fitting celotex on a kitchen wall

[Fred]

Hi,

As you may know, I'm in the process of redecorating the kitchen and I wondered about fitting celotex to the walls. There isn't a problem with the room being cold but it seems now is the opportunity to do it. My only concern is that I will not have the space to fit 50mm celotex, I will have to fit 25mm due to the position of cupboards and windows etc. Is it worth fitting 25mm? I am hoping it will be better than nothing.

When I have fitted celotex to walls before, I have always fitted battens at 60cm centres and fit 240x60 pieces of celotex between them. I have then screwed plasterboard into the battens. I think purists would argue that the battens are a cold bridge. In other rooms, could I miss out the battens and just butt 240x120 sheets of celotex together, gluing them to the wall with grab adhesive or expanding foam, and then glue the plasterboard to the celotex?

As this is the kitchen, I am wondering how to best fix the cupboards to the walls. Would you use long screws through the plasterboard and celotex into the wall behind, which was my original plan? I am wondering whether to use 18mm plywood rather than plasterboard on top of the celotex and screw the cupboards into that. If I did this, I would use battens to screw the plywood to, contradicting what I said in paragraph 2!

TIA

[The Natural Philosopher]

On a cabinet wall use MDF instead of plasterboard.beware that it does shrink slightly, but if tiled over that should be OK.

[fred]

In article , Fred writes

Yes 25mm is worthwhile but the relative improvement depends on the construction and thickness of the wall, half brick, single brick or cavity.

Yes to gluing, uses low expansion fill&fix foam.

Use 12mm plasterboard, it's cheap, again foamed on.

Use long fixing through into the brick for the wall cabs.

[Fred]

Thanks. Why do you recommend mdf rather than plywood? I thought plywood would be more waterproof and stronger than mdf. Thanks.

[Tim Watts]

On Saturday 11 May 2013 11:12 Fred wrote in uk.d-i-y:

It will be a *lot* better than nothing - roughly equivalent to 50mm of glass wool.

That's what I'd do. It's thin enough that you can screw right through into the wall for fixing heavy things like shelves.

That will be fine.

This would probably be OK too - but I personally would go with plasterboard.

Don't need the battens - let the ply rest on the floor and screw to the wall behind the celotex. The ply will now take any reasonable load.

[The Natural Philosopher]

mdf is good enough and takes emulsion paint well just like plaster. Ply has a grain. Use ply if tiling. MDF is slightly more stable too..and cheaper. I love MDF. Just not how it looks, so it needs painting. Or veneering.

[Mike Clarke]

Or use Gyproc ThermaLine which is ready faced with Gyproc, avoiding the need for the plasterboard.

[Jim K]

? avoiding as in avoiding gluing it on yourself ?

Jim K

[Mike Clarke]

As in half the number of sheets to fix = less work.

[harry]

You can buy plasterboard with insulation pre-glued on to it for this job.

[Jim K]

echo.....

Jim K

[Fred]

Thanks, that's interesting. I didn't realise it was more stable than ply, in fact I was thinking it would be unstable in that mdf would be damaged by water. You are right about mdf having a lovely smooth surface though. I was worried what I would do to hide the surface if I used ply. I suppose using mdf saves the hassle of having to plaster, which I would have to do with plasterboard.

[Fred]

I have heard of it but never seen it. I wonder whether it works out more expensive than buying the plasterboard and celotex separately on the basis of economies of scale?

I will probably glue the two together myself. Foam would be quickest but could be messiest and I don't want it expanding and pushing the board from the wall. I wonder whether grab adhesive might be slower to apply but give a better grab and stay where it is put and be easier to clean up spills?

[harry]