Should I put plasterboard over this?

Finbarr Murphy

Hi All,

There was a leak and it has damaged the wall as you can see in the attachment (look at top of wall).

I'm thinking of removing the wall paper and either placing plasterboard straight on top of the wall or placing batons on the wall, filling these up with insulation and placing plasterboard on top of that.

Keeping in mind that I have two right hand thumbs (ie I am not that handy) I'm looking for the easiest but best option (aren't we all!!).

Which of the plasterboard approaches would you take or would you take a different approach all together?

TIA

Right2Write

Have you fixed the leak? What sort of wall is it? Is it a stud wall i.e. hollow sounding when you tap on it? Why do you want to insert insulation? Is it interior or exterior wall.

If leak is fixed and sorted, I'd get someone in to take down the damaged plasterboard is that's what it is. They'd cut it back to nearest studs and replace. Re paper etc. or strip all and paint.

Finbarr Murphy

Right2Write wrote: »

Have you fixed the leak? What sort of wall is it? Is it a stud wall i.e. hollow sounding when you tap on it? Why do you want to insert insulation? Is it interior or exterior wall.

If leak is fixed and sorted, I'd get someone in to take down the damaged plasterboard is that's what it is. They'd cut it back to nearest studs and replace. Re paper etc. or strip all and paint.

The leak is fixed. It's a solid internal wall.

The reason why insulation is in my head is because someone I talked to about it said to put 'insulated board' over it.

Maybe I should just fill the cracks in the wall with polyfiller, sand it and paint over it?

antiskeptic

If it's a solid internal wall, then the plaster will probably be okay once it drys out. So long as the body of the plaster is firmly attached (not hollow sounding when you rap it with a knuckle), crack repair will be fine. Let the wall dry completely first before attempting a fill.

Rake out the loose bits, vee the cracks slightly by scraping along them with the corner of a paintscraper so that you can get filler into them. a couple of mm wide is plenty. Before applying filler, brush the areas getting filled with a little water to stop the filler drying out too quickly. Wait a few minutes to let the wetness absorb then apply the filler.

You can get good results with a clean paint scraper as applicator. Overfill the cracks slights and let the filler solidify a bit (not too long if it's a fast set filler). Using a wet paint scraper wipe along the crack with the scraper at a shallow angle. A light sand when dry with a flat piece of wood with sandpaper on it and you're good to go

If there are any deeper holes after raking out, fill these half full, let go hard, then do a second fill. Too much in in one go and the filler will keep sagging on you.

Finbarr Murphy

antiskeptic wrote: »

If it's a solid internal wall, then the plaster will probably be okay once it drys out. So long as the body of the plaster is firmly attached (not hollow sounding when you rap it with a knuckle), crack repair will be fine. Let the wall dry completely first before attempting a fill.

Rake out the loose bits, vee the cracks slightly by scraping along them with the corner of a paintscraper so that you can get filler into them. a couple of mm wide is plenty. Before applying filler, brush the areas getting filled with a little water to stop the filler drying out too quickly. Wait a few minutes to let the wetness absorb then apply the filler.

You can get good results with a clean paint scraper as applicator. Overfill the cracks slights and let the filler solidify a bit (not too long if it's a fast set filler). Using a wet paint scraper wipe along the crack with the scraper at a shallow angle. A light sand when dry with a flat piece of wood with sandpaper on it and you're good to go

If there are any deeper holes after raking out, fill these half full, let go hard, then do a second fill. Too much in in one go and the filler will keep sagging on you.

I'll try that. Thanks.

Finbarr Murphy

I was at the wall today thinking that if I fill the holes then I could paint over it however its a very old wall. One, I think, that is made of a mixture of clay, horse hair and whatever else was used back then. Even if I try to make the wall nice and flat by sanding I still think that it won't be as good as putting plasterboard over the top (and the thought of getting that glue/paper off the wall :rolleyes: ).

So if I were to put plasterboard on this wall could I just screw the plasterboard into the wall or do I have to put up battons?

The reason that I'm asking if because the room is small enough and I'd hate to lose any space no matter how small.

I have additional pictures attached which show more detail of the wall.

The first photo shows some wallpaper that is left on the wall. This paper is very difficult to remove and is obviously to protect the grey vertical underneath it.

The second photo shows the cracks in better detail then before.