Hi all, last week I had a central heating pipe burst and it fetched the living room ceiling down. Luckily I haven't moved into the house yet so the damage was minimal.

Now I had to go through the insurance and they wanted an itemized quote from a company to do all the work, so I got someone in and sent the quote off which was for £1150. I wasn't too bothered how much it was aslong as the insurance were willing to pay.

Well I got a call today from the insurance company who agreed to send me a cheque for the amount less the excess and he said it's a cash offer so I don't have to stay with the same builder and can spend the cash as I like.... this got me thinking.

I've been looking and from what I can see plasterboard is between £4 - £8 a sheet and it's only a 12ft x 12ft room. Fair enough I can't plaster over it once it's fitted but it's still going to be cheaper than £1150 isn't it?

Basically has anyone got any information for fitting the plasterboard Or links to any web sites with good information I can read up on? I mean what type of board do I need? as there is flat and tapered also I see plasterboard tape but don't really no what it's for.

Maybe it is a big job and worth paying the builder to do it but I'm trying to save for my bathroom tiling and this could really help me on my way to finnaly moving in.

Any opinions welcome and if you think it's worth me paying the builder just say so!

Chris

 

mate its a piece off piss to tack a cieling. just need to make sure all the joints are on the joists and the next layer of board overlaps the joints, you dont need as many screws in the first layer of boards as you'll pick them up on the 2nd layer. Try to screw it every 6-8" using "drywall scres" so they dont rust

 

find out what plasterboard you need,buy it,fit it,not hard,batterydrill,proper screws,fix it up yourself,then im sure you can find a plasterer to skim it for £150 cash,nice easy days work for a plasterer.the tape is just for the joints so plaster sticks

 

if you chose not to plaster it you could tape/joint it using scrim and filler then rub the joints down

 

IMO tell that builder where to go thats 1/1.5 days work tops to sort that.

If i was you i would rip down the current ceiling and have a go at reboarding it you'r self its not that hard. If you do go this route buy 6"x3" boards as there easy'r to handle than 8"x4" it may take you a day or so doing it yourself but as you say the money will come in handy for other things

Then get a plasterer in to give it a skim

 

If you are fairly handy with the tools then you will definately be able to get the job done for less than £1150.

My advice would be to cut out the ceiling where the pipe has been damaged and make the pipe good again.

I know for certian that the plasterboard for a area that size would be less than £150, I would recomend that you use 12mm board as it will help with sound deadning. You could go to the lengths of foil backed board as it will help with heat insulation - but it will cost a lot more.

I would strongly advise that you pay someone to plaster the cieling as it is an art in itself. Ceiling would rughly cost £300-350 to plaster and that will be going through a company, hopefully you may know someone 'from the pub' that may be able to do it at night for a bit cheaper?

Then decorating is up to you? paper the ceiling/piant the ceiling/ up to you but i'm sure you could do that yourself.

This should leave you with a nice bit of cash in your pocket for the bathroom!

BUT i must warn you that it is an extremely mess job when you rip a ceiling down as all of the dust, insulation and sh*t that has been between the boards will come down. I advise that you do this at a weekend when you can open as many doors and windows in the room as possible! also i would advise that you tape as many doors and openings between rooms up as possible to stop all of the dust transfering through rooms.

 

plus you will need to make 2 t shapped stands to hold plaster board on the celing while you screw them up out off 2x2" battons and two other people to give you a hand also 4 crates o beer to keep ya going lol

 

also what i did was to mark all the joists on the wall and just screw threw the old plaster board saves all the mess off ripping it all down

 

go for the water proof plaster board poss this time too? (reasonably waterproof anyhow)

 

a mate did mine along with my sisters fella, looked easy enough BUT as said, get a few of you to do it.

They were big lads but it took it out of them, they did the full ceiling 25' x 12' one day and skimmed the lot in one go the next.

As said, get a plasterer to skim it, it will be well worth it, the boarding is just graft.

 

piece of piss mate, have done exactly the same (the mrs decided to bleed the bathroom radiator, but forgot to shut the valve off )

me and a mate put the boards up in an afternoon, i used decking screws as i had some and they dont rust, plasterer skimmed it for 200 quid and pocketed a grand

 

also please note, you can get small plaster boards, much easier!

