Internal doorway, blocking up and finishing

[scifi76]

Hi,

I'm new to these forums but hopefully some friendly people can help me out with a few questions...

I've recently become the proud owner of my first house We have some plans to do a bit of renovation and I decided I would like to try and do as much of the work myself as possible as I think it's all important life skills to learn! So a few weeks after moving into the house, I promptly started ripping the architraves off an internal doorway that I'm planning to block up, as there is another door into the room that we will be using.

I started by building a stud frame and fitting plasterboard to fill the hole, but now I have come up against a few issues / questions and I'm not quite sure how to proceed. Hopefully you guys can help me out:

• 
  - When pulling off the architraves, some plaster and underlying render (about 1 inch thick) came off the wall. What's the best way to patch this up? The local DIY store recommended ready-mix cement?
  
  - The plasterboard I've fitted is a couple of centimetres sunken in from the original render. Do I need to re-fit the plasterboard so as to make it flush, or should I put render on top of the plasterboard, or is there a better approach? I can't think how I can make the framing so that the plasterboard is perfectly flush.
  
  - The existing render and plaster has cracked at one of the top corners of the doorway up to the ceiling. There are also a couple of bits of loose render along the sides. Should I pull this off the wall and patch it up with new render and plaster? I'm a little concerned about making it worse and having to re-render the entire wall
  
  - I'm probably going to get a professional plasterer to skim the wall once I'm finished so is there anything I need to bear in mind to make his job easier? Would I be better off getting him to sort out my render problems also?

I would really appreciate anybody who finds the time to read through my post and offer any suggestions.

Cheers!

 

[stevesey]

No pro's answering, so here's my 2p worth, firstly this might help:

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=161001

As the last post - I'd go for plasterboard 3mm lower than existing finish and get a plasterer in to skim the opening (and the damaged edges etc).

As you have started - you might be able to pad out the to 3mm with a second layer of plasterboard. You said you were probably going to get someone to skim the lot at the end anyway - probably worth getting them to quote and agree what you need to do first.

 

[scifi76]

Stevesey - thanks very much for taking the time to read and answer. I managed to get some advice from a builder today and he suggested the same. Pad out the plasterboard with another layer so that its a few mm shy of the existing plaster.

As for the thick layer that came off, he said this is most likely browning or bonding and that I could patch this up prior to plastering. Only thing is I don't know what I'm looking for in the diy shop as they didn't have anything labelled browning or bonding that I could see. Suppose I should just ask

 

[stevesey]

http://www.wickes.co.uk/invt/220055

 

[Pigeon85]

Instead of buying a bag of bonding you could pack to areas out with off cuts of plasterboard

 

[scifi76]

Stevesey - thanks again! Off to wickes for me tomorrow then

Pigeon - I thought of that too but the gaps are just small enough that I think it could be a hassle trying to cut and fit odd bits of plasterboard. Worth bearing in mind though as I'm sure this won't be the last of my forays into diy plastering!

 

[Pigeon85]

Stevesey - thanks again! Off to wickes for me tomorrow then

Pigeon - I thought of that too but the gaps are just small enough that I think it could be a hassle trying to cut and fit odd bits of plasterboard. Worth bearing in mind though as I'm sure this won't be the last of my forays into diy plastering!

I see what you mean, bag of bonding won't break the bank anyway, wrap it in a black bag when finished to keep it good for a while longer as you say you might need it again