How to fill the gap

[Rob Nicholson]

(Using a link instead of picture as not sure if newsgroup allows pictures)

I'm re-doing the bathroom over the next few weeks (months?) and this includes a builder knocking a big hole in the wall to extend the bathroom. See the plan in the attached JPEG. I'm not sure how accurate the builder can be in making the hole the right size (going to ask today) but I envisage a gap between where the stud wall and the existing brick wall. I'm assuming it's brick - 100 year old stone cottage, looks about a brick thick.

would you go about filling that gap? All the walls in the bathroom will be tiled but I'd probably like to "make it good". A piece of wood would be obvious but can you plaster/tile over that? I guess is depends how big the gap is :-) Maybe a very long thin strip of plasterboard? Even, so they'll still be a gap - mortar for the bulk of the gap with plaster on top?

Thanks, Rob.

[Peter Stockdale]

SIC >

Your jpeg has come through ok on your first post. Will this be the start of a jpeg sending craze !! I too did not know that the ng supported them. Cant help with the query - sorry.

Regards Pete Stockdale

[Tim Mitchell]

In article , Peter Stockdale writes

? it doesn't (or at least, most of the news providers don't), and anyway, he didn't send one, just a link to it on a website...

[S P O N I X]

Sponge rubber soaked in plaster and pushed into the gap and plaster over?

sPoNiX

[Toby]

Freaky. It's there on your first post but I assume that's because it just stayed on NTLs news server for us. I believe this NG does not support them & that NTL can't set up a news server properly.

Back too the question, the stud wall will have some fixings in the gap, I guess you want something to provide a surface for plastering. If you are lucky the wall will be cut flush to the stud, if not fill with tightly balled newspaper, odd bits of board, timber offcuts etc. Just raid the waste pile and stick some undercoat plaster over that.

[Christian McArdle]

I've got a similar issue coming up. However, I want to wet plaster over a similar gap. Does anyone know if low expansion expanding foam is the solution, followed by a few cm of bonding plaster?

Christian.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Leave about an inch depth for bonding plaster and it will be fine.

Yo can even use expned Al mesh instead of foam, or in fact bundled newpapers or anything similar.

Another thing I have done where I had a deep but not very wide crack, is foam to within an 1/8" of the top and then decorators caulk.

Its still soft to the touch, but it serves to make a neat paintable job.

[BigWallop]

Take the stud wall tight against the brickwork and fill the joints with Ames tape and plaster.

[Rob Nicholson]

Yes I did - first of all but it didn't appear so realised that many block binaries.

Rob.

[Rob Nicholson]

Expanding foam - that's a good idea.

Cheers, Rob.

[S Viemeister]

It is considered bad netiquette by many people, to post binaries to non-binary groups.

[Rob Nicholson]

I'm aiming to try and take the stud wall against the brickwork if possible but don't want to move the hand stud wall too far to the right otherwise the open door will overlap the basin. It all depends upon how accurately the builder is when making the hole.

Regards, Rob.

[Rob Nicholson]

I realise that hence the reason I posted again with a link instead (a lot more work on my part :-) I can understand the netiquette bit (mainly a concern for dial-up users) but the occasional 50KB JPEG isn't *that* bad. Of course, I was careful to not post a large attachment, others won't be so careful.... I always thought it would have been more useful to limit the size of individual posts.

Cheers, Rob.

[Christian McArdle]

I forgot to mention, it is in an old chimney with a capped off flue. Obviously, it is long since a fire could be lit there, but a gas range cooker (not Aga type) will be going into the hole. I've already lined the inside with Fireline plasterboard. Will expanding foam be a fire hazard at all? I would suspect (hope) not, as it is shielded by the Fireline.

--------------+ +------- ############ | | Fireline-># | |

[Lobster]

pictures)

Good move, no it doesn't! (What's a munrobasher by the way?)

bathroom.

builder can

envisage a

assuming

Your builder ought to be able to make it pretty damned close, if that's what you want, which hopefully he's told you by now; however the normal way of doing this would be to make the vertical line of the hole (ie the end of the old wall) coincide with the end of a brick in every second row of bricks, if that makes sense. Then he just has to cut the bricks in the other courses at the midpoint (far easier than having to cut the bricks in every row, which sometimes means just trimming a bit off the end [1].

(Alternatively he could use a Stihl saw to zip up the wall at exactly the point you want?)

Assuming the first option, I would then pack out the gap using timber of appropriate thickness, before the vertical stud is put in place. Presumably you'll have plasterboard on the outsides of your new stud partition; hack back a few inches of plaster where the old wall terminates, and run your plasterboard round the corner and beyond, overlapping the bricks by the few inches. The whole lot can then be skim-plastered to cover the join. Alternatively, you could use undercoating plaster to cover the timber packing, spanning the gap between the bricks and the corner.

hth David

[1] How crucial is the positioning of your new corner, anyway? Can't it just end at this point, ie to the nearest half-brick length?

[N. Thornton]

Depends how big it is. If its as big as half a brick, brick it. Less than that I'd use expanded metal lath pushed in there, and plaster onto that.

Regards, NT

[Rob Nicholson]

See

munro bagger or basher is some deranged person who has decided it would be a good idea to climb them all.

Yes I understand that.

A what?

Good idea - will have to check how deep the existing plaster is on the current wall first.

Reasonably crucial for aesthetic reasons :-) If the right hand stud wall moves right too far, the door, when open, will overlap a bit of the sink. Don't want that if at all possible.

Cheers, Rob.

[Lobster]

A Stihl saw.

Something like

but I expect you'd find one at too.

David

[Rob Nicholson]

That is a serious saw!

Cheers, Rob.