# how to insert wood shelf and fill wall



## damunk (21 Jul 2019)

I want to get rid of the arc in the room.
Do I slot a wooden shelf beem then fill?


----------



## Mike Jordan (22 Jul 2019)

A decent job would be timber studding Witt plaster board and skim. Failing that a pelmet above would cover the arch if it's a window.


----------



## HappyHacker (22 Jul 2019)

How has the existing arch been constructed? Is it brick/block-work or has it been made of stud work and plaster board? You may need to drill a few small holes or stick a small sharp screwdriver in to see what is behind. If it is studs then you can pull the plaster off and take out the woodwork and square it off. If brick as Mike has suggested.


----------



## Woody2Shoes (22 Jul 2019)

+1 for poking a screwdriver into it to understand how it's made. It's quite likely to be made with an EML arch former e.g. https://build.lsd.co.uk/building/arch-formers from galvanized steel mesh.

How you make good - horizontally - will depend on the structural element behind the plasterwork. It's almost certainly a beam of wood, steel, or steel-reinforced concrete (latter most likely). There are well-understood ways to prepare these for plastering using timber grounds, plasterboard (usually 25mm (2X12.5mm) of pink plasterboard to give fire protection) and possibly EML (expanded metal lath) where dissimilar materials meet. Here are some pictures of the sort of thing: https://www.plasterersforum.com/threads ... ams.64520/

Cheers, W2S


----------



## damunk (22 Jul 2019)

Right, 
I am planning the following;

4 pieaces of timber
3 double sided screws for the top three struts
5 long screws
Lots of GLUE!!!!
10mm plasterboard


please see picture:


----------



## Bm101 (22 Jul 2019)

Everyone is telling you the same thing, you need to see the construction behind the existing arch to understand how to go forward. It's going to be filled at the least, skimmed at best. 
There's no point putting 'double sided screws' for the top struts if you are drilling into a scrap of plasterboard that is making up the curve. There is no strength. It might hold. Might not. 
You _could_ do it properly
I'd take the bottom of the arch off. Stop faffing about and trying to do half a job. It's plasterboard and pine timber framing not fine furniture making. 

Now you know what you are dealing with.
Square it off with timber and battens but now you are punching screws in to other timber so it's strong and durable. Not plasterboard and void. Now you don't need _magical double ended gravity screws_, and you sleep well at night. :wink: 
When it's square, board out the little arch and fill. Toupret is the best fine filler I have ever used. Sorry polyfilla ya loser  . But for this I'd buy a Gyproc bagged product. I'd also have a think about buying a fine plastering bead for the top. Tack the thinnest one on you can find and if you have a square trowel you should make a decent job of it by the second try to allow for shrinkage of the first coat. Have some sandpaper to hand. And more filler. 

There is less work doing it like this than trying to bodge it. My honest opinion at least in the state it is in now, needing decoration and stuff anyway.
If it was my house I know what I would do. 
I'd do it properly.
Stop thinking how you can get away with it.
No disrespect meant. 
Cheers
Chris


----------



## Woody2Shoes (23 Jul 2019)

damunk":w9nmu6ds said:


> Right,
> I am planning the following;
> 
> 4 pieaces of timber
> ...



Sorry, but the chances of that working properly are zero! Forgive me for saying this, but you appear not to know just how much you don't know (and don't seem receptive to sensible advice). Therefore, I'd strongly recommend getting a decent plasterer in (who will understand how the existing is constructed and how to make it look the way you want).


----------



## damunk (23 Jul 2019)

woody2shoes. thanks but your wrong in about me getting someone in to do it at a cost.
how i roll is like this. i have an idea and i share it and when folks tell me im wrong and generally they advise me how to do it and then i go about it and follow correct advice and my projects end up success. ive always had this approach, im doing trial and error in thinking , but not actually following up every idea thats comes in my mind.

you have not got a clue of what ive achieved in life. look after your self. thanks.


----------



## Bm101 (23 Jul 2019)

Damunk. You asked for advice fella. You were given sound advice, some of these people are builders, cabinetmakers, joiners, plasterers. Well respected guys.
Woody is a good guy, trying to help you like we all were. You were asked advice and it was offered freely and without cost. 
You're right we have no idea what you have achieved because we never heard of you and what you are suggesting is so far out of normal practice we all knew you didn't have a clue but we all tried to be nice anyway...
Have some basic manners and respect for the people who spent their time trying to help you. It's just common courtesy. 
Or just gluegun your house and maybe get some glitter guns to cover the cracks. I'll look out for you on the youtube yeh?


----------



## Benchwayze (26 Aug 2019)

Damunk

I have owned a home since the nineteen-sixties'. I have indulged in DIY, but only when I could manage what I bit off. When I didn't know how to go on, I employed someone who did. (Such as for electrical work.) If it meant waiting a bit; I convinced the Missus to wait too.

I cultivated knowledgeable friends over the years, not to get a cheap job, but to ensure I could trust the people to do the job properly. It's always worked for me and I've not often had troubles. Of course being a woodworker helps. You can always do something for others, which is the cement of friendships, and the way you scratch each others' backs! 
You have to learn how to read people too of course!

HTH

John (hammer)


----------

