Split the board lengthways, measuring to the top side of the cross member. Cut the horns out and offer the board up from underneath. Cut the bridge sections and fit them to the first PB accordingly, then offer the top piece in so it rests on top of the first, and job done. 

Bridge with 12mm ply or osb. 4x1 is too short imo as you should be able to get two rows of PB screws in the upper and lower halves to be 100% sure of no cracks. Eg ply strips 300mm wide so 2x150 wings for fixing, and two rows of PB screws lengthways per side per join ( so 4 rows of screws per finished join. 

 

14 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

Split the board lengthways, measuring to the top side of the cross member. Cut the horns out and offer the board up from underneath. Cut the bridge sections and fit them to the first PB accordingly, then offer the top piece in so it rests on top of the first, and job done. 

Bridge with 12mm ply or osb. 4x1 is too short imo as you should be able to get two rows of PB screws in the upper and lower halves to be 100% sure of no cracks. Eg ply strips 300mm wide so 2x150 wings for fixing, and two rows of PB screws lengthways per side per join ( so 4 rows of screws per finished join. 

 

 

Erm, not sure I'm following you on this one. How many bits am I cutting the board in to?? If I cut lengthways, then there is no 'top' and 'bottom' bit, just a left and right.

Ok, just squinted at the pic and your boarding vertically ( portrait ) so turn my last comment through 90 degrees and we're back in the zone 

With vaulted stuff I always board landscape so my brain was stuck in that mode ??

 

Change "lengthways" to "sideways" and see if that makes better sense

 

Thanks Nick, makes perfect sense now. So a shorter joint with some added support, rather than a long joint that lines us with the battens.

It will be easier to handle two square bits as well, rather than two long skinny ones.

 

(Confession time- I already broke one board yesterday when I thought I could balance it on my head and carry it up a stepladder. Note to self, no you cannot).

Landscape is a lot easier. But where's the fun in that 

44 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

Landscape is a lot easier. But where's the fun in that 

 

It never really occured to me to do it landscape. Don't you end up needing a lot more supports on the board joins?

Yes, but I'm often working alone so most of my thoughts are engineered towards that ( so should appeal to you  ). 

Pity your further on - we'll have a plasterboard hoist going soon,  bloody brilliant piece of kit! Can put full boards up with one person. 

Bloody hell....the plasterers are going to love you. What's the ceiling height?!?  Or is that guy actually 8 years old?

Oh, and plus one on the PB lifter. Mine is very popular with my mates and gets me lots of favours. . 

PB Lifters aren't expensive and they are fantastic - I did a fermacell ceiling single handed with one and it saved my life..!

9 hours ago, jamiehamy said:

 

 

How did you get Bono to get off his arse and do some work?

I had Bono digging my shed footings last year. He'll do anything for £30 and two pints of Guinness

 

And a potato. 

I think it's 3.5m. We did thid one by making a temp platform across with 4x2 and osb but that won't be possible once the balustrade goes on - it's about 4.8m from floor to ceiling. Hmm.. 

The top of our hall ceiling is around 6m above the floor and the plasterers did a good job of boarding and skimming that OK.  I bought a scaffold tower for that job and a few others, and sold it to the plasterers a few weeks later.  It was a lot cheaper to buy a tower and sell it for half price a few months later than it was to hire one for the time needed.

I'm going to look into the cost of getting a skim coat done, although I might be urinating contrary to the air movement on that one- I don't think it's common practise up here.

Just so I can budget for it, it wouod be interesting to hear what people have paid for this- PM if you prefer. Is a m2 price the standard,p? I'd imagine smaller rooms and vaulted ceilings (both of which I have!) would bump the cost up.

 

If it turns out not to be too expensive, that probably means I can get slightly sloppier with my plasterboarding

I don't have the labour broken out separately for skimming our place, but I know that the two guys took two 2 weeks (10 working days) to do the whole job, boarding and skimming.  Our job was a bit awkward, because of the need to work up on the platform in the hall and the whole first floor ceiling (the ceilings up there are around 3.7m high).  Labour was £3200 for the whole job, and skimming took around 5 days (10 man-days).  Filling and sanding joints would have probably taken around a day, so it's reasonable to guess that skimming added around 8 man-days of labour to the whole job.  IIRC, the total internal wall and ceiling area was around 480m², which makes the labour cost for skimming around £2.70/m².  I can't remember the cost of the plaster, but it wasn't massive.  Our skim is around 3mm thick.

8 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

I don't have the labour broken out separately for skimming our place, but I know that the two guys took two 2 weeks (10 working days) to do the whole job, boarding and skimming.  Our job was a bit awkward, because of the need to work up on the platform in the hall and the whole first floor ceiling (the ceilings up there are around 3.7m high).  Labour was £3200 for the whole job, and skimming took around 5 days (10 man-days).  Filling and sanding joints would have probably taken around a day, so it's reasonable to guess that skimming added around 8 man-days of labour to the whole job.  IIRC, the total internal wall and ceiling area was around 480m², which makes the labour cost for skimming around £2.70/m².  I can't remember the cost of the plaster, but it wasn't massive.  Our skim is around 3mm thick.

That was a cracking deal, and they must have been shifting to get that pace !

Even better that it was a quality job. 

I did have a father son duo that were just machines. Start at 07:00 and finish by 14:00 every day. Gutted I lost touch with them. ?

They were fast workers, Nick, and the two of them barely stopped all day.  They started around 08:00 and worked right through to about 16:00 each day, then cleaned up and went home.  I don't think I saw either of them stop for more than a 15 minute break.  Thinking back, the labour was a bit less for the skimming, as on the last day one of the guys couldn't work, as he'd broken his wrist playing football the evening before, so the skimming was really about 9 man days in total, perhaps around 7 man days more than filling and sanding.

I'll have to spend a bit longer doing a more accurate calculation, but I reckon I've only got about 125m2 to do. This is assuming no skim required on thr bathroom walls or inside the cupboard. It really is quite a small house

So if I can get a similar rate to Jeremy, the right side of £500. Probably worth it, but not in the budget. Will check behind the sofa.

I'm not sure how labour rates compare, as generally rates here tend to be a bit on the high side, but we paid the guys the equivalent of about £160 a day each, plus a day of labourer's time shifting boards into each room.  A fair bit of time is spent mixing batches of plaster, which is something a reasonably competent labourer should be able to do, although it needs to be done with care; our guys were very fussy about the way the plaster was mixed, and did it themselves.

That sounds about right. The guy we are using is £170 a day per man (2 man team) and £120 for their labourer. 

On 29/03/2017 at 13:40, jamiehamy said:

Just sit them flush. I was speaking to a decorator about this - he does tape and fill but says he never specs TE boards as the finish is fine without. No need for gaps - he said if there are,  just put caulk in the gaps before taping.

 

I meant to respond about boards to floor but couldn't remember why I left a gap.  Partly it makes boards easier to fit but also because I also thought if there was a spill it might be better if the boards don't touch the floor.

 

Decorator said he'll come down and give me some lessons that will save me hours and avoid having to sand everything. Will share once he's been

J 

So had our lesson tonight. No different where taper and normal edge meet - tape as normal and the first plaster skim will fill the gap and the following two will get wider each time until it's pretty much smooth. 

Thanks Jamie, just spotted this.

 

I may have a friend of a friend lined up to do the skim coat at mates rates. I'm guessing it might be a good idea for me to tape and fill first to save time though.