New Kitchen Ceiling Needed

toffeegirl

Thank-you to everyone for their input.

We previously had a suspended ceiling. You could see that there had been various bathroom leaks (and repairs). Despite being told by several people that we could 'get away' with leaving it up, we decided that it was a false economy - so down it came.

The plasterboard suspended ceiling was hiding some delightful peach painted polystyrene tiles which were themselves stuck onto sheets of hardboard tacked to the joists. Parts of it were warped (from water leaks) - tacked securely in some places - less so or not at all in others. All manner of rubble, dust, nails screws and rubbish was sitting on the hardboard

It was a messy job - but once it was down and cleared up, I immediately felt all the better for biting the bullet. Once done, I will have the comfort of knowing what will be sitting above my beautiful new kitchen.

Will post back with an update....
(I hate it when people don't come back and say how they got on!)

Mark123_2

@madjay

I'm sure you always do a very good job and the finish you achieve is perfect. I wasn't knocking you personally in any way.

If you're talking about commercial buildings, then yes, what you say is becoming increasingly the case. Even in some new builds. However, the reason is that a commercial building developer is not so much bothered about the finish, but about the speed. They also often spray paint the boards which is fast, but the finish isn't all that good. Like you say, the joints have to be perfect.

In a domestic environment, especially when you want the best finish, then you would skim the plasterboard. As I said, this system replaced (largely) traditional wet plastering because of the inreased speed of drying out.

A little bit of information is I agree a dangerous thing, which is why I would urge everyone reading this thread in a similar position to toffeegirl (if they can be bothered! ) to do their own research on the various types of plastering available (search on browning/traditional wet plastering, skim plasterboard/dry lining) and then decide...

Also, please don't mis-quote me!

I didn't say, "spend more to get it done properly" I actually said, "spend a few pounds more and do it right". There is a difference and I was also referring to the thermal and acoustic insulation, which whilst not strictly necessary in a simple refurbishment (as opposed to a new build) is I feel a good thing to do especially when you don't often get the opportunity. It makes the living environment so much better. Sometimes cutting corners is not worth the money "saved"...

And yes, mirabelle was also correct. You could do it yourself and the props are even used by some professional plasterers, especially if they have to work alone.

Mark123_2

Good luck Toffeegirl! I'm please that you did pull it all down and didn't listen to those advocating you'd "get away" with it staying up! When it's your house it's different!

Look forward to seeing how you got on...

jason_s_2

fThe only reason they tape and join now is for speed and cost's, you can do 2-3 rooms compared to 1 if you skim it. Very true if it is tape and joint correctly then when painted you will see the same affect as if it were skimmed. HOWEVER, plaster adds strenght to the board, knock a dry linned wall/ceiling and it will mark, tear, and crumble. Skim it and the plaster coat protects the board and it's not as easily marked etc.....

toffeegirl

If I was working on the spare room, I'd be happy to try and do the plasterboard myself. However, since this is part of a complete kitchen refurb, for a first-timer I think that it would be a false economy to try and do the boards myself.

Since I have got plastering to be done anyway... I might as well get the plasterer to put up the boards they will be skimming... the onus is then on them to do a good job with no excuses for poor plasterboarding :rolleyes:

It will all be worth it in the end.

aliasojo

Just as an alternative pov.....I'm in the Scottish Highlands and the norm here has always been to just tape and fill. Plaster was never really an option. I was surprised when I first started getting interested in DIY to find so many people on the internet talking about plaster as it really isn't the usual method here.

In fact there's an interesting self build blog done by an English chap who moved up to my neck of the woods and was so surprised to see things not done as he was used to.

So I suppose there isn't really a right or a wrong, it's just different ways.