Hi all,

I'm refitting my kitchen, stripping all the old board off as its buggered. I will be dot/dabbing as it was before and was looking for an expert to check my plan before i go in...

1- The walls are block/brick - do i need to pva / bond before dabbing?
2- Dabs on about 12" grid layout?
3- Cut boards and dry fit before dabbing?
4- Ground floor so leave gap at bottom of boards?
5- Whats the best thing for tapping the boards in, a level or straight edge etc?

Thanks in advance
Dave

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DIY - The womens way of stopping us doing what we want to be doing in our spare time!

Have a look at Direct Bond

1 - Yes
2 - see the link, but 12" probably isn't far out. Make sure you have a bead of adhesive where the board meets the ceiling and put more on around plug/light sockets to strengthen.
3 - Yes
4 - Yes
5 - Not a level - too expensive to break. I've used one of these


Good luck

Thanks for that.

I have one minor problem with item 2. You say run a bead along the top edge but i am using the top 125mm as a permitted wiring zone for lights and power and was told not to dab over wires.

What is the bead for and how can i get round it?

Thanks
Dave

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DIY - The womens way of stopping us doing what we want to be doing in our spare time!

I'm sure the sparkies will comment on this bit but where I've had to lay cables at ceiling level I've put it into conduit and then smeared the adhesive over that. (the bead)

The adhesive along the top adds a good stability to the board and also acts as a fire barrier to the ceiling area.

someone may confirm or correct this, but I recall reading on another thread on this forum about D&D that there needs to be a solid run of adhesive on the top for fire regulations.
I would think you could put short pieces of electrical conduit vertically where you want the cable to come down and cover that conduit with adhesive as well.

DISCLAIMER: not done this myself; going by memory of other questions and answers on UHM Forum!

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I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, "Where's the self-help section?"
She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.

Ok. i'll lower the cable runs a bit and run a line along the top.

The permitted zone is 125mm from any rightangle corner so i'll just run near the bottom limit a bit, its not just one cable as i have quite a complex lighting system to go in as well as the usual ring main.

Its all shaping up quite nicely now, two walls completely stripped and un-dabbed. It appears the last person to dot/dab used something like bonding plaster on one wall and something else on the next, old boards were 9mm, new ones will be 12.5mm.

Dave

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DIY - The womens way of stopping us doing what we want to be doing in our spare time!

Hi all,

I had a go at dot/dabbing today, first time.

I cut the boards and dry-fitted them, then mixed the adhesive, this was where i hit a litle snag:- The bag says 1 bag to two 8x4' boards but no clue as to how much water it needs. I am sure it is best to add the powder to the water but without an idea where to start it makes it a bit hard.

Anyway i shoved some water in the bucket and mixed until it looked right. When i went to dab it, i found it hard to get the stuff off the trowel and onto the wall a lot went south to the floor

So i thickened it up a bit and the second board went better. I found that working on my own with 8x4's and mixing my own goop extremely knackering but the result was excellent. I will continue this week with a little more confidence now.

Thanks for the help so far.

Dave

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DIY - The womens way of stopping us doing what we want to be doing in our spare time!

Good for you Dave, keep going mate.

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People forget how fast you did a job - but they remember how well you did it.

I no longer skinny dip, i chunky dunk these day's.

Hi all,
I've done three walls now, taped and filled the joints and corners. It gets a bit easier as it goes on and the result looks great.



The ghostly rings are the flash bouncing off the dust in the air, it looks far better in reality, the wife keeps moaning about the state of her digital camera :grin: :grin:

Thanks to all who have helped me learn a new skill, this is a great forum.

Dave K

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DIY - The womens way of stopping us doing what we want to be doing in our spare time!

That looks ok Dave. I suppose it takes a bit of trial and error to get the mix right. I know mine is right when I can stick the trowel in and comfortably scoop out a bit with the trowel without it running off. There looks like a gap runing down the back of the pillar/boxed off area. I'd fill it with adhesive too.

Are you reboarding the ceiling or just re-skimming it as it it? Again, that gap at the top of the boards could be a problem, unless you are puting coving up. I'm sure you do need to be told that anyway.

Would be interesting to see pics of the finished project.

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I always blame my tools

Dave, looking good mate.

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People forget how fast you did a job - but they remember how well you did it.

I no longer skinny dip, i chunky dunk these day's.

That looks good to me as well

well done dave

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DIY | Donnas dream house

Well done for giving it a go

For the gaps at the ceiling level I would have filled those with some of the board adhesive or the jointing compound but I'm only a DIYer so the spreads will probably tell you the proper way to deal with the gaps

Out of curiosity, what are all the high level cables for

looking a good job, Dave

_________________
I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, "Where's the self-help section?"
She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.