Packing out studs to get them plumb.

If you're glueing, use wooden packers instead.

Very quick and easy to make with a compound mitre saw (buy one if you don't have one) - clamp a wooden block to the saw so it is x mm away from the blade. Place a timber touching, cut, remove your x mm wide piece, repeat


If you're using plastic packers, nail them. If you have a second fix nailer, fire away. You might also be able to use a hammer tack stapler if they aren't too thick (glazing packers?). If the packers shatter when you nail through them keep em in a bucket of hot water until you use em

By the way, if you have a circ saw or a table saw making firrings is trivial, for future.

To do it with a circ saw take a piece of ply and screw a 3x2 to it standing up 3 inches high. Screw another stud to it lying down so it's 2 inches high and set it at the angle you want the firring to be so one end is exactly the saw plate's width (from edge to blade on the wide side) away from the standing up stud and the other end. If you only screw it at this end so it can pivot you can easily vary your firrings. Screw a scrap to the edge of the ply to act as a slide stop then place a loose stud down next to the pivoting one and run your cut.

1701414686107.png


The circ saw slides on top of the blue timber, with its plate edge kept straight by the red timber. The blade thus traves along the dotted line creating the green firring from the yellow timber. Blade depth shoulf be set to depth of yellow timber to avoid ruining the ply, and cease before you cut completely through the slide stop (white)

---

With a table saw take two studs and cut a packer the length that you want the firring to be at its thickest, and place it between the two studs at the length you want the firring to be. Assemble the two studs side by side and the packer in between at one end to make a very very long triangle, set the fence appropriately (eg one studs width plus one packer's width for a "goes to 0" firring) from the blade then run the triangle straight through the saw.

1701416137356.png


Cutting a 2.4m firring that goes from 0 to 50mm. The blue slides parallel to the fence causing the yellow to be cut along the dotted line to make the green firring. It helps to screw the two ends near the blade together. If you wanted the firring to be 50mm to 0 mm over 1 metre you'd put your 50mm packer 1m away from the ends that touch. If you want the firring to go from eg 65mm to 15mm you'd set the fence so it starts cutting the tick end at 65mm wide and the thin end ends up at 15mm with a 50mm packer

If you have a lot of these to make at the same angle you can attach the first firring you make to the fence, thin end near you, and adjust the fence appropriately so every timber you slide through is cut at the same angle

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Sometimes you have to make tools :)
 
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If you're glueing, use wooden packers instead.

Very quick and easy to make with a compound mitre saw (buy one if you don't have one) - clamp a wooden block to the saw so it is x mm away from the blade. Place a timber touching, cut, remove your x mm wide piece, repeat


If you're using plastic packers, nail them. If you have a second fix nailer, fire away. You might also be able to use a hammer tack stapler if they aren't too thick (glazing packers?). If the packers shatter when you nail through them keep em in a bucket of hot water until you use em

By the way, if you have a circ saw or a table saw making firrings is trivial, for future.

To do it with a circ saw take a piece of ply and screw a 3x2 to it standing up 3 inches high. Screw another stud to it lying down so it's 2 inches high and set it at the angle you want the firring to be so one end is exactly the saw plate's width (from edge to blade on the wide side) away from the standing up stud and the other end. If you only screw it at this end so it can pivot you can easily vary your firrings. Screw a scrap to the edge of the ply to act as a slide stop then place a loose stud down next to the pivoting one and run your cut.

View attachment 323397

The circ saw slides on top of the blue timber, with its plate edge kept straight by the red timber. The blade thus traves along the dotted line creating the green firring from the yellow timber. Blade depth shoulf be set to depth of yellow timber to avoid ruining the ply, and cease before you cut completely through the slide stop (white)

---

With a table saw take two studs and cut a packer the length that you want the firring to be at its thickest, and place it between the two studs at the length you want the firring to be. Assemble the two studs side by side and the packer in between at one end to make a very very long triangle, set the fence appropriately (eg one studs width plus one packer's width for a "goes to 0" firring) from the blade then run the triangle straight through the saw.

View attachment 323399

Cutting a 2.4m firring that goes from 0 to 50mm. The blue slides parallel to the fence causing the yellow to be cut along the dotted line to make the green firring. It helps to screw the two ends near the blade together. If you wanted the firring to be 50mm to 0 mm over 1 metre you'd put your 50mm packer 1m away from the ends that touch. If you want the firring to go from eg 65mm to 15mm you'd set the fence so it starts cutting the tick end at 65mm wide and the thin end ends up at 15mm with a 50mm packer

If you have a lot of these to make at the same angle you can attach the first firring you make to the fence, thin end near you, and adjust the fence appropriately so every timber you slide through is cut at the same angle

---

Sometimes you have to make tools :)

Very comprehensive reply, and will definitely be useful for the future when I can get this kind of stuff set up beforehand.

I was using the broadfix plastic shims (the rectangular kind), so basically like glazing packers, yeah. Thickest individual packer was 5mm I think but I used a range of all thicknesses. I did try nailing some panel pins (with just a simple hammer) in after I'd slapped glue on for belt and braces, but found it did shatter around the impact point when I attempted to drive the head just slightly under the surface with a punch so that it wouldn't make a bump on the plasterboard. Didn't think of warming the plastic up to make it more malleable beforehand, that sounds like it may work. As long as they're fixed in place until the plasterboard screw goes in and permanently rams it up against the wall, really.

Sounds like foam is the way to go for filling up the voids as I'm applying it. I do have spare tins of that as well, I just figured it wasn't structurally strong enough against compression when gap filling. I'm probably overthinking it but I'm also wondering about shrinkage/cracking over time when you use the hard set adhesive method since the timbers will move with the seasons. Maybe it'll just become brittle and break off down the line?
 
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was using the broadfix plastic shims (the rectangular kind), so basically like glazing packers, yeah.
I know them. SticksLikeS**t should be able to stick em reasonably enough. The thinker ones have a flat side and a side with "pockets"- fill a pocket or two with glue and they should stay in place well
I attempted to drive the head just slightly under the surface with a punch so that it wouldn't make a bump on the plasterboard.
if you're using panel pins don't worry about that; they'll just punch a small dent in the plasterboard back, it won't show through the other side. You'd be hard pressed to get a galv clout nail to show though, actually.. But if nailing the thicker packers I'd fit them so they're pocket side out so the nail head can be driven into a pocket
 
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