Plasterboard without skim?

[a twig]

Having always fully skimmed in the past, when building my home office in the back of the garage at this place I used tapered boards and taped and filled the ceilings and walls.

With my slightly OCD tendencies I could see the difference when sun shone in through the window and light goes across the white ceiling which highlights the fact it isn’t completely flat, but frankly a year later I’m not looking at the ceiling so it’s fine

 

[paulc]

Put plasterboard up on a bedroom ceiling and skimmed it myself earlier in the year. Really wasn't that difficult to get a reasonable finish (OK, a couple of spots not perfect). The two things that helped was doing a short course with the local adult education, and a speed skim. Oh, and a small scaffold tower because I'm not that tall.
Had replaced the kitchen ceiling a few years back, and that got skimmed with a lime plaster after putting a coat of FeBond Blue Grit on...

 

[lizziecupcakes]

Put plasterboard up on a bedroom ceiling and skimmed it myself earlier in the year. Really wasn't that difficult to get a reasonable finish (OK, a couple of spots not perfect). The two things that helped was doing a short course with the local adult education, and a speed skim. Oh, and a small scaffold tower because I'm not that tall.
Had replaced the kitchen ceiling a few years back, and that got skimmed with a lime plaster after putting a coat of FeBond Blue Grit on...

Thanks @paulc . I’ll look into local adult education facilities near me. I would love to learn these skills.

We are currently bashing away at the ceiling plaster and have done nearly half of it. We are using tressels and boards to reach them. I might just get this one skimmed and then either do the plasterboard + tape in other walls and ceilings as pre other people’s comments , or give skimming a go myself.

Ideally, i’d like to do my own walls in a few years time

 

[paulc]

Thanks @paulc . I’ll look into local adult education facilities near me. I would love to learn these skills.

We are currently bashing away at the ceiling plaster and have done nearly half of it. We are using tressels and boards to reach them.

I have a couple of storm crates kicking around (purchased for a as yet to be installed soakaway). Just the right height for a short a**e like me to reach an 8ft ceiling. Still prefer the scaffold tower as that has rails to stop me stepping off the edge.

Oh, and while I think of it - Dot & dab plasterboard on an insulated solid brick wall is probably not a good idea. The dollops of adhesive will be cold spots and attract condensation. These will show up as dark spots on the wall through any paint that is applied.

 

[stuart45]

Or get yourself some drywall stilts.

 

[lizziecupcakes]

Thanks everyone! Such useful and helpful information , advice and experiences!

I was deep in thought about skimming.

I have original lime plaster walls. Can I skim them with some type of like plaster? Eg limecote or NHL?

 

[aockenden]

Cafe cur

tbh, American homes are made from paper

As an American, I can confirm this. Honestly, if your thought process is “they do it in American homes, so why not?”, you’re in serious trouble!

 

[stuart45]

As an American, I can confirm this. Honestly, if your thought process is “they do it in American homes, so why not?”, you’re in serious trouble!

I was impressed with the quality of a lot of American tradesmen when I worked over there for a few years, although it was a long time ago in my early 20's. I was also surprised how hard most people seem to work compared to here. Starting work at 7 meant you need to be up on the scaffold and laying bricks at 7, not arriving and having a cup of tea at 7.

 

[Cubist]

As an American, I can confirm this. Honestly, if your thought process is “they do it in American homes, so why not?”, you’re in serious trouble!

A rather perspicacious friend of mine, noting my puzzlement and surprise at the apparent build quality of his home, explained it as follows - "Well, what materials would you build your house out of if you could come home from work tomorrow and find the house has moved to the next county?" We were in Plano, Texas at the time which also happens to form a small part of Tornado Alley.

 

[aockenden]

A rather perspicacious friend of mine, noting my puzzlement and surprise at the apparent build quality of his home, explained it as follows - "Well, what materials would you build your house out of if you could come home from work tomorrow and find the house has moved to the next county?" We were in Plano, Texas at the time which also happens to form a small part of Tornado Alley.

Haha yeah I guess there’s that to consider…

 

[Kearn]

Thanks everyone! Such useful and helpful information , advice and experiences!

I was deep in thought about skimming.

I have original lime plaster walls. Can I skim them with some type of like plaster? Eg limecote or NHL?

Neither are good.

Why do you need to skim existing lime?
Let the original be.
Patch repair where nevessary…

 

[lizziecupcakes]

Thanks all.

