Do you "really" need to skim Plasterboard?

[idontknowwhatiamdoing]

I am planning to do a lot of studwork this year with fresh Gyproc sheets.

Since I am in a remote location, its been hard to get a Plasterer to commit to a few weeks to skim the rooms.

Is there any alternatives I can employ to get some nice paintable walls?

Any suggestions, or tricks welcome.

[ProDave]

Use tapered edge plasterboard and just tape and fill the joints (and screw holes)  Known up here as "Ames taping"

[JohnMo]

13 minutes ago, ProDave said:

Use tapered edge plasterboard and just tape and fill the joints (and screw holes)  Known up here as "Ames taping"

Same with us, pretty much the standard in Scotland.  You need to use tapered edge plasterboard, not square cut.

Edited February 2, 2022 by JohnMo
More context

[nod]

If you tape a full house yourself 

It wont look good when painted 

It is a skill in itself 

Plus you need quite a bit of equipment also 

Your going to be looking at it for a long while 

[CotswoldDoItUpper]

5 minutes ago, nod said:

If you tape a full house yourself 

It wont look good when painted 

It is a skill in itself 

Plus you need quite a bit of equipment also 

Your going to be looking at it for a long while 

But if you’re struggling then why not do it yourself and then if in a year or two you really don’t like the finish you could find a plasterer to skim then when there isn’t a crazy shortage of trades.

[TonyT]

Plaster for me.

unless your day job is Ames taping?

[nod]

Just now, CotswoldDoItUpper said:

But if you’re struggling then why not do it yourself and then if in a year or two you really don’t like the finish you could find a plasterer to skim then when there isn’t a crazy shortage of 

1 minute ago, CotswoldDoItUpper said:

But if you’re struggling then why not do it yourself and then if in a year or two you really don’t like the finish you could find a plasterer to skim then when there isn’t a crazy shortage of trades.

Iva along with plasters I’ve two tapers work for me full time 

Ive seen some shocking jobs by guys who have all the gear but no idea 

It doesn’t skim over well either 

I would leave it boarded till a plasterer comes available 

[idontknowwhatiamdoing]

Thanks, just discovered this Ames taping. Looks promising

As @CotswoldDoItUpper said, its like hens teeth trying to find tradesmen at the moment...

[Marvin]

Hi @idontknowwhatiamdoing

 

Far from Aberdeen? I don't know them but it's an example.

 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://amestaping.weebly.com/&ved=2ahUKEwjxwdWa7uH1AhWklFwKHWvWAQ4QFnoECC4QAQ&usg=AOvVaw1Rilynb5hoTwqsQWu0QApx

 

Search for Ames taping contractors.

 

Good luck

 

M

Edited February 2, 2022 by Marvin

[MikeSharp01]

12 hours ago, idontknowwhatiamdoing said:

Thanks, just discovered this Ames taping. Looks promising

We did our garden room this way and it looks good, to be fair we had a pro help us out with the base advice, and some training on applying the skim which was:

1. Make sure the boards are dead flat, if you cannot achieve dead flat then you will need a plaster finish. We spent hours with packers and a long straight edge to bring out the frame (We were lucky that in our build up the service void is battened out from the airtight layer)
2. Support all the joints so you need to frame each board so they cannot move relative to one another but while keeping faith with 1 above.
3. Practice hard and lots, pulling up the fill.
4. Get a a good set of tools and professional sanding machine with extractor. We did that and the cost was about a grand including the FESTOOL extractor (Second hand) and sander.

When we get to the house I will be thinking hard as one wall is a clear 10m run of what I want to be a flat wall I do no want to see ripples in that as I dimly recall the great Jeremy Harris telling us how much he hated seeing the ripples in his dry lined wall when the sun shone across it at some times of day.

[scottishjohn]

better make sure you get your stud work right 

EG make sure all studs are straight --that will be your first mission as CLS is notorious for not being straight these days or bowed in its length -go to bulders merchants and pick some up and look down its length 

If you want straight then use gyproc steel studding  for stud walls 

[SimonD]

I've done a little test in my house to compare the two on a complete novice DIY basis. At first, I thought tape & joint would be fairly easy and how wrong I was. From only doing a small amount, I prefer skim, but that may be because I've had some practise using pretty much the same tools when rendering. There also seem to be many more UK youtube videos on plastering, which helps. My secret weapons for skim finish are the Carta 101 plasterers trowel and two Refina Plaziflex sputala rules, one long and one short. Sponging can also be helpful as a beginner. You also don't have to do so much sanding, which is just so boring..and takes a long time.

 

My plastering is by no means perfect, but it doesn't have the same regular irregularities as drywall so I find it looks much better overall.

[Nickfromwales]

When the sun / lighting shines down a wall, you will see every joint and junction. Taper edged boards are only tapered along the lengths and not the width, so any time you want to use off-cuts you're then stuck with applying tape to surface and then filling atop that too, results are that the line then stands proud of the finished surface of the boards which you are hoping to just paint. To lose these 'bumps' a good 4-6" all around needs to be feathered out with Easyfill / Toupret and the whole area sanded flat to try and hide / blend it in. Try it, and you'll soon wait for a plasterer to become available.

My advice is, get it plastered, or accept a poor finish and loads of repetitive heavy elbow-work to get it looking poor.

 

[SuperPav]

As an alternative, if you have the time/inclination, why not have a go at skimming it yourself? (FYI I can't plaster or skim to save my life so only wish I could do that!)

 

£300 on a local college evening/weekend course for a couple of weeks, and then do a small room/cupboard/area you can hide  

 

If you take your time to get the boards straight and flat, it'll make life much easier whether you skim or tape and joint. While I prefer skim (and if I'm paying someone will always spec it), I've been in lots of houses (esp in USA) which are tape and fill and can't say it bothered me. Maybe they were just done very well?

[scottishjohn]

In the states and other places you can get 16ft long plasterboard -so they put it on sideways - and quite often just stick it --so no screw holes to fill

[Susie]

The house I’m currently in has been taped probably 20 years ago. I’ve been here 5 yrs. slowly getting round to redecorating which consists of delicately resticking  the tape down in parts, you can also see the edge of the tape on lots of internal corners. On my new build I will get a plasterer.