Dot and Dab

Basically yes.

You will need a lot more adhesive than you think you will. Mix lots.

Are you skimming afterwards? It's really a choice between skimmin or using tapered boards and filling+sanding.

Can't help you with personal experience as I, myself, am about to embark on my first 25 sheet dry wall project. So I'm interested in tips and tricks as well.

Sam

Buy lots of adhesive :-)

And then some more. Believe me, you'll use it. Also try and mark any high spots on the wall you're covering as they'll take more adhesive if you're trying for as flat a finish as possible. Extremely long spirit level will also come in useful.

Cheers Clive

Do you have any tips for dealing with external corners around windows/doorways? I'm not clear on how to butt the cut/tapered edges. We're going to do tape and fill to finish.

Sam

I am lead to believe that you need to use mechanical fixing (screws) in addition to adhesive in certain locations, as in the case of fire the boards can pop off and block your escape, can't remember where I heard this from or if this is correct, but for your own safety maybe be worth while to check out.

Jon

If you're taping + filling, it doesn't really matter how you butt them up, you're going to need a lot of filling + sanding to get a nice straight edge.

That's what I thought when I did my first one. But it's still up and perfectly true despite the wall behind being anything but. Mix lots more adhesive than they say for your first one so you can spread it around well and get the feel for the job, then back off to using less for later boards once you've got the knack.

I put the adhesive on the board and then have two people lift it up to vertical before gently pushing it onto the wall with a clean 4' spirit level to guide where to bash. But dabs on the wall suits others better.

Clean any adhesive off the front of the board before it dries - it's a lot harder to sand off than plaster.

One thing which I don't think anyone else has mentioned is that it's a right sod trying to get firm fixings for shelves, cupboards, radiators, etc. in walls done this way - unless you're lucky, and happen to drill where there's a dab.

With a bit of forward planning you can make sure that you get lucky more often - by working out where your screws will be *before* you fix the boards up, and making sure that you put a generous dab in each screw position. Even so, plan on using long screws and plugs - which go right through into the solid blockwork - for anything remotely heavy.

An excellent point. Nice one.

Sam

That's what we did in the kitchen for the wall units - a big band of adhesive all the way round.

I read some information recently somewhere, but can't now find the reference.

A DIYer asked the same question, and as I recall a professional builder gave the response that dot and dabbing is difficult to get right. The suggestion was to mount battens on the wall and then fix the plasterboard to those.

Not entirely sure of the reasoning but I have a hunch it referred to high and low spots which were difficult to deal with unless you were doing this sort of thing every day.

Apologies that I can't find a better reference, but you might like to ask the question on the following builders forum where you will get an authoritative answer from at least one person in the trade:

We are bonding to plum true new walls so I'm not too worried about that. Mind you I might feel different by the time we've finished :-) I will post my experiences when we have done.

Sam

I saw a professional do it - he got his mate to bend over with his back to the wall (shut up at the back!), and leaned the plasterboard sheet against his back. When all the adhesive blobs were in place, his mate stood up and the board made contact very quickly with the wall, so no blobs had an opportunity to fall off. Then he hammered the board with a hammer and block of wood to get it level etc

.............just one last tip. If one or two sheets do spring slightly don't panic, just push some more insulation in under the loosed edges and re seat the board.

It is not a difficult job to do. I asked a similar question some weeks back and got some excelent advice. Do a search on Google for the thread

sorry, didn't finish last message. The thread was 'Tips on fixing plasterboard'