We removed the plaster from the ceiling…. Finally!!! It was lime plaster to laths.

Those are the cornices we have been desperate to save.

 

[Kearn]

Thanks all.

We removed the plaster from the ceiling…. Finally!!! It was lime plaster to laths.

Those are the cornices we have been desperate to save.

View attachment 15135

Got to ask. Why are you stripping out original lime?

 

[lizziecupcakes]

It’s all cracked throughout and a lot was pulling away from the ceiling and was probably going to collapse soon over us. the parts that were boggy was the easiest to remove because it came crashing down with just one hit from the hammer

 

[lizziecupcakes]

My walls are original lime plaster and they will stay with some patch repair work. Except for a corner that had been exposed to a roof micro leak for a very long time and has turned the plaster in that corner to powder

 

[Cubist]

Coo, a few Wow's there.

One of which is due to your camera or the photos perspective rather than my eyes - I'm getting a definite Escher-esque vibe from that view. Another that so much of the lath has been saved, I would have expected much more of it to be a total loss, so well done to whomever. Please tell me though that you intend to re-plaster after installing the repair to the coving rather than installing plasterboard?

Oh, and a third Wow for the progress you guys are making.

 

[lizziecupcakes]

Coo, a few Wow's there.

One of which is due to your camera or the photos perspective rather than my eyes - I'm getting a definite Escher-esque vibe from that view. Another that so much of the lath has been saved, I would have expected much more of it to be a total loss, so well done to whomever. Please tell me though that you intend to re-plaster after installing the repair to the coving rather than installing plasterboard?

Oh, and a third Wow for the progress you guys are making.

Thanks so much @Cubist ! me and my partner did this, and the first time we ever did anything like this eek

tbh we are so slooow and I was a little anxious some of it would collapse on us because there were so many cracks that we couldn’t tell if they’d suddenly weaken and fall. Athough we protected the floor and allowed for some “bounce” if plaster fell quite hard, we were worried about the room below and causing cracks in the ceiling there. So we did it slowly.

But it’s really helped to build our confidence for other work. Cost wise, we saved £1000 (inc vat) by doing this part ourselves, the hire of tressels and boards was about £100, floor protection and dust sheets about £50.

Next: loft insulation and loft boarding!!

Regarding the laths: we really wanted to keep them - theyre in great condition , provide a bit more stability and held up the current 100mm insulation in the loft . Because the plaster was in poor condition, it was quite easy to remove in most places. So this helped to keep the laths in place. We only broke a couple, but theyre stable, due to being a bit over zealous with the hammer.

After the loft insulation we intend to repair the original cornices (they have a few cracks but very stable). We will be using plasterboard and skim with gypsum rest of it. I would love to use lime plaster to lath but we can’t afford it, so we will save the money for when we do the external walls - they will definitely be wood fibre boards with lime plaster.

The camera angle is probably a bit deceptive. The room is 4.5m x 4.5m with a rectangular bay area. This is our main bedroom.

 

[Cubist]

What is it they say - Slow and Steady wins the prize and only fools Rush In like bulls in a china shop? Something like that anyway. I'm not altogether sure that plasterboard will work all that well over the lath and theres a good chance, if the laths at all fragile, it will start to break up and come down as the Pboard is pinned though it to the joists.

Are you really sure about the cost of lime plaster being too high? Seems to me with the work you've done, and assuming the lath is in good order, the cost of Pboarding and Skim may be very similar to that for a lime base and skim. Could be worth getting another quote perhaps?

 

[Lacan07]

Unless you were intending to get those laths lime plastered there wasn't much point in leaving them there to be honest, other than the fact as you say the old lime came off very easily. You may have well just ripped it all out with the back of a hammer. I'm not sure any gypsum plasterer will enjoy over-boarding that ceiling with plasterboard.

 

[stuart45]

Unless you were intending to get those laths lime plastered there wasn't much point in leaving them there to be honest, other than the fact as you say the old lime came off very easily. You may have well just ripped it all out with the back of a hammer. I'm not sure any gypsum plasterer will enjoy over-boarding that ceiling with plasterboard.

I did a board, tape and fill joint a few years ago on all the walls of a room. The owners said that they would strip off all the plaster and have it ready for me. Luckily I saw them before I started and they told me it was all ready. When I asked them if they had used the laths for kindling they told me that they didn't realize the laths had to come off. They did remove them all and de-nail all the studs for when I got there.