plaster / plasterboard thickness

ema_o

Hello
We are just in the initial stages of doing up our bathroom. We are planning on taking the plaster (which is missing in some places and plastered straight on to brick) back to the bricks, then plasterboarding and getting it plastered by a professional.

Could anyone give me an idea of how much this is likely to add to the walls? We are going to put normal plasterboard on the internal ones and want to get insulating plasterboard for the outer walls. I could get measurements for the board but its the other stuff I'm not sure about - adhesive to the walls and plaster and anything else I don't know about!

jason_s_2

Are you going to tile your bathroom? If so why dont you use Aqua Panels? If not, then i would say use moisture block plasterboard (green front). I have done jobs where the moisture has got behind the tiles and popped them off. These boards are 12.5mm thick (normal plasterboard is 12.5mm also) i wouldnt recommend 9.5mm, to thin. For the adhesive, you want to use DRYWALL ADHESIVE, and BOARD/MULTI FINISH for the skim.

PurpleK8

hi ema,
aqua panels cost a small fortune and are seriously heavy, our plasterer told us it was an unnecessary expense in the main part of the bathroom and even if within the shower wasn't needed if tiling. Hes the best plasterer I know by far.

I'm on the last leg of fully plasterboarding my whole house myself (13 rooms plus hall etc) and I've done exactly the same as your planning - kingspanning the outer walls, plasterboarding the inner ones & ceilings and then getting a plasterer to skim. Its hard to say for definate how much you need to allow for bonding, it depents on how level your walls are, whether there are cables there etc. Also, when your kingspanning you can take bits away to allow for pipes etc so you don't need to allow for these. I've used 50mm kinspan throughout the house as all rooms are quite big with the exeption of the bathrooms and utility room as they are smaller and I didn't want to loose too much from the room.

hope that helps x:D

andrew-b

Would it not be simpler just to get the plasterer to use bonding plaster where necessary then a final skim with finishing plaster? I thought plasterboard in bathrooms is generally best avoided. The aquapanel stuff would work out far more expensive than a bag or two of bonding plaster.

Andy

ixwood

Agreed. plastering onto bricks is allowed/done. I think the plasterboard option has become popular cos it's quicker/easier to do.

ema_o

I think the idea of plasterboarding came from wanting to insulate the walls as well (we have solid brick walls so cavity isn't possible.
We did have a plasterer round to look at it and he suggested boarding the whole room (we were originally only worried about the external walls and ceiling.
Had not heard of aqua panel, I will look into it but I am put off by the fact it is heavy and expensive! We are going to tile the bathroom afterwards, sounds like I have a lot more research to do!

ixwood

I'd take anyone with a vested interest's advice with a pinch of salt. Why did he suggest boarding the whole room?

I personally think plasterboard is a bit naff and flimsy. I'd much rather have solid walls, but I don't know how effective insulated plasterboard is.

ema_o

The bit we weren't sure about was whether to plasterboard underneath on the rest of the walls or just get him to replaster what we have originally - the underneath is a mess and has a big hole back to the bricks where we removed a stud wall and doorway, so we would need his time on it anyway, we were going to put the boards up ourselves so he said we might as well do it all before we get him in to plaster the whole thing.
The boards will go over the solid walls (sorry if that is obvious!). I hadn't really understood the option of plastering straight on to the bricks so I'll have to read a bit more about it all.
Thanks everyone for your help

ixwood

That's what they used to do before plasterboard was invented. I think pros like boarding cos it's a quick, easy and clean job. That doesn't mean it's the best option.

By the way, iyou (or OH) could easily do the base plaster yourself. It's really easy (although you do need a few tools). it's the skimming (smooth finishing coat) which is the tricky/skilled bit.