Replaster internal walls myself or leave it to the pros?

Supercell

Our house is a small bungalow with cavity block construction.
A couple of the rooms smell musty and with a small baby and all the stuff online about mould behind dry lining health risks I'm thinking of getting the house externally insulated.

Then the plan is to remove the current dry lining, clean up any mould that exists on the internal side of the external walls and then replaster.

I'm not afraid of DIY , just not that much experience as this is my first house. I think I may be able to handle removing the existing plasterboard and insulation and could possibly put up new plasterboard myself (or just plaster?), leaving skimming to do by a pro.

Does that sound realistic?
I'm not sure if there will be a gap at the edge of the ceiling and internal walls once the dry lining is removed - presumably dry lining is thicker than just plastering alone? - not sure how to handle that, all suggestions , advice welcome.

Money will be very tight as the cost of external insulation is pretty massive, but should pay back in time the way gas and oil costs are rising these days.

Should I bother with any of it if I'm getting the external insulation done - would the musty smell go in a year or so as the wall dries out?

mp22

If the walls are dry lined why not remove the old and replace with insulated plaster board job done.

Supercell

mp22 wrote: »

If the walls are dry lined why not remove the old and replace with insulated plaster board job done.

The house is about 30 years old, I've no idea yet what's behind the plaster there, would modern insulated plasterboard likely be the thickness of the existing dry lining (I only know its dry lined because the surveyor said it is on the report he made when we bought the house)?
Is skimming someone without experience could do over the boards without making it a botch job that looked like my 5 month old's face after dinner?

galwaydude18

Skimming is not a DIY job. It's a job for a pro plaster who knows what to do. It's takes a lot of skil not to leave gouges in the skim and have a smooth finish ready for painting

paddy147

Supercell wrote: »

The house is about 30 years old, I've no idea yet what's behind the plaster there, would modern insulated plasterboard likely be the thickness of the existing dry lining (I only know its dry lined because the surveyor said it is on the report he made when we bought the house)?
Is skimming someone without experience could do over the boards without making it a botch job that looked like my 5 month old's face after dinner?

Insulated plasterboard can be got in 35,50 and 80mm thicknesses.

Skimming is not for a novice.

As Galwaydude18 says...its takes skill and a very steady hand and good eye to do it propperly.

Leave it to a professional plasterer to skim the rooms.:)

Supercell

Thanks lads, any tips for a newbie putting up plasterboard?- mistakes people often make doing it the first time to be careful about?
I'm most nervous about doing around the window ledges and borders as that seems the most fiddly bit to my eye.

paddy147

Supercell wrote: »

Thanks lads, any tips for a newbie putting up plasterboard?- mistakes people often make doing it the first time to be careful about?
I'm most nervous about doing around the window ledges and borders as that seems the most fiddly bit to my eye.

Well if you are going to use 8 x 4 sheets of insulated plasterboard,then you will most likely need mushroom fixings and drill/hammer the boards into the walls with the mushrooms.




PS-Might be worthwhile to get a few quotes off of a few plaster,ers for fitting the plasterboard and also skimming too.

paddy147

What are you doing for the roof spaces?

Are they insulated at all??

Supercell

paddy147 wrote: »

What are you doing for the roof spaces?

Are they insulated at all??

I got the roof space done last winter - one foot of fiberglass up there so happy enough with that.

I might get the materials and prepare the walls and get a quote to hang the plaster and skim, thats not a bad idea - if its not a huge amount to hang it then would prefer it was done right and presumably a lot faster than i could do it.

Stove Fan

Buy the metal mushroom version not the plastic version. Metal much better.

I used a minimum 12 fixings per full board. Before you refix the skirting use expanding foam to seal any gaps between new floor etc and new wall insulation.

Trim excess foam and get it plastered and then refix the used or new skirting.

I did every wall in kingspan 50mm insulated plasterboards on our 60 year old detatched bungalow and insulated the wooden floors also as well as new upvc windows. The loft has 300mm of knauf earthwool. I would increase this.
I had a bit of an argument with the ber acessor as he was originally only going to rate it as if the walls were dry lined with just plasterboard, ie not insulated. I had to show all my receipts and even get the owner of the building suppliers to say/sign I bought x from them and they delivered the goods to my address:rolleyes:.
I lifted a floorboard to show the floor insulation and he measured the porch wall which was original wall thickness and compared at windows/doors the new wall thickness. All the insulation I had used was in my receipts:(.
He said he has to prove that what he inputs into Deap is fact if the job was ever inspected. My advice if insulating yourself take photos of the insulation fixed to the wall and the thickness by someone holding a tape measure while someone takes the picture.

It's made a big difference to warmth and increased the energy rating from a G to a D2.:D
If your walls are actually damp then fix the cause before insulating either internally or externally.

Stove Fan:)

Supercell

Thanks Stove fan,

There's no visible mould on the walls or anything but the air smells a little musty when the windows are all closed and the doors shut for a while in the living room and front bedroom both of which are on the north facing side of the house (bungalow). The house is cavity block construction and from what I've read (the infamous "Breaking the mould " series of articles on http://www.josephlittlearchitects.com/papers.html ), this is a disaster for mould with drylining - hence me wanting to take remedial action from a health and future wealth (heating costs) perspective!
I should add, I got the drains examined with CCTV too to check that there wasnt any leaks there that might be causing problems and got the all clear. Gas boiler pressure is solid so no heating leaks , there are no water pipes bar heating in the front part of the house where the musty spells are so i think that can be ruled out now too. So I'm guessing all that's left is the walls, unless there is something in the floor lurking - am going to lay a new floor in the living room , already did the bedroom and was no surprises there, both have solid concrete floors so unlikely to be a problem there.

Stove Fan

Hi sounds like you have ruled out lots of things that cause dampness:D Rainwater downpipes/faulty gutters are another good source of dampness and unsealed door frame/window opening. It may just be that the rooms need to be ventilated more:).

If you are thinking of DIY'ing your own insulation this quide is handy. I used the mechanical fix 5 but as you have hollow cavity blocks might be best to use dot and dab and some mushrooms.
I got a plasterer to skim every wall in the house as well as 2 new ceilings.

http://www.xtratherm.com/wp-content/themes/xtra/dry-lining/Dry%20Lining%20Guide%20IRL.pdf

Stove Fan:)

Supercell

Thanks again Stove Fan.

I wonder if I would be better using non insulated plasterboard if I am going down the road of externally insulating? Am afraid I'll just be recreating a dewpoint at the interior cavity block surface and thus moisture and mould again?

Stove Fan

Supercell wrote: »

Thanks again Stove Fan.

I wonder if I would be better using non insulated plasterboard if I am going down the road of externally insulating? Am afraid I'll just be recreating a dewpoint at the interior cavity block surface and thus moisture and mould again?

If you can afford the extra for the external insulation I would do that. Especially if your exterior render is in need of work.

A house down the road had EWI and now the outside looks like new:) The other good thing with EWI is that it covers the whole building minimising any cold bridging that would happen with internal walls/stud walls that join to external walls.

Might be worthwhile sending a private message to BryanF. He knows lots about insulation:)

We haven't had any moisture problems with the internal insulation.

Stove Fan:)

Spread

If you use the metal mushrooms on cavity blocks there is a possibility that you'll cold-bridge and get circles of condensation on the skimcoat at the heads. This happened to me in my bathroom a few years ago.