I'm working on.

One wall of my bathroom is made of cinder blocks covered in a thin layer of mortar. The upper half is plastered. The lower half had 15mm of render and then tiles. The aim is to have the whole wall be painted, floor to ceiling.

I've removed the tiles and render using an SDS drill with a chisel bit. In some places the mortar underneath has also come off, and also a small amount of the cinder blocks. So I'm going to need to work out how to make good the indentations before it gets skimmed. (It's unlikely I'll do the skimming myself.)

My main concern is that the bottom of the wall is built on top of a wooden beam which isn't the full width of the cinder blocks. Part of the gap appears to be packed out with mortar. I can't tell for sure whether this mortar is supporting any of the weight of the wall onto the floorboards, but it looks like it isn't. When I drill away the render, it detaches in a block with the mortar attached, like in this photo:

Untitled

• PeteJ
• 29 Aug 2009
• 1

Perhaps I should just crack on and carefully remove the remaining render, and therefore probably the mortar, as it looks like this won't weaken the wall. Do any of you think this would be safe? Also if I were to do that, would the best way to fill the gap be with fresh mortar? Would you use wire mesh to strengthen it?

Thanks very much for any ideas on this.
-Pete

 

[Alastairreid]

dry line the lot with mr plasterboard.

 

[trowelmonkey1]

agree AR! hard to tell exactly what the story is from that pic as it's quite localised but plasterboard looks like the easy part, whether you dot n dab or fix timber to the walls and tack that i can't say

 

[PeteJ]

Thanks, that sounds like a safer way to get a good finish! Here's what the whole wall looks like (photo taken before I removed some of the render at the base:

Untitled

• PeteJ
• 30 Aug 2009
• 1

What would be the normal way to deal with the render at the bottom of the wall if I'm boarding over the whole wall? I'm thinking filling with either mortar or a piece of wood of exactly the right size would give the plasterboard just above the floor the support it needs, otherwise it will be vulnerable to feet. I can't leave the render on if I'm boarding over because that will bring the wall out too far.

For a lot of the wall the render has come off as a solid piece and left a flat mortar surface behind it. Someone suggested that I repair the areas using mortar where the old mortar has come off, and then tile over it. I'd prefer to stick with my original plan for the sake of it, but as it turns out the tiles I'm using are cheaper than expected so I suppose I could consider this. What do you think about what kind of mortar mix (or something else) would be best for this? Or should I not fancy my chances at getting this to work? The mortar is flat enough to tile onto if I can clean it up a bit.

Thanks again,
Pete