RachelGodfrey

Yes thanks, that's the idea. Batten the walls and reveals and fit PIR insulation tightly between then plasterboard over. Lose less room than using insulated plasterboard and this was the plasterboard can also be acoustic plasterboard which helps with noise.

Thanks, I'm using these to go into the concrete block - https://www.toolstation.com/masonry-torx-frame-fixing-screw/p16209 The steel is hollow so it might work, I'd need a metal bit for my SDS drill. I'm just using 25mm PIR insulation for the walls - the house has (unfilled) cavity walls anyway and has neighbours on two sides so it's not that cold anyway. It's only 45m2 so I don't want to lose too much space. I'm fitting it as airtight as possible between the battens and then plasterboarding over with acoustic plasterboard.

Hi all, Apologies if this post is in the wrong place. I'm battening all the inside (block) walls of my 80s house so I can insulate them and plasterboard over. There's what I think is a metal lintel over the windows and front door which I think I need to attach horizontal battens to in order to frame the windows so the plasterboard doesn't collapse. Any ideas how I can do this please?

Thanks all! Added top, bottom and middle noggins for good measure.

Hi all, I'm battening the walls of my brick and block 80s house, insulating in between and then plasterboarding over with acoustic plasterboard (heavier than the regular stuff). Have I used enough battens to support the weight? I see some people put header battens and noggins in too. I'm trying to do a thorough job but don't want to waste materials, plus the neighbours are very bothered by the sds drilling into the walls so don't want to go overboard. Most walls are 2.4m high but some areas on the stairs are up to 3.3m.

Hi all, I'm doing my first reno, an 80s brick and block house. I've more or less stripped the house as I needed to fill lots of holes in the breeze blocks caused by the original builders having used tongue and groove blocks instead of solid ones! Now I've filled them with mortar, I'm planning to batten out all walls, fill the gaps between with celotex (exterior walls) or acoustic rockwool (party walls) and then plasterboard over. The window reveal obviously has a cavity between the two skins which I want to insulate before battening. I'v tried cavity closers but they don't seem very effective as it takes ages to remove the polystyrene on the underside to the correct dimensions, seeing as the cavity is of variable width throughout. I tried using foam combined with spare bits of batten but now I'm wondering if I need to remove that as the battens might create thermal bridging? Would celotex offcuts and foam work instead? Thanks Rachel

Thanks Jay. Would making my own mortar from cement and sand be as good? I'm weighing up the cost vs benefit of either studding out all walls, putting insulation in and plasterboarding over or just the party walls for the sound insulation. I think it's probably worth removing the plasterboard and filling the holes throughout the property as it's likely to have similar issues everywhere.

Hi all, I just bought a little 80s back to back end of terrace house and for some reason there are deep holes in the breeze block underneath the existing plasterboard. A lot of the neighbours complain about hearing their neighbours so I suspect the whole street is built like this. Given the pattern, it looks like maybe the builders ordered blocks with holes at the sides and then tried to fill them in and gave up, who knows. Anyway, I've been stripping off the plasterboard and filling the holes with this mortar- is this a sensible approach? It seems to work with little holes but the ones all the way through to the party wall (like 12 inches deep) never really end so not quite sure what to do there. The house is supposed to have cavity wall insulation but I haven't actually had it checked to see if it really does. Any advice please? Thanks Rachel