Russdl

Further tales along the riverbank. I've had a go with the Fermacell in a couple of cupboards and the spare bedroom with mixed results. It's taking me forever, and when it's more than just me it's taking just a little bit less than forever. I remember reading @Jeremy Harris's blog yonks ago where he mentioned planning the rooms around the standard plasterboard size to minimise waste, I didn't and more's to the point I couldn't in the first floor rooms as we have skeilings and a 2300mm room height to keep the ridge height down. That has resulted in lots of cut's and plenty of waste. I started off trying to get most of the board joints over a stud or noggin, which was a bit of a forlorn hope. I've now progressed to using off cuts behind any unsupported joint, be it vertical or horizontal, (thanks @PeterW) which seems to be the way forward, and makes good use of the offcuts. I tried using resilient bars on the ceilings and walls of the spare bedroom and was disappointed with how many of the board joints didn't end up flush despite both boards being attached to the same resilient bar and it seems the problem is the fancy Fermacell screw (which the Fermacell help line told me was what I needed to fix the Fermacell boards to the resilient bar). About the last 10mm or so of the Fermacell screw is not threaded, so by the time it's gone through the board there is next to no thread to grab the resilient bar, which I believe is the source of my uneven joints. Have I got the wrong screws? The Fermacell screws seem to countersink themselves into the board better than any other I've tried, but does any one know of an alternate screw that would be suitable, with more thread that will ease my boarding woes? Seems like I've got the only Fermacell screws where the whole shank isn't threaded! Here's hoping the filler will do its job.

I think that's a fair assessment of my problems to date, though my lack of knowledge has to share equal billing I recon. I've found some contradictions with that, all my joints are glued with the jointstick, (when you get the hang of the applicator it works very well) and horizontal joints don't need support but it looked to me as though vertical joints did and I've endeavoured to hit a stud for each vertical joint which has been, er, challenging. Thanks to @PeterW's advice I'm going to give my studs a stiff ignoring from here on in, plus I'll be using resilient bars for a fair bit of it which should make life easier. I hope.

Its doesn’t show any order. A and B are what you see as you walk in the room, either the end face of the reveals (A) or the end face of the reveals concealed by the board on the wall (B). I thought A was the way to go, fortunately @PeterW put me straight and I’m doing B. I routed a bit of the reveal last night iaw Peters's instruction and the finish seems good, the dust was immense. In places I have 5 or 10mm of overlap to route off, I think I’ll saw it off to .0001mm (roughly) before getting the router on it again. Other problems I’m having... Stud work not plumb, noggins not flush, hardly any of the studs at 400mm centres, and those that are at 400 centers are actually 400 and a bit which would be ok for 1220 board but not 1200 board which the Fermacell is. And a question for @PeterW if I may? If I get to a vertical board join with no stud behind it would it be sufficient to just have offcuts of Fermacell behind that vertical joint if neither board is more than 150mm from a stud? Or should I add a stud/cut the boards so the joint is on a stud?

Oh yes. I had a go at that ‘routing round the reveal today’! You definitely need the bare minimum overlap to rout if you don’t want to disappear in a cloud of dust, though the finish does seem to be spot on (only tried a wee bit so far). Today has been 1 step forward, 4 steps back but without that advice @PeterW I’m sure it would be 5 or 6 steps back!

@PeterW I was hoping you'd be there Peter ? And the answer is 'B' bloody glad I asked the question! I was going to plough headlong into 'A'. I've got the cheap router and probably a bearing bit (what ever that is) but how exactly do I run the router over the face? Attach a temporary batten to the face first?? I think I've just learnt about 'bearing bits'.

Happily the hinges are hidden so that won't be an issue.

Good idea, thanks for that.

Another 'window reveal using Fermacell' question. What about the internal 'outside' corners of the reveals? Another area that I can't find any guidance on. As the Fermacell should just be finished off with a bit of filler and then the FST (without any beads as far as I can tell) I'm assuming the outside corners of the reveals should be finished as in 'A' below and not as in 'B'. Have I got that right? The various colours are to hopefully make things clearer, green being the internal face of the timber frame.

That would be the plan, if I can get in there. I'm not sure how willingly the tape would let go of the window, I'll give it a try in the morning.

@Carrerahill Thanks, are your windows inwards opening as well? I suspect the Fermacell Fine Surface Treatment can be applied in much the same way as your plasterers did your reveals.

