Advice needed on ceiling refurb pleaSE

[beech1948]

i need to start to refurb a WC but in my case its a question of wood skills good....building skills nil.

But I am sort of handy just uncertain if my handy skills with wood will transfer.

Anyway, this loo is about 2mx1.8m. The ceiling has been stripped of polystyrene tiles ( hateful things), the glue residue has been removed and the ceiling is now rough, a bit scarred and ready to replaster. I wonder though about doing this:-

1) Should I give the ceiling a dose of PVA and water to seal it before applying mortar with my new unused hawk and plasterers trowel
2) How sloppy does the plaster need to be to skim coat the surface of the plaster board..which is at least 60 yrs old

The floor has thermoplastic tiles which seem to have been glued down with contact adhesive over polished cement. When I take them up do I need to remove all of the adhesive or would best efforts do.

Any advice would be welcome and accepted eagerly. Thanks in advance

Al

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I you've not skimmed anything before, that's not the best place to start. Is it coved? If not how about cove and artex - I'm not keen on artex, but it's a small area, and artex covers a multitude of sins and is easier.
An afterthought - yes, seal it first, otherwise the ceiling will draw the moisture from whatever finish you put on it.

 

[paulm]

I don't have a lot of first hand experience Al, although I have done some plastering now and again, but I believe that you do need to pva before plastering and then while still tacky apply the plaster. The idea is not to seal the surface but to aid adhesion of the plaster. With that in mind don't over-dilute the pva, can't recall the required ratios but the pva container will say on it.

On the flooring, when some tilers lifted the plastic tiles in our utility room to lay ceramic tiles, they sprinkled some powder of some sort on the still tacky glue residue to make it less sticky and then proceeded to spread the new tiling adhesive on top, the new bed of adhesive being relatively thick would take up any minor irregularities in the surface. So not necessary to remove all the old glue (unless very flaky or unsound I guess), but does depend on what you are replacing the tiles with ?

Cheers, Paul

 

[llangatwgnedd]

If it was me,

Located ceiling joists, plasterboad over ceiling with tapered edge boards, tape joint and fill with proper sanding filler.

For the floor, lift tiles with hot air gun, wear a mask because depending on age of tiles they might contain asbestos.

I wouldn't attempt to skim ceiling with no previous experience.

 

[cambournepete]

We were quoted £30 to have a ceiling of similar size prepared and artexed, as long as the guy was passing, so I'd be tempted to get someone in to do it.

 

[Harbo]

Yes for that sort of work, that is going to show, get a plasterer.
I had a (largish) wall skimmed for £90 last year.

Rod

 

[beech1948]

Thanks for the advice from you all.

I had two local plasterers come to give quotes that turned out to be £450 and £495 respectively. Seemed a bit excessive/greedy to me given the small area hence the thought that I would DIY it.

I dislike Artex so its a good practical idea but I don't want to go there.

I had'nt thought about using plasterboard, and as the ceiling is small and will have coving applied afterwards the edges would be nice and tidy. So I'll give that some thought. I suppose I could use Dot and Dab or just building adhesive on the back.

My workshop extension has a section of wall about 8'x10' that is bare brick so I might use that to have a practice at plastering, learn by doing with a brown plaster base coat and a skim of finish....a bit of a waste of materials but a good trial of transferable skills or not. If I bu**er it up it will be no great loss and I can always remove it.

Al

 

[Phil Pascoe]

That size ceiling would only have one join in the board - just use feathered edge board, tape the join and fill with dry lining filler - it's easy to sand flat, that's what it's made for. You don't need to skim, just paint (or pva, then paint)

 

[chippymart]

+1 for T/E plasterboard and tape and fill. Get some easi-fill from B&Q and a 10" filler knife and jobs a good un.Sands nice and easy.

 

[pip1954]

hi beech
you can plaster your ceiling pva first about fity-fifty to water when you mix plaster you don't want it to stiff or to runny stiff enough not to run of the board i bit like whipped cream when you plaster it you put one coat on roughly flatten it best you can then put a second coat over this, the first coat will go dry quite quickly the second stays workable for a little longer run the trowl over with one edge on the ceiling to flatten then get a big brush and just as it is starting to go off(set) splash water on it and keep trowling all over it until you are happy it is as flat as you can get it the water helps to revive it a little bit but it will still keep on setting till it will go hard then it will to late to do any more,
any more questions pm me
pip(ex builder)

 

[RogerS]

+1 for T/E plasterboard and tape and fill. Get some easi-fill from B&Q and a 10" filler knife and jobs a good un.Sands nice and easy.

+2

PS You don't need any bonding on plasterboard if it has been put up properly. Only the odd bit maybe in any voids around bits you've knocked out etc.

 

[wobblycogs]

Plastering a ceiling is seriously hard work unless you are used to manual labour. Your ceiling is about the same size and ours and I got a reasonable finish with no previous ceiling plastering experience (I had done a few walls though). If you want to do it yourself get a bag of plaster and a sheet of ply. Stand the ply up and plaster it. Once dry knock the paster off and repeat.

 

[Lons]

I do it all the time and always just double board with a new plasterboard. Wheather you use tapered edge depends on if you have a join or not.
I use 12mm but you could easily use 9mm which is lighter.

locate the existing joists - easy using a detector or look for signs of nails. Don't nail the new boards, instead buy some drywall screws from toolstation / screwfix etc which produces a much better job. Be carefull about length of screws just in case of electrics or plumbing. http://www.screwfix.com/c/screws-nails- ... /cat840050

If the ceiling is really old lath and plaster the screws still work as they get a decent grip through the laths. Board face will be ready to seal and paint, just fill the screw heads and edges (or put up coving) and decorate.

One tip is to buy a special bit http://www.screwfix.com/p/phillips-2-la ... of-5/75085 which correctly sets the screw into the board for filling without bursting the surface paper which weakens it.

Bob