Hello, this is my first post. But I've been lurking and searching for some time. Just bought a flat and it needs some DIY-loving. I've never tried to do most of the things I want to do, so you'll probably see several panicky posts in the next few weeks.
Anyway, to start off, how should I repair the plasterboard wall that I destroyed trying to knock tiles of it? The board is fixed to fairly lightweight galvanised studs, and the cavity is insulated with some sort of loose fibre.
I intend to:
cut out the damaged section(s) by cutting vertically between studs. What should I use to make these cuts? A jig saw?
screw replacement sheets to studs. Presumably I will have to drill through the board into the stud, and then screw into this. So what size and type of drill bit and screws do need? And can I use this same type of screw (inot the metal studs) to hold kitchen wall cabinets up?
There is some wiring between the studs which of course I have isolated by removing the breaker. I will probably take the opportunity to relocated some of this.
This is in the kitchen of a flat built, I think, late 1980s. I'll same my questions about slate tiling for another thread :)
You might not need to repair it at all. What finish do you want on it finally? How damaged is it? Just the surface pitted, or are the sheets fractured through?
Sheets are fractured through in places. The damage varies according to whether the paper on the outside of the board stayed in place or whether the tiles took the paper with them when they went. Where the paper is torn the plaster board underneath is totally soft and crumbly, which makes me think that the damage is probably pretty bad even where the paper is intact.
Get a foam gun for about =A320 and fill the hole with foam. About a cartridge or less should be ample -though a picture will be more illuminating. Then replace the tiles or PVA the wall and plaster (or whatever) over it.
You can cut the damaged areas into a square hole with a jigsaw. Cut a piece of plasterboard square slightly bigger than the hole. Tie a string to the middle of the repair board. push it through the hole (it will fit across the diagonal). Pull the string back to position the plasterboard fully behind the hole. Secure the string to something to hold it in place. Plaster the recess you have made with filler or repair plaster and smooth the surface off level with the surrounding board. Cut the string off close to the repair when dry.
You could do. You may need to space it off from the wall to avoid the blade digging into the plasterboard on the other side.
If you are only removing a section, then you will need to cut to the side of the stud rather than attempting to cut down the middle of it.
Then obtain an additional length of stud and screw it to the existing one from the side, making sure that the front face, when a piece of board is laid on top of it, is perfectly flush with the existing remaining wall.
There are a few decisions to make and tricks that can be done to make later stages easier, largely based on how you are going to finish the wall.
- One option is to get a plasterer in to skim the board after it has been fitted. This is generally quite inexpensive. It *can* be a DIY job but takes most people a lot of practice - hence may not be worth it unless you are going to do a lot or are a diehard. You can paint, paper or tile this as you like.
- Another is to tile again. For this, you can just cover the joints with some jointing tape and do a quick skim over them with some jointing compound and a wide filling knife (or not bother).
- If you are going to paint or paper, then you can do jointing of the boards with paper or glass fibre tape and then cover it with jointing compound. Generally it takes three goes with successively wider jointing knives, feathering the edges. This is a lot easier to do than it sounds and you can easily sand the surface to complete the job.
You can save work by orienting the boards suitably. For example, let's say you plan to tile to a certain height and then paint or paper above. Typically a wall height is around the length of a sheet of plasterboard, or a bit less. If the tiling is a bit above half way up the wall, you can have the sheet horizontal instead of vertical and then the joint to the next sheet will be under the tiles.
You can buy various kinds of drywall screws. The most common ones are for wooden studs, but you can get them for metal as well - they have sharp points to cut into the stud directly. The screws have a bugle shaped head especially designed for attaching plasterboard.
The recommendation (in my drywall book) is to put the fixings in at
400mm apart, certainly not greater than that.
Some screws are supplied on plastic bands for use in a collated screwdriver. These are used in the trade and you can rent them, although they are more common in the U.S. than in the UK. Unless you are doing a large area or several rooms, these aren't worth it - a cordless screwdriver will work very well.
The idea is to drive the screws in such that the flat heads are just below the surface, but not crushing the board. You then cover them with a quick skim of compound.
Not really. They are a bit too small and too short. I would get some longer self tap screws.
Better still, since the plasterboard is off on the other side, you would get better fixings by attaching some wooden noggins horizontally between the studs and screw through the plasterboard into those.
Two things here. Cables should only be run vertically or horizontally from sockets and switches, never diagonally. You can run them in a space 150mm wide from the corner of a wall or horizontally in a space 150mm down from the top of a wall. You must not use the space
150mm up from the floor.
Where passing cables through metal studs, grommets should be used to protect the cable.
Duncan If you do exactly as Andy suggests then you will have a good job. I would use fibre joint tape as opposed to paper tape. The only other difference I would do is to use a hole saw to cut the plasterboard (only costs a few pound and bought from plumbers merchant, electrical merchant, builders merchant etc), This is a small hand saw designed for cutting plasterboard and will not cause the same dust as using a jog saw... you also dont have the concern about a fast moving blade catching the other side of the stud.
If you go to a good decorators merchant then you can bulk buy powder jointing plaster (known by various names) for about the same price that a small amount of polyfiller would cost. It can be used for any filling/repair jobs in the future.
Good luck Calum Sabey NewArk Traditional Kitchens 01556 690544
If a large proportion of the wall is in need of attention, then the simplest repair might be to acquire some 9mm taper edge plasterboard, and some longish (say 40mm) dry lining screws and just board over the lot, screwing through the exiting board into the studs. You can then make good with some scrim tape, and plaster board joint filler. Once the filler is sanded you will have a perfect painting surface. As a DIY job this does not require any particularly hard to master skills.
If going this route, then dry wall saw is good for plunging into plasterboard and cutting bits out:
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2. screw replacement sheets to studs. Presumably I will have to drill
There is no need to drill plasterboard as such - you can push just about anything through it!
Thanks for this advice. I fitted new plasterboard quite easily and, as you suggested, easily tapped the drywall screws directly into the metal studs without having to drill pilot holes. I haven't "made good" yet, but I'm pleased with the results so far. Thanks very much!
If you get yourself a wide taping knife (like a 8" wide filling knife) and the proper joint filler, it is quite easy to do. Fill the joints (over rather than under fill just a little), and leave it to go off. Then stick a coarse ish paper (say 80 grit) in an orbital sander and finish the joints. You can do a final pass with a finer paper if you find any lines in the filler.
It's worth getting a couple of taping knives - one about 150mm the other around 250mm. Then it's easier to feather out to the edges, because effectively you finely layer the filler.
I've tended to use a hand sander rather than the rotary one - it's a bit like the rectangular orbital sanders but with a handle on the top instead. I bought a roll of 120 grit paper for use with it. The sanding still goes pretty fast and there's less risk of snagging the surface paper of the plasterboard.
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