Plasterboard without skim?

[lizziecupcakes]

Hi all, this is a quick one I think. We are halfway removing the gypsum plaster to our main bedroom ceiling. We are doing this ourselves.

I recently saw an instagram influencer DIY person remove the plaster from her period property walls back to brick, and used dot and dab plasterboards for insulation. She didn’t bother applying any plaster on this though, not even skim. I think she taped the edges/joins of the plasterboard and added a little plaster just over that (or maybe it was some type of polyfilla over this) and then just painted it. She wrote that you don’t have to plaster plasterboard at all.

If i can find the video, I’ll post it. I’m just wondering if this is something feasible and will work? Or is it best to get a skim plaster over the plasterboard. It’s £300 for the skim anyway, which is thankfully not a problem.

 

[stuart45]

It's quite a common method. I've done a few jobs for people with tape and fill. You need taper edged boards. When finished and painted it looks the same as a skimmed wall. It's a lot easier than plastering.

 

[lizziecupcakes]

Thanks @stuart45 - Could I use this method on my bedroom ceiling? Or is it better for walls? I find the risk of cracks and repairing them really really annoying.

 

[fernicarry]

Taper edge is a lot less effort and can give a good finish provided the boards are fixed flat and level. The taper is only down the long edge of the board which is fine for 8' walls but on a ceiling you will likely still have butt joins that need a wider skim to conceal them. If you get a full skim then it will probably need sanding and filling before its smooth enough for a paint finish. 300 quid sounds more like its just the skim with the rest left to the decorators to sort out.

 

[stuart45]

Thanks @stuart45 - Could I use this method on my bedroom ceiling? Or is it better for walls? I find the risk of cracks and repairing them really really annoying.

You can use this method on the ceiling if you like.

 

[Hueym]

In my home country, New Zealand, all plasterboard (it's called 'gib' there) is fine like this.... It's rare for anyone to skim a whole wall, but rather it is "gib stopped" - taped and jointed as you intend to do....

 

[Cubist]

Coo, what some people will do to avoid that Splat Moment when a gobbet of wet plaster smacks them in the eye.

But hey, it will work and with some paint or paper whose going to know anyway so why not.

 

[stuart45]

In my home country, New Zealand, all plasterboard (it's called 'gib' there) is fine like this.... It's rare for anyone to skim a whole wall, but rather it is "gib stopped" - taped and jointed as you intend to do....

I worked with a chippie from New Zealand who told me he'd never heard of skimming plasterboard till he came over here. It's the same in the USA.

 

[CliffordPope]

From experience I would observe that painting straight on to plasterboard can work, but with extreme caution if there is any manufacturing lettering on the board. Even painting with sealant paint first, dye always shows through after a while, even after repeated overcoating. Celotex for example is claimed to be paintable directly, but that is not true - the large reference numbers always show through.

It might work with a layer of thick lining paper pasted on first, and it certainly works if you are applying wallpaper, with a liner. And of course dark paint would be fine.

 

[Craig89]

I had seen people in the USA just fill the joints and paint. If it is an acceptable method it begs the question why the boards are still skimmed in the UK? You would have thought the big developers would jump at the chance to cut some costs

 

[stuart45]

It's quite common in the UK nowadays on new builds. Time and motion experts after the war in the USA worked out that it was roughly 4 times as fast as skimming. It does depend on how good they are. Tape and fill is a 3 year apprenticeship with the union in the USA.

 

[Cubist]

it begs the question why the boards are still skimmed in the UK?

A few reasons come to mind - the power exercised by some trades unions together buildings work practices/regulation in National and Local Government - with a little couldn't give a damn we'll recover the cost from the punters business owners.

 

[DaveG]

I think the main advantage of skimming is durability reasons. The smooth and harder surface will be a little more resistant to bumps and scratches that could perforate a soft paper board.
For a ceiling though this shouldn’t be as much a factor for sure.

 

[stuart45]

A skimmed wall done done by a time served tradesman is a better finish than a high quality tape and fill job, but more expensive. The main question is whether the extra money is worth it. When I built my own extension, I used 2 coats of sand/lime/cement and a plaster skim, which to me is a better finish than dot and dab and a skim. Even with a skim, plasterboard is open to impact damage. Grand children will testify to that.

 

[Ashville87]

Hi all, this is a quick one I think. We are halfway removing the gypsum plaster to our main bedroom ceiling. We are doing this ourselves.

I recently saw an instagram influencer DIY person remove the plaster from her period property walls back to brick, and used dot and dab plasterboards for insulation. She didn’t bother applying any plaster on this though, not even skim. I think she taped the edges/joins of the plasterboard and added a little plaster just over that (or maybe it was some type of polyfilla over this) and then just painted it. She wrote that you don’t have to plaster plasterboard at all.

If i can find the video, I’ll post it. I’m just wondering if this is something feasible and will work? Or is it best to get a skim plaster over the plasterboard. It’s £300 for the skim anyway, which is thankfully not a problem.

I’d think a plasterer would be able to skim a ceiling in a day, especially for £300. Tape and fill would probably be two coats in a day then back the next day to sand it down. If you’re planning to try and tape and fill yourself the final sand is very dusty if you sand by hand, but drywall sanders with extraction are available to hire. I’ve got my own lounge ceiling to over board this weekend then tape afterwards.

 

[Craig89]

Having thought about it a bit more, like as has been mentioned, the plasterboarding would have to be good enough as a finish. I have seen some horrors in new builds, all covered by the skim coat, it hides a multitude of sins

 

[lizziecupcakes]

Cafe cur

I worked with a chippie from New Zealand who told me he'd never heard of skimming plasterboard till he came over here. It's the same in the USA.

tbh, American homes are made from paper

 

[stuart45]

I’d think a plasterer would be able to skim a ceiling in a day, especially for £300. Tape and fill would probably be two coats in a day then back the next day to sand it down. If you’re planning to try and tape and fill yourself the final sand is very dusty if you sand by hand, but drywall sanders with extraction are available to hire. I’ve got my own lounge ceiling to over board this weekend then tape afterwards.

A really good tradesman would tape, fill and sand ready for painting in less than half a day. He'd need to bed the tape in, put 3 coats on the tapered joints and screw holes, 4 on the butt joints. When it's done properly, only a small amount of sanding is required.
For a small job like this, a hot mud would be needed, which hardens up really quickly.

 

[lizziecupcakes]

Thank you everyone. I trust this forum more then IG. It is very interesting how it’s so different across the world! I had no idea.

i hope to do a loft and rear kitchen extension in the next few years (maybe within 5) and i expect the plaster skim on the ceiling will get ruined from all the banging, nailing, screwing etc.

I also hope to apply wood fibre boards and line plaster to external walls within that time, or maybe at the same time as the loft and kitchen extension. To internal walls, I am thinking about the options and seems like just plasterboard and tape will be fine, with some dusty work to sand etc.

I have taken on board the softer plasterboard texture and prone to damage (by kids snd grandkids - I have neither tbf!).

One thing I would add though is shelves, bookcases and wardrobes, maybe some will be fixed to the walls.

How do you strengthen such things into plasterboard so they don’t come crashing down onto you?

Also, today I saw that the previous owner gypsum plaster skimmed over the original lime plaster in the kitchen. I pulled the lower cabinets away from the walls and saw that there’s original lime plaster there, but above it, it’s all gypsum with off white paint. These’s a boundary line where I can see the two meet. This is on the external wall too. Sigh.

 

[stuart45]

Fixing to dot and dab walls, you go into the masonry behind. It's best to use special fixings like Corefix to avoid crushing the plasterboard.