Timber frame and Plastering

[DonGillies]

Hello all,

 

I have my Architect saying that I should not be plastering my timberframe kit as it’s likely to crack due to the movement in the timber.

 

has anyone got any experience with this? I’m not really wanting to tape and joint. I have a young family and know that it’s easy to damage the walls that have not had a skim of plaster on them. 

 

 

[Ian]

We've had no problems with cracking in the plasterboarded & skimmed walls in our timber frame bungalow. It's now 2 years old.

I think part of the reason why we haven't had any issues is that the timber frame was erected and made weather tight in a 2 week period in the summer when it was dry & sunny so the frame didn't get wet.

[recoveringbuilder]

Ours has all been plastered and it was also erected and made watertight during the lovely summer last year, it’s now been plastered for around 5 months and we are getting the inevitable cracks here and there, nothing major but I certainly wouldn’t have gone for tape and join which we had in our first house,it’s such a pita years down the line when you’ve wallpapered and go to change it and you inadvertently take the backing off the plasterboard, we ended up having to plaster numerous walls after this happened.

[lizzie]

We plastered in the horrible ‘summer’ of 2017. The rain was non stop for weeks then.  I think the frame was still wet when we plaster boarded and we had leaks from all the windows.  Plastering still went ahead.   We have some cracks now 18 months on but I am told this is inevitable with a timber frame as they do shrink and move and about 2 years to settle.  Our cracks are not horrendous and I’m going to wait a few months before doing any repair work hopefully it will have settled then.

 

I would not tape and joint that is low end finsh and you will end up skimming down the line.  The German kit houses do not skim their plasterboard they use a special sort of ‘paper’ so no cracks. Its pricy but comparable with a plasterer I think.  I looked at using it but talked to several decorators who were not keen.  Got details buried soemewhere if anyone wants them.

[Pete]

I know a guy near me who built a timber frame house and sort of went down the cheap route by buying a timber frame with no exterior membrane on until he fitted it. The wood got completely soaked at times and when he moved into the house it cracked all over the place.

[nod]

5 hours ago, DonGillies said:

Hello all,

 

I have my Architect saying that I should not be plastering my timberframe kit as it’s likely to crack due to the movement in the timber.

 

has anyone got any experience with this? I’m not really wanting to tape and joint. I have a young family and know that it’s easy to damage the walls that have not had a skim of plaster on them. 

 

 

I plaster blocks of timber frame student accommodation each year

Weather you tape and joint or plaster you will always get far more cracking than traditional built houses Timber swells and drys 

 

[Dreadnaught]

4 hours ago, lizzie said:

The German kit houses do not skim their plasterboard they use a special sort of ‘paper’ so no cracks. Its pricy but comparable with a plasterer I think.

 

Interesting. Not heard of that. Anyone got a link to a product?

[lizzie]

6 minutes ago, Dreadnaught said:

 

Interesting. Not heard of that. Anyone got a link to a product?

The V22 comfort is what we were considering.  You need to hire the specialist machine too.

 

https://www.systexx.com/en/products/downloads.html

[Dreadnaught]

2 minutes ago, lizzie said:

The V22 comfort is what we were considering.  You need to hire the specialist machine too.

 

 

Ah, its glass-fibre material, "textile glass". Intriguing. I wonder, does anyone know of anyone who has used in the UK?

 

https://www.systexx.com/en/products/systexx-premium.html

 

 

[PeterW]

46 minutes ago, nod said:

I plaster blocks of timber frame student accommodation each year

Weather you tape and joint or plaster you will always get far more cracking than traditional built houses Timber swells and drys 

 

 

Agree with this - last job has a single crack and the only reason for that was an unsupported joint in a bathroom that has now been reinforced from behind. All other walls and ceilings have been fine, this is a block built with boards bonded to the blockwork with DryFix foam

[Big Jimbo]

The guys i know who do the fancy polished plaster use this underneath to stop cracks showing up on the expensive finished work.

[lizzie]

23 minutes ago, Dreadnaught said:

 

Ah, its glass-fibre material, "textile glass". Intriguing. I wonder, does anyone know of anyone who has used in the UK?

 

https://www.systexx.com/en/products/systexx-premium.html

 

 

Hanse Haus uk builds all have it. Dont know any self builds sorry.

[JanetE]

6 hours ago, Ian said:

We've had no problems with cracking in the plasterboarded & skimmed walls in our timber frame bungalow. It's now 2 years old.

I think part of the reason why we haven't had any issues is that the timber frame was erected and made weather tight in a 2 week period in the summer when it was dry & sunny so the frame didn't get wet.

Exactly the same for us, we were weathertight the day MBC finished our build. Absolutely no cracking of the plasterboard anywhere in the house.  We boarded and plastered about six months after the frame went up.  I suspect that if your frame does get wet is just a matter of waiting long enough for it to dry out before plastering.