Ceiling help

Lally

We have bought a house which is 50+ years old and hasn't been modernised at all since then, so we have borrowed extra to re-wire, re-plumb etc

The walls and ceilings are solid but there are some cracks here and there. Husband says just to plaster in the cracks, but having stripped wallpaper off one bedroom (with about 5 rooms left to do) and being left with ceilings which need further work, it's been suggested that we re-sheet them.

So the joiner is adding to his qoute the cost of oing this. He says we won't need a plasterer as they will 'tape' them together and the ceiling will look the way one in a new house would.

Would you do this? Or would you just continue stripping wallpaper off all the ceilings and then sorting what we find?

debbie42

Could you clarify: re-sheet them with what? I had a hall replasterboarded a while back, and though they tape the joints, they still finish it with plaster afterwards.

ormus

new PB is normally skimmed with plaster.
but you can just tape the joins if you are going to artex or use a textured paint.

madjay

Plasterboard does not needed to be plastered. If done right it can be tape and you will not see a joint, it is a very common Practise. It only people watching too may do it all programmes think it has to be plastered. Most office partitions and solid cieling are tape.

rjm2k1

Make sure they use tapered edge boards if they are doing this, it's a quick easy diy method. Most peoper plasterers would use straight edge board and skim over the top.

Lally

Plasterboard, tape, no other finishing as far as I know. They know that I want it to look fresh and new so I don't want any textured paint on it.

misgrace

Lally, I dont want to be the voice of gloom and doom, but I can only tell you my opinion from a decorators point of view.

He is going to plasterboard the ceiling, and scrim the joins, but he should also use a thin coat of plaster over the scrim, or gyproc over the scrim, or even plaster the whole boards.

In one way, a good dec will probabaly make good over the scrim tape, and after its painted you wont see the join, but, and here comes the but, it wont last, as the join will open up under the scrim tape, as there is nothing to hold in place except for the tape,wheras the plaster holds it all together.

I might be wrong, but as I decorate for a living, I have come up against this in the past, and even though it can be repaired if it opens up, unless its plastered properly, it can open up, and you will keep seeing the join.

Hopefully some members who might have had this done, can tell you more.

nick.simpson19

Get a plasterer to do a job lot and skim the whole house this is what i had done in mine and the results are pure perfection!

Well worth the extra a plastrer will probally charge £1500-2000 for a three bed semi detached house. Thats just a guess.

poppyolivia

madjay wrote: »

Plasterboard does not needed to be plastered. If done right it can be tape and you will not see a joint, it is a very common Practise. It only people watching too may do it all programmes think it has to be plastered. Most office partitions and solid cieling are tape.

I had an upstairs flood and the ceiling in the kitchen got ruined and the way you described is exactly the way the guy did mine and you cannot see any tape, its perfect.

The other rooms on the other hand....thats a different story, artex central! And you can see the tape no bother through that:eek:

Lally

I reckoned for sure that we were going to need the whole house skimmed. But I keep having people telling me that we won't, that any marks on the walls can be filled in, that the3 ceilings and walls are solid and just need fixed up a bit, we just need plasterboard on the ceilings....

The previous occupant had fitted furniture EVERYWHERE. In our bedroom alone she had fitted wardrobes (obviously DIY), mirrors, shelves, drawers. All have left marks and the raw plugs are still stuck in. So I reckon that would be a lot of work to get that looking good by hand, by me. (Husband is now away again to work and won't be back for a good while)

Back to the original thing then, the ceilings. If I am going to get them skimmed do I need to strip the paper off? Or can it be done over it? It's pretty thick woodchip stuff.

I want my wee boy and I to move in asap, it's no fun being at my Mum's!

misgrace

You would need to get all the paper off first before they will skim.

As to the rawplugs, they are not a problem, you can either remove them with pliers, just grab the bit of rawplug that is sticking out and pull.
Or, you can bang them in quite gently with a hammer, till you cant feel them protuding, this will cut down on your filler, as you wont have all the actual rawplug hole to fill.

You can always line the walls, after you have done some prep,or failing that, do a fair bit of prep, fill cracks, holes, indents etc, and then paint.