Which order to renovate a room?

[DanTheMan]

Our bedroom is currently back to brick and floorboards and I want to make sure I do things in the right order.

So far, first fix electrics and plumbing is done.

The plan is:

- Overboard floorboards with 12mm ply
- Overboard ceiling with 12mm plasterboard
- Fill gaps between door frame and walls
- Batten walls, insulate and plasterboard walls
- Fit new windowsill
- Skim
- Flooring down
- Second fix electrics
- skirting, architrave
- Decorate

Main thought is around whether to overboard the floors before or after battening the walls.

It makes sense to do the floor first but access will be an absolute nightmare if some of the board goes under the battens / plasterboard. I'm thinking I'll bring the screws on the flooring away from the walls enough so they are accessible and leave a small gap between batten and floor, so the only can be lifted.

I'm sure I've also missed bits that I should be doing at this point.

Thoughts?

 

[DanTheMan]

I'm not a fan of walls over floors - so I did walls, then floor. If you're just overboard tho then probably limited dramas. If you are forecasting taking the floor back up you may have bigger problems lol.

Why are you battening? I just glued insulated plasterboard and was done with it.

Thanks.

Originally the batten and board was to allow 25mm insulation behind and to allow room for wiring. Also, I presumed even insulated plasterboard would still leave gaos between the wall and the board if dot and dabbed / glued, which wouldn't be ideal for noise transfer?

I presume you can cut the insulated side of the board to allow room for wiring and bits of uneven brickwork? Or is the insulated side slightly softer than plasterboard and absorbed small bits of unevenness?

 

[DanTheMan]

You can chase the wall a fraction and then overboard, or recess the insulation with a Stanley.

The insulated plasterboard is adhesived on - foam spray stuff, not dot and dabbed (or doesn't need to be dot and dabbed). I've got next to no gap between wall and board.

I went insulated plasterboard route (as did -mason, look up his posts) because I didn't want the battens to make a cold bridge.

Noise wise, nothing will really have a major impact other than proper sound insulation.

In that case it sounds like insulated plasterboard is what I'll do. Where did you get yours? It all seems 5x more expensive than normal board but I suppose it's offset nearly by the saving in batten and separate insulation costs.

Also, which adhesive did you use to fix it to the wall?

This route also settles the decision regarding floor first and I'll just board the walls then fit the ply afterwards.

I seem to remember you sealed around your windows when back to brick. I need.to do the same. I was thinking foam, probably the same stuff I'll use around the door frames. The window gaps are only a few mm but I may as well do it now.

 

[DanTheMan]

Cheers for all the advice. I'll be pleased if I can get it looking anything like those jobs.

Daft question but I can use insulated plasterboard on all internal walls, including party walls, walls adjoining other rooms etc?

Also, this feels like a stupid thing to consider but what about using plasterboard adhesive to overboard the ceiling, then screws / fixings once it's adhered to ensure it's secure?

 

[DanTheMan]

You can use it on internal walls, not sure why you would though. On party walls if you're plan is to do it for sound purposes, I don't think foam made for acoustics is the same as foam made for thermals. So might not be the best solution.

I'd just use screws on the ceiling, if you're thinking of doing it yourself, find a tool hire place locally and rent a board lifter (I'm billy no mates, brother had back surgery and my wife is pregnant so I had to board the ceiling solo). I got one locally for £50 for a weekend which was enough for me to do what I needed to do and meant I could use full size boards (less joints).

Ah ok, I presumed I may as well insulate all the walls but I'm not entirely sure why. So I can just use 12.5mm / 15mm plasterboard for all walls apart from the external wall, and insulated plasterboard on the external wall? That's far cheaper!

I did look around for board lifter hire but everywhere nearby is out of stock. I can always get the Mrs or a mate to hold the boards whilst I screw them in.

The adhesive is enough to stick the board but you will want plasterboard screws into joists to hold it in place whilst the glue dries.

Ulti-Mate II Stick-Fit Bugle Head Drywall Screw Black Phosphate

These state-of-the-art Ulti-Mate drywall screws use a patented Stick-Fit® design to deliver the highest performance when fixing plasterboard to timber batons or metal studs.This Stick-Fit® connection ensures smooth and stable driving, with no wobble and no dropped screws – one-handed...

www.toolstation.com

Probably makes sense to just screw them in then? I doubt the foam is adding anything more than the screws will be doing.

 

[DanTheMan]

What state are the walls in to want to cover them in plasterboard tho?

It's a 1950s house and all the internal brickwork is blue / grey engineering brick, with mortar that looks like Stevie wonder slapped it on.

Weirdly there's the odd red brick that protrudes about 1cm proud of the other brickwork, I have no idea why. I don't know how plasterboarding around that will work?

That's why I was thinking of using insulated board where I can recess the insulating to accommodate. Unless I just cut the board completely at those bits and cover it when it gets skimmed.