Ok to overboard existing damaged plaster on solid wall?

[indus]

Hi

It's a mid terrace Victorian property where the plaster on all the walls is in poor condition, too poor to skim over.

As it's a small mid terrace most of the walls are brick underneath (ie two party walls, front, back etc).

With these solid walls rather than hacking all the plaster off, rendering and then skimming is there any reason I can't just put new plasterboard over the top?

I realise the issue with skirting and architraves but this all needs to be ripped out and replaced anyway.

Many thanks for your help.

 

[stevethespreader]

Show us some pics of the walls

 

[indus]

Hi Steve

To make sure the pics are relevant could you please tell me what you are looking for?

Thanks for your help

 

[indus]

Anybody got any thoughts on this?

 

[Lower]

What are you going to attach the board too?

If the existing plaster is in such poor condition that you can't skim it you're not going to be able to bond the new plasterboard to it either. You would at minimum have to hack away sufficient patches of the old plaster down to bare brick to give the plasterboard adhesive something solid to attach to.

In which case you'll probably find that all the old plaster comes away at the same time and you may as well hack it back to bare brick.

 

[indus]

What are you going to attach the board too?

If the existing plaster is in such poor condition that you can't skim it you're not going to be able to bond the new plasterboard to it either. You would at minimum have to hack away sufficient patches of the old plaster down to bare brick to give the plasterboard adhesive something solid to attach to.

In which case you'll probably find that all the old plaster comes away at the same time and you may as well hack it back to bare brick.

Thanks for replying.

Can't you screw the new boards into the brickwork?

 

[Lower]

Small areas maybe, but not the whole room.

Boards are generally only screwed in when you can screw them into wood, a steel frame or similar. You need to use a lot of screws to get decent support and that doesn't really work if you're having to drill and rawl plug them into brick, hence why dot and dab exists.

Secondly, if the plaster behind isn't solidly attached to the wall then its just going to detach itself and potentially push the plasterboard off the wall.

 

[stevethespreader]

Hi Steve

To make sure the pics are relevant could you please tell me what you are looking for?

Thanks for your help

pics help a lot just show some pics of walls, so we can give advice your asking people to give advice blind

 

[indus]

Thanks. I'll try and get some pics up tomorrow.

 

[roughcaster]

If it was me, i'd fix 2"x 1" battens to the affected walls, then screw on some 8'x 4", 12.5mm foil backed plasterboard. That way, you'll have the best job possible. I wouldn't dream of trying to screw the plasterboard to the solid wall itself, and dot and dab onto loose plaster would be a disaster. Batten and plasterboard is the ultimate in your case. You might have to adjust/change the depth of the odd electrical socket here and there, but you'll have 2 brand new walls. You said you were going to change skirtings etc anyway, so that wont be a problem, and also, the amount of room you'll loose by battening/plasterboarding will be minimal. Once the walls are boarded, you can either tape the joints etc, or have it skimmed.

 

[indus]

If it was me, i'd fix 2"x 1" battens to the affected walls, then screw on some 8'x 4", 12.5mm foil backed plasterboard. That way, you'll have the best job possible. I wouldn't dream of trying to screw the plasterboard to the solid wall itself, and dot and dab onto loose plaster would be a disaster. Batten and plasterboard is the ultimate in your case. You might have to adjust/change the depth of the odd electrical socket here and there, but you'll have 2 brand new walls. You said you were going to change skirtings etc anyway, so that wont be a problem, and also, the amount of room you'll loose by battening/plasterboarding will be minimal. Once the walls are boarded, you can either tape the joints etc, or have it skimmed.

Hi

I've probably misunderstood you but if I use 2x1 battens and then 8x4 timber won't you lose 5'' from each wall?

Thanks for helping

 

[roughcaster]

I didn't explain that very well. Fix/plug and screw 2"x1" battens to the wall/s. Once the battens have been fixed, screw on some 8'x4' sheets of 12.5mm foil backed plasterboard to the battens you fixed earlier. You will only lose around one and a half inches from each of the walls.