How to Smooth Rough Interior Walls?

[nww]

I got an Asbestos specialist in and they confirmed I have it in the laundry, kitchen & outside along under the roof.

I'm glad it's not in the lounge & bedrooms so I'm keen to get started and start decorating these rooms.

Now I would just like to get some ideas on how to get these walls smooth. The main thing is I think the dividers/skirting looks big clumsy & ugly. What would be the best solution to make these rooms better (please see photos in first post)?

Should I put some gyb board over the walls or would this get expensive & time consuming? Maybe I could take all the dividers down and use some filler to cover up any gaps, or even replace them with new, modern looking ones? What would you do? Remember this is quite a cheap house so I want to keep material expenses down as much as possible.

My experience is I would not take the old dividers off and try and fill them.
I bought an IP which this had been done and the filling had I presumed
shrunk and cracks had appeared. I placed new coverings over the joins and
it made the rooms look vintage with some character. The tenants love the
place and don't plan to ever move. their words.

I did however find the strips very expensive to purchase.
Try and steer clear of bunning timber if you do replace the strips with new ones.

 

[Jas]

um. changing topics slightly. Why do you want to do this?

If it's an IP, will this add value? If it's your PPOR, is there a way to make those rough walls a feature rather than a problem?

To my way of thinking, you're spending a fair amount of time and effort on somethign that there might be an outside of box solution?

 

[HomeBuyAU]

I placed new coverings over the joins and
it made the rooms look vintage with some character. The tenants love the
place and don't plan to ever move. their words.

I did however find the strips very expensive to purchase.
Try and steer clear of bunning timber if you do replace the strips with new ones.

thanks for the tips. Maybe that is the best way to go, buy some new modern looking strips. I think if I look around I should be able to get something without spending too much. I think this is probably going to be a lot less work than putting gyb board over the walls to flattern them and like you say, it would be better than filler if the holes are quite significant once I pull the old dividers off. I think I should take one divider off and see what's underneath and then measure the current ones out and get some prices on new strips... thanks!

um. changing topics slightly. Why do you want to do this?

If it's an IP, will this add value? If it's your PPOR, is there a way to make those rough walls a feature rather than a problem?

To my way of thinking, you're spending a fair amount of time and effort on somethign that there might be an outside of box solution?

This home is my current PPOR and only home I own. I plan to live in here, up to a year. it's not my long term PPOR, I plan to buy a home by the beach in 1 year at Nelson Bay or some where like that and that will become my new longer term PPOR.

but all the renovations are for the end result and to add value as after I renovate & landscape it I will probably rent it out or maybe sell it. I think renting is going to be the better option but If the value goes up enough in 1 year after the changes I make and I think I have a good chance of selling it I might do that.

I plan to make add significant value but without spending much. I have good landscaping skills and coming from a graphic design background I have a good understanding of some things like colour, space, design, quality and all those things that a good interior design needs.

The thing I do have on my side it time, as I work at home and run my business on my laptop and it bascially runs by itself.

 

[gerd]

it would be better than filler if the holes are quite significant once I pull the old dividers off.

Pulling The old dividers of may create asbestos fiber dust.

Gerd

 

[RumpledElf]

Painting the place in nice colours will be cheaper and add more value than replacing dividers or gyprocking.

Maybe paint the ceiling/cornices/dividers/architraves/skirtings white and the walls a darker colour but not too dark, just so you can tell there is a distinct colour difference between the white edges and the walls. One of the lighter warm beiges will look nice and give a contrast against white - we used dulux Hog Bristle and Hog Bristle 1/4 strength against gloss white trim and the result is extremely nice, although I wouldn't use the full strength hog bristle in a small dark room or if you have low ceilings (ours are 11 foot). There's plenty of light, warm beiges - don't pick a cold beige. Then do the floors with new carpet or laminate timber, add those plantation shutter looking fake wood eco blinds and the whole house will be lifted and it will be cheap.

Get a colour consultant in if you're not good with colours, they will be worth it. If you paint the whole house the same off-white colour, trim and all, it will look tolerably ok but I reckon some contrast with those joiners could look very good.

 

[HomeBuyAU]

Pulling The old dividers of may create asbestos fiber dust.

my last post explained that I don't need to worry about Asbestos now as I had the home checked and I know these rooms don't have it!

Painting the place in nice colours will be cheaper and add more value than replacing dividers or gyprocking