Plastering dilemma .........

[Harpo]

Hi Gents,
this coming week I'm helping out on a friend to sort out her hallway (not the back passage before YOU ask ). All the old plaster has been hacked off and the walls coated with a PVA 5:1 mix.
We are putting up plasterboard using spot and dab rather than using a base coat and a top coat for several reasons. One being that the door lintels are wood! I think the house is from the '30's. I have never seen that before. At least there is no sign of woodworm!
I was going to skim the walls after but I may be making work for myself, so I'm looking for opinions here please.
If I use the taper edges of the board touching I guess I could just tape up and sand flat.
Would this be the easiest option?
I have been confused about the corner metal/paper tape for corners. Is it the same for both internal and external?
Virtual beers all round on my account for your help!

[Spudler]

Undertake the dot n dab by all means...but get a spread in to finish, trust me, if this is new to you it will look a shower of st otherwise. For what they cost and can achive in a day is a no brainer.

[Pcot]

Agree with Spudler. Taping, and sanding is quite a professional job, and can easily look a mess if done by a DIYer.
Getting a plasterer in to skim over your board, is definetly the way to go.

[wolf1]

You'll spend more time making sure the boards are positioned perfectly so that you can fill them without there being a ridge etc. Not to mention the time filling and sanding the joints. Quicker to have the boards skimmed.

[CO2000]

I say go for it if you are pretty good at DIY.

Buy a big tub of Gyproc pre mixed joint filler & decent sanding block (rubber 3M ones are good) Oakey Green sanding paper(fine) some mesh tape & corner tape, probably £40 all in from B&Q. You could even use a wide paint scraper to apply the mix also a 1/3 sheet electric sander will be useful to sand after the 1st & 2nd stages if you have one.

Paint with waterered down emulsion after the 2nd stage to show up imperfections. Shine a 500v halogen light in from the side to see any imperfections.

It will probably take 3 or 4 stages to get it to a really decent finish but if you have the time & she is short of cash & not in a real hurry then it will be well worth it.

[davepoth]

Doing a skim over plasterboard is probably the easiest plastering to do. the trick is to get the mixture just right - too dry or too wet and it's a nightmare, just right and even I could do it.

[Harpo]

Thanks guys for the replies.
I can skim to an okay standard. It just seemed like extra work to skim over perfectly good board, except for the join. However, if joining (which I haven't tried)is not that easy then I know what to do! Cheers!

[CO2000]

Harpo said:

Thanks guys for the replies.
I can skim to an okay standard. It just seemed like extra work to skim over perfectly good board, except for the join. However, if joining (which I haven't tried)is not that easy then I know what to do! Cheers!

I think joints only is much easier than a full skim.