I'm having a go at this dry lining, and contrary to most advice I'm using Fermacell (all previous comments re Fermacell are spot on, I'm using 1200x1200 boards) I've been making all my mistakes in a walk-in wardrobe where they won't be easily seen and have now ventured into the spare room to see what more mistakes I can make in what will be a seldom seen room which leads to my question. We have inward opening windows. The airtight tape is fixed to the timber frame and wraps around onto the window frame by about 30mm. The gap between the internal reveal and the inward opening casement is about 50mm. It looks to me like it's going to be difficult to get into this space between the reveal and the inward opening casement on the hinge side. A bit of plywood packing first so that the Fermacell will hide the tape should do it but then how do I get the FST on to the Fermacell or, indeed, paint it, on that hinge side. Is there a simple way? Alternatively I guess I could line the reveal with timber that is finished prior to fitting? Easy to say...

I'm happy to go for it just so I don't have trickle vents. Why would you install reasonable/good/excellent glazing and then put a big hole over the top of it?

Excellent word. Now where’s my dictionary ?

Does anyone know how the Quooker softens? Is it phosphate dosing a la Jeremeys?

Are there any cables to/from that post that may be in the way of any future build or any scaffolding that would be needed to construct the new house?

For sound proofing, plus I fancied keeping plasters away. And shelves one day... I’d not considered that. I was under the impression that using the Jointstick and finishing off with the FST it would be smooth as a babies bum but I’m well aware of the weight issue. Is it really not suitable for ceilings or is it my plan to use half size boards that is the main issue? Yet again Russ, thanks for pointing out the bleeding obvious that I hadn’t spotted! The bars run perpendicular to the joists and/or studs so you’re quite right - it shouldn’t be an issue. Where would I be without you guys and gals.

Sorry to keep banging on about Fermacell boards but here I go again... Resilient Bars hang about 16mm from the ceiling and I plan on using 12.5mm Fermacell boards attached to them, that gives me 28.5mm from the board face to the joists above and the screw through the board shouldn’t touch the joists. The smallest screw Fermacell supply for ceilings/walls is 30mm which is too long for what I plan to do but they do supply a 23mm screw for their flooring system. Would that 23mm screw be suitable to attach the 12.5mm boards to resilient bars on the ceiling and walls, or will the whole lot come crashing down on me?

I'm planning on resilient bars as well which leads on to what I suspect is a very basic question. What should be done first? Ceilings or walls. The Fermacell help guy dude said 'whatever you want'. Is he right? Does anyone have any rules?

I don't quite follow you there @PeterW. Could you enlighten me on exactly what/why you used the router? What about cutouts for socket boxes? Did you router those or jigsaw or is there a better solution? I hadn't. @PeterW says he has, perhaps he can give us pro's and con's. I guess it works out cheaper and quicker, but less flexible if you cock something up. I'm about to plunge in to the board buying stage. Full boards would be ideal in theory, but in practice I could be doing this on my tod at times so '1 man boards' it will be. 1200 x 1200 seems an obvious answer, it's a straight forward 'half a board'. Any thoughts on the pro's and con's of the different size 'one man' boards, (1200 x 800, 1500 x 1000?)

@Dreadnaught Pretty much the same as @Visti expect I haven’t got a sister so the good lady had better be up for a bit of fun. The guy on the Fermacell helpline says exactly what Visti said regarding TE so basically of no use on a new build using Fermacell. Likewise I’m planning on 12.5 throughout as it’s ‘off the shelf’. 10mm would be a special order and they would only supply full pallet loads so there is the potential to end up with loads of excess 10mm boards if I got the sums wrong.

@Visti, I presume you’re referring to the highlighted 1200x800 10mm board? Unless I’ve read @Dreadnaught‘s table incorrectly your quote is way way more than 50p cheaper. It’s over £10 cheaper. I’ve had a very similar quote price from Encon for the 12.5mm board, regardless of the size of board.

In the 12.5mm they do 1200x1200, 1200x900, 1200x800

Beyond a doubt I think, but I guess the '1 man boards' can be done by, er, 1 man. The first quote I have for Fermacell is a m2 price and doesn't differentiate between board sizes.

It would seem that way. I've just spoken to Fermacell technical support (I'm going to have him on speed dial). He say's there is no need to use the Powerpanel in a domestic situation. "You can use our standard panel with our waterproofing product or anyone else's waterproofing product, there all the same" he said. He made it sound to be as straight forward as it looks, aimed at us DIY'ers. Jointstick on the factory edges, 5-7mm gap on cut edges and then filled later. FST for any painted finish. And he confirmed what we all know - it's very heavy.

Great research and detail there @Visti. I see that you've specced the Powerpanel H2O in the Fermacell table. Any specific reason for that? My understanding was that the standard Fermacell board, plus a waterproofing treatment, was suitable for domestic bathrooms/kitchens. Is the waterproofing treatment not required on the Powerpanel and therefore it works out cheaper?