Plasterboarding walls with higher ceilings

[GMM]

I have used tapered edge plasterboard in the past with pretty good results. I'm now looking at putting some onto walls that are 3m high. Clearly this means forming a horizontal joint somewhere. The tapers are on the sides but not the tops and bottoms of the boards. It seems plausible that putting a board 'sideways', such that the joint was one taper against one square edge (possibly sanded a little to ensure the edge doesn't protrude) might give a reasonable result, even though this will leave a 'square to square' joint running vertically in the wall, which will take a bit of tinkering with filler. The possible configurations, then, are:

Horizontal joint at the top of the wall (~2.4m from the floor) Horizontal joint at the bottom of the wall (~2.4m from the ceiling) or All boards upright and a 'decorative feature' (eg picture rail) 2.4m from the floor to cover the horizontal seam.

I'm sure someone must have hit this issue before and found a clever way around it. I know the alternative is to get a spread to skim it but I'm hoping to do this fairly quickly, without being able to take any time off work to wait in for a plasterer(!)

Any tips, folks?

[Martin Bonner]

Around here a plasterer will usually turn up by about 8am. Is that too late?

Otherwise, I'd try and persuade SWMBO that she wants a picture rail at

2.4m up (and then keep all the vertical joints taper-to-taper)

[andrew]

Buy taller boards!

They are available in 2.7m, 3m and 3.6m heights. You might have to go to a decent builder's merchant to get them.

A

[GMM]

I never thought of that one! I simply assumed they were 2.4m only -

3m would be ideal. Now, finding a decent BM is the next challenge! Increasingly, the good BMs are 'trade only' around here, so I might have to find a way to blag a trade card, which I've been pondering on for a while....

[sm_jamieson]

You'll be able to order them off the internet somewhere. Will be cheaper as well. Simon.

[GMM]

I hope so...unfortunately I haven't found any yet, despite all the normal googlings....

[Roger Mills]

I've had reasonable success with square edged boards - covering the joints with self-adhesive scrim tape, and then spreading ready-mixed joint filler over the tape and feathering it in. You're hard pressed to see the joints once the wall is painted. Being square edged, you can have boards at right angles to other boards without worrying.

[Paul - xxx]

Whereabouts is 'round here', area or town, someone might help out for a one-off purchase ... ;)

[fred]

Yep, done that and it works. 12" filling blade helps with a good base for feathering.

That said, if a picture rail is desired then choose the height of the join to suit that.

[GMM]

In Birmingham, which you'd think would have plenty of everything! At least on this side of town, the independents seem to have been put out of business/eaten up by the sheds and chains like Selco.

[GMM]

Well it's not so much desired as a thought I had to hide the join. If I could think of some other function (concealed lighting perhaps) then that could hide the join instead.

The 3m boards suggested by andrew earlier are the correct solution, if I can a) source them and b) get them up the stairs and into the room (8 x 4's are hard enough to manoeuvre without dinging them somewhere!). The only source I've found online was an ebay supplier who sells 30 sheets at a go. Although I'll probably make a serious dent in a pile that big by the time I finish this house, I'd rather be able to get them in smaller quantities than be storing too many.

[Weatherlawyer]

Back in the day I last did some, I used to put a couple of nail as spacers and for the heads to take the edge of the sheet I was offering up on ceilings. Then I'd just knock them in and scrim.

But heat before glass scrim. The space allowed plaster to fill in between and reinforce the plaster over the joint. I had heard some even put brown paper tape under the scrim which was a 4" roll of sack cloth.

But like I said that was then and we were men. And plaster came in REAL bags in them days.

But that said, I never met a plasterer that didn't have a bad back (especially in a recession.) I'd get small boards if I was you. There is no sense in bending your spine where it doesn't want to go just to save a tenner and a few joints.

[andrew]

Travis Perkins list them, and will sell to non-trade. Whether they have stock at your local branch is another question. I'd expect Buildbase to do them too. I think I've seen them at larger Wickes branches. They certainly have

2.7m there. A

[GMM]

Very little sense, I agree, although what I'm really trying to do is the best job, rather than save any cash.

[GMM]

Well...it seems that Travis Perkins are the people who have been taking everyone over. I did look at their web site but couldn't seem to find their product/price list. Maybe I wasn't looking properly. It's probably a matter discovering which of their branches is the right one to go to.

[<me9]

I don't know what's available in 3m boards, but I found that 900 wide boards were much easier to fit to my ceilings, and easier to manouver. The extra length may be more of a problem with narrower boards due to the flexibility paeticularly with 9.5mm thick. I hate to think how much a 3000x1200x12.5 board weighs though!

[NT]

A strip of wood 2' below ceiling with LEDs on it pointing up sounds quite doable. If you pay extra for RGB leds and some basic controls you can then dial a colour.

NT

[GMM]

Now that sounds like an excellent idea, particularly if the 3m boards don't work out. Whilst lining, it should be simple to route the wiring. Thanks.

[GMM]

So far as I can see, 3m is only available as 1.2 wide and 12.5 thick so yes, I think I'll need a tame gorilla to help get it into the room! Lugging them around will certainly be a 2 person job, although fitting shouldn't be too difficult as it's a wall not a ceiling. I won't be doing this job for a couple of weeks as we don't get the house until this weekend, but first I'll look at access for the size (maybe by sticking two sheets of hardboard together and seeing if I can get them into the room without bending) as there's no point in getting the boards in if I can't use them.

[NT]

You can make it easier by using enamelled copper on the wood strip. No gouging out grooves required. But it has its issues

NT