Dot 'N' Dab

[The Medway Handyman]

Hi All

Is the Dot n Dab method of plasterboarding walls common in actual house construction? I've always assumed it was used primarily as a renovation technique?

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Not for newbuild,but mainly a quicker and cheaper way of hiding the brickwork in older properties rather than rendering it with backing plaster then skimming.

[sm_jamieson]

Is that true ? I thought trad wet undercoating etc was not done in new builds due to the effort and drying time. The last dot and dab I did was to cover bad brickwork however, and I put on so much PB adhesive that the wall was as solid as a rock. I know that would be a prob for insulation on an outside wall, since the air gaps around the dabs are required for insulation. Simon.

[Guy King]

The message from "The Medway Handyman" contains these words:

Loads of it round here, late 60s housing estate. Bloody nuisance it is, too. A right sod to screw things to the wall 'cos it's neither your arse nor your elbow. Best you can do is inject glue and leave it to set before drilling again and hoping. Luckily my house doesn't have it, but those up the other end of the estate all have it.

[Stuart]

As we are /were mentioning new builds can I ask what way new build internal walls are usually constructed .Are they timber frames with plasterboard cladding then taped .....I've always wondered about this .Must be a nightmare when you move in and want to hang things on the walls not knowing where the supports are exactly or if they arent't where you would like them to be ..

Stuart

[Andy Burns]

Presumably nowadays they just use balsa wood and corrugated cardboard!

[Phil L]

This plasterboard and taping technique should be banned. I once stripped wallpaper off a living room, only to find that the paper had been stuck directly to p-board.

Platerboard needs plastering (or artex if on a ceiling), everything else is just cowboy country.

[Phil L]

It's used in about 80% of newbuild around here (N-West), in fact I know plasterers who havent used a backing coat (render/bonding etc) for at least ten years in their regular job.

[.]

steel 'wall in a box' type studs with plasterboard, 12mm, 2 layers of, (if you're lucky)

if you're doing self build you can still use steel & platerboard (2 layers 12mm) with blown paper insulation fill the voids. gives excellent sound and heat insulation, very easy to do and comparatively cheap.

[Cicero]

==================== Plasterboard has two different surfaces. The grey side is for skimming and the white (or ivory) is intended for painting or papering directly without a skim. It's worth doing a small test scrape if you're stripping paper to see what's underneath.

Cic.

[The Medway Handyman]

Phil L wrote;

Interesting! Reason I asked was that I had to fix a heavy mirror to a wall in an up market flat built within the last 10 years.

When I say heavy, the b*st*rd had a solid steel frame - very techno looking.

Though my stud detector had packed up as I couldn't find a stud anywhere. Eventually found a solid area by tapping & prodding, got a solid fixing in the end. I can only assume it was dot & dab.

[Henry]

"Phil L" wrote

Our plasterer, with perhaps 30-40 years experience, who just did our new extension dot/dab/skim, now turns down most render jobs because of the physical manpower needed. He needs to call in less labour to get the job done with dot dab. He also reckons that with the new thermal regs render will become almost extinct.

Almost all the new builds around here are dot/dab/tape/fill/sand. Less mixing up to do, a lot less skill/experience needed and the walls are dry to be decorated in a few days rather than several weeks. Also services can be run down behind the boards, no chasing required. Like it or lump it dot/dab is becoming the only system around.

Henry

[Stuart]

So what are they dot 'n dabbing on to .....how are the walls constructed ..Is it brick on the outside then a timber frame with insulation between .??

Stuart

[Phil L]

No, it's a normal brick outside/block inside wall with dot & dab onto the block......occasionally they build timber framed inside - in this case the P-board is just screwed in the normal way.