 

ive been a plasterer 4 26 year time served builders take the piss out of general public this sort of job wood take no more than a day mate cost wise 500 and that pushing it go to bq buy your 12'5 m boards 8x4 1 box gyproc screws then get a plasterer to set it 2 bags multi finish

 

Thanks alot everyone, I can't believe how helpful people are on here sometimes!

There's no ceiling left as it looked unsafe and I pulled it down to avoid injury. So I'll be putting the boards straight onto the joists that'll be ok I take it?

I can't wait for the weekend to start it now and yes I will be getting a plasterer as thats one job thats miles above my talents!

Thanks again!

Chris

 

Im a plasterer too, I put up a 12ft by 12ft ceiling this morning... by 11 oclock it was up and thats on my own with no poles or added help and set (skimmed) by 2 oclock!!
If I charged that sort of money i would be rich!!

Get the ceiling up yourself, youl need 9 boards for 12 by 12 and 2 multifinish and a role of scrim and drywall screws, materials today came to 60 quid for the lot!!

I know its a insurance job but fuck... £1150!! Im not charging enough!!

liam

 

Just had a 15" x 11" bedroom done. Boarded ceiling, plastered itand 3 walls.....really good job £180!!!!!!!!and he was done in a day. Your job sounds like £350-400 tops

 

if you was local mate me and pady bill wood do it 4 you

 

Forgot to say... I charged £220 for todays work.. and thats earning 160 cash out of it for a 2 oclock finish!!

 

dont get out of bed forthat matey

 

how dry is it? are the joists still wet? best off letting it dry as much as possible as the plaster boards can droop

 

As said above, easy enough to do.
If it's new boards, then you can do the taping and filling yourself - no need to have it skimmed.

Yes it can be a bit messy, but worst thing is that your arms get mega sore!!!!

 

go on the british gypsum website and look at the site book, tells you everything you need to kno about what product to get. if you want to do the taping and jointing yourself you will need tapered edge boards not straight edge boards. if your going to skim the whole thing, get straight edge boards.

if youve not done this before, do you kno how to make sure the boards are level? if the joists are wet i would let them dry fully before putting new boards on then check the levels.

if the existing ceiling is on the piss, its easy enough to suspend a new MF (plasterboard) ceiling underneath the joists, you will need a frame for that tho, so look at gypframe MF7, MF5 and MF9 on the site book. you dont have to use BG, many companies do the same sort of racking.

if you can get access to a laser leveler, it will save you lots of time!!

i work for a ceiling and drylining company btw

 

If you werent so far away id say id plaster it for you for £100, only 1/2 days work. and probably tack and plaster for £250 if you supplied the gear. (cash of course)

You want to use 1/2" board, make sure to over lap the joints, start in one corner and work out.

Use 42mm dry wall screws (they will be black) just watch when you put them in that they dont go too deep, want to be about 1mm from the surface.

Some dry wall boxes come with a specil screw bit, i think travis perkins normally does

To cut the board, lean it on a wall. get your tape measure to the desired length. pinch the tape at the tape measure base with one hand and run this along the wdge of the board, whilst in the other hand you have the end of the tape and the sanley knife you hold on to the metal end of the tape. this is so much quicker tham drawing lines, its what we do "in the trade" anyway. once you have scored the line hit the joint and it will snap then run the blade down the other side!

YOu may want to see if u can get another quote for someone to do the lot on a cash deal, because no offence but there is nothing worse than trying to finish off a joba nd make someelses work look good!

If u do want to do it yourself, you could use the tapered board and "joint" the celing instead of plaster.

this may be the best way if u want to do it all your self!!

tack as before with but with the 1/2" the tapered board, run your scrim (plasterers tape) over all the joints.

then mix up the jointing compound (you want to use the "easy fill" made buy gyproc in a light green and white bag) i recoke on bag will do you, its about £18-20.

simply apply witha trowel to the joints, leaving it slightly proud of the board, the next day when its dry use a palm sander to sand it flush.

then simply paint the celing!

Remember it is messy tho due to dust, but may be the better option if u want to do it all your self

nb; Only mix 1/4 of easy fill at a time as it goes of fast!!

also if ur tacking buy your self use some DEAD MEN STICKS, basically 2 bits of skirting or batton, about 1" longe than the height of the celing.
offer the board up to position, then use the dead men to wedge the board at each end buy kicking the bottoms into the floor. again its what we do in the trade. but id recomend u get a mate, may be safer

 

I have an acro prop you can borrow - postage would be a bitch though.