Can I sheet and skim a lowered tongue & groove ceiling?

[doogyscoot]

Hi all, first post for me here,
want to have our bathroom refurbed and unfortunately everything has been clad with tongue & groove including the lowered ceiling. There is nothing between the T&G and the lowered ceiling frame. It feels pretty robustly constructed so should it be ok to sheet over the T&G as long as the screws go right through to the frame underneath? I've had a few people look at it and say it should be fine but one tradesmen has said the ceiling may not support the weight of the plaster and start to sag... Any thoughts?
Thanks.

Also anyone have a rough Idea of how much it would cost to have a 4m x 1.8m room which is 2.8m high sheeted and skimmed if I take the existing cladding and boards back to the masonry?, one door and one bay window to work round... just an idea. Ta

 

[joe-90]

T&G is a good insulator so leave it up. I'd say price would be about £350 - £400.

 

[1john]

hard to say if it is strong enough without actually seeing it, could you cut a section out for inspection? to blindly screw plasterboards to anything without checking properly that it can support the weight, especially a ceiling is just crazy, what if the lot came down on someone, a little kid ain't gonna stand a chance.

Make sure your tradesmen have public liability insurance!!

 

[doogyscoot]

Thanks gents. From what I can see it appears to be made up with a frame of 3x2 spaced about 40cm apart (popped out a light fitting to get a cursory look), when up on a ladder there is very little give when pushing the ceiling. I think I might just have to bite the bullet and get on with pulling the T&G off the walls to see how the plaster looks underneath
Thanks!

 

[Micilin]

You should be able to find the first and second joist with a drill, and just measure and find the rest of them. You can mark them with a chalk line then if it makes it easier. You'll know if the screws 'bite' into a joist , or if they are just zipping thru the T&G by the 'feel' of it as you screw.

Cutting a hole out some where to let you see what you are dealing with is a good idea . You should not have to pull the lot down unless investigation tells you that there is a problem of somekind up there

 

[troweladdict]

id be thinking of the waight up there and the waight of 12.5mm plasterboard and 2 coats of plaster up there on the joists with the T&G
yor can use 9.5mm board but is it in the kitchen then use fire board m8te cover your a**e m8te screw the boards 6ins centers and if its 8ft/4ft you will need a dead mans prop or a m8te too help out
skrim the joints and 2coats of PVA then its 2 coats of board finish sorted

 

[Micilin]

Good advice, but you won't need PVA onto plasterboard whether pink or white

 

[Micilin]

...

 

[roughcaster]

...

That's what i was thinking too Micilin.

 

[troweladdict]

i allwase pva over board helps with key and seting times if your as fat as me and need all the time you can get as a rule of thumb i pva the lot

 

[NickB_99]

skrim the joints and 2coats of PVA then its 2 coats of board finish sorted

I'm curious....general Q to all....
if you put 2 coats PVA (I was assuming diluted with water as usual)
I was wondering, is there a danger it could damage the paper coating on the p/board and maybe it could start to come away?
Or is the paper well bonded to the plaster sandwich and this is not likely?

 

[Micilin]

skrim the joints and 2coats of PVA then its 2 coats of board finish sorted

I'm curious....general Q to all....
if you put 2 coats PVA (I was assuming diluted with water as usual)
I was wondering, is there a danger it could damage the paper coating on the p/board and maybe it could start to come away?
Or is the paper well bonded to the plaster sandwich and this is not likely?

There is no danger with two coats of PVa . There is a certain amount of water in finish anyway, and part of the bonding process of plaster to board is the paper soaking in the wet finish.

If you have to skim old boards, or some sound block boards that suck like mad, it makes sense to use PVA. I think BG want you to use Bond it on moisture boards, but I may be wrong. I've personally never seen finish come off moisture boards, but I am open to correction on that one.

 

[stevethespreader]

i allwase pva over board helps with key and seting times if your as fat as me and need all the time you can get as a rule of thumb i pva the lot

your wasting your time doing that addict, i only pva boards when there shot to peices, also on this ops t&g bathroom i would take the lot down make good and skim, it wont take 20mins to take the lot off, i cant see any spread if it was his own home overboarding t&g, it will be a much better job going back to undercoat and skim, my own bathroom ceiling was t&g i took it down and skimmed it

 

[troweladdict]

pvaing boards work for me

 

[doogyscoot]

Interesting reading, I might have a look at doing it myself and just getting it skimmed. How close together do the spars on the lowered ceiling frame need to be to allow plasterboard to go up securely without starting to flex?
I find the idea of leaving T&G on for the extra insulation quite appealing though as we are ground floor in a tennement... What timber width and thickness is ideal for this?

Also, If anyone can help me out with another query along similar lines...
I have plans to put in a concealed Cistern and frame for a wall hung toilet then sheet it. I'm asssuming tile backer board would be ideal for this job? Or should I build a timber frame around the frame itself and fit sheeting to this?

Finally, I will be building a bulkhead on the opposite wall to fit a wall hung basin to, it will be app 85cm high, 60cm wide and 20cm deep and obviously need to support the weight of the basin. Should 2x3 be ok for this with some extra noggins to reinforce the fixing area of the basin. I'd expect to screw this to the wall and floor. Would it be appropriate to build the box frame seperately then fit it to the wall afterwards?

Sorry... maybe I should just post this as a seperate query...

Thanks again.