Renovating our house, need some plastering advice please

Hi, I am new here and hubby and I are in the process of renovating our home. We bought a 3 bed, double brick/tile house and we are in the process of adding double brick, concrete slab, games room on, connected to the house but at the back of the house, then on the top of that we have another story about to go up, with a suspended concrete slab. This will be a 4th bed, ensuite, retreat, and that is also double brick/tile. So basically we have a big 7.5mtrs x 8mtrs 2 story box with 28 (I think 2.4mtrs) bricks internal floor to ceiling height. Down stairs has 4 walls, 3 brick piers and that is really it, upstairs obviously has walls seperating the bathroom from the bedroom, bedroom from the retreat. SO they are the stats.

So here is my ??

How hard would it be for us to plaster the walls?? Is it a 2 part process?? DO you need to use some kind of sealant on/in/before the 1st coat? What tools can you buy to make an owner builders life easier to plaster without having to call one in?? Can you buy a product that you only have to use once and get the same effect?? Can you buy a paint on thing that will give a simular effect?? How much do you think this kind of an area would cost to hire someone to do it for us?? I live in Perth West Australia..How long is it inbetween coats or painting??

The reason I asked this was because we were going to leave this for a later job, we just wanted to get the roof on sealed up so we could get the electricity connected and aircon in, and plod away at the rest, but we were informed we have to plaster before we have the electrical work done. So we are trying to find another way if we can..

Any advice you can offer is much appreciated, we are very new to this renovating game but learning alot

Also do we need to do anything to the suspended slab, as it is on 1 side our ceiling, so it obviously needs painting or something but do we need to plaster that too?? I wouldn't think so

Thanks again

A lot of question there Mahalea.

If you want a good quality finish I would plaster the underside of the suspended slab. You will have wiring etc. to cover up.

Use a Rondo 237 clip fixed to the concrete and then clip furing channel to the clip. This will give you about 30mm clearence to hide wiring etc. You can shoot the clips to the concrete or use a hammer drill and nylon anchors.

You will need to at least hang the plasterboard to allow the electrical fit off. Hang means nail the sheets on!! There is no real alternative to using plasterboard for its ease of use and quality finshed verses cost.

Go to our web site and read up on plasterboard installation, to get an idea of what your in for. Then come back and as specific questions about things you don't understand.

To answer all you are asking here would mean writing up a manual on plastering here on the forum. So find out a bit more then come back here.

Cheers Rod Dyson

Hello Mahaylea,

We (SWMBO and I) plastered our cavity brick house with plasterboard. It's a matter of taste whether you prefer hard plaster or plasterboard, but I'd say that if you choose hard plaster then you should get the pros in. It's one of those jobs where you'll only be good enough to do the house when you've gained experience from doing it.

Good luck with it.

Thannk you both for your comments..I have written them down :)

I was a lil suprised to here you say to use plasterboard sheets instead of that wet mud stuff that dries...I actually didn't realise people did this to brick walls, does it sound hollow?? Is it like gyprock??

Thanks again :)

Gyprock is a brand or type of plasterboard.

It is very common to stick plasterboard to bricks.

I never really considered if it "sounded hollow" I guess once it is stuck onto the brick if you tap the wall in between the adhesive daubs it will sound hollow. But talking or noises in the room wont make the room "sound hollow" if thats what you mean.

Cheers Rod