Boarding with plasterboard but without skimming - joints?

andre_xs

Dear All,

for a hobby room, I'll just put up some plasterboard. However, I'm horrible with skimming / plastering, and it's not worth paying someone. Thus, I was wondering what are the best ways to 'hide' the joints where the boards meet?

A while ago I saw kind of PVC strips which kind of slip over both sides (a bit similar to what you can get to join carpets), but I can't find that anymore…

Or would crack tape work?

Will be painted in the end (just directly on the plasterboard).

Hehaw2025

Perhaps some ames taping and sanding?

stuart45

Tape and fill would be the easiest. You need taper edged boards.

WIAWSNB

All sorts of suitable trims are available. Eg: https://amzn.eu/d/04vhojlq

Or, use taper-edge plasterboard, and tape and fill the joints. It's also possible to scrim tape and fill over straight-edge boards, and to then apply a thin layer of filler over the tape, going a few inches beyond each side, and sanding the result down to 'feather' it in, but this will be a lot of work, and results can be variable.

If you don't mind the visible trim, then your own idea is absolutely fine. One possible issue is how to screw the p'board edges down, as screw heads will look nasty on the trims. So perhaps fix the boards, and then glue 'T'-profile trim over them instead? You could even use self-adhesive trim such as https://www.amazon.co.uk/Self-Adhesive-Architrave-Masking-TMW-Profiles/dp/B09GKTL5X3?

andre_xs

Thanks a lot for the links, that was exactly what I was looking for. But didn't find it - can be hard sometimes if you don't know the right search terms 😊

I already have the plasterboard, it's standard 9mm boards, without tapered edges (and as I said anyway, I'm horrible at plastering / filling / skimming - even filling a small drill hole is a challenge for me 😂).

I'll just experiment, since it is just a hobby room, it doesn't need to be perfect.

Bigphil1474

Could you not just paper over it all with lining paper then paint

droopsnoot

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82074823#Comment_82074823

I've never tried it, but on the face of it it sounds easy to convert standard boards to taper edge boards with the careful use of a sander. Messy, I'd expect.

stuart45

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82074841#Comment_82074841

It's not really effective. You'd take the paper off, which is needed for the screws. When the screw goes below the paper it doesn't hold the boards properly. As WIAWSNB said you can still tape and fill square edged boards by taking the filler out further. They worked out the distance required years ago in the USA. For high class work in critical lighting, the most difficult colours, and people with good vision looking from all angles, the filler needed to spread out over 12 inches each side of the joint for a hump not to be detected. On normal jobs it's aa lot less than that, usually 6inches each side is more then enough.

WIAWSNB

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82074841#Comment_82074841

Messy indeed, and it would destroy the paper layer which would seriously weaken the p'board. You'd notice this the moment you screw/nail the 'unpapered' p'board to the studs - it'll crumble.

Andre, I presume you have timber studs that you will be screwing the p'board to? Most studwork timber is around 45mm wide, so the p'board screws will run down each board only around 15mm from their edges. So you'll need to go for a solution that will allow the p'board to first be secured, and can then be fitted over the screw heads, like the self-adhesive strip. The soffit joint trim will not work as it'll need slipping on before the screws are secured, but this will cover where the screws need to go!

Anyhoo, there are trims out there.

stuart45

I've seen timber battens used to cover the joints.

ButterCheese

If you want a nice looking hobby room then I would use filler/tape/filler to fill the gaps, then sand, then lining paper (if you can wallpaper properly). If not then prime and paint. Badly done lining paper will look worse than bare plasterboard.

Someone suggested battens over the gaps - not a bad idea if you want the "cladded" look, and would also give you some nice easy fixing points for shelves or hooks. You could even sand the battens and use something like Briwax (light oak) to make them a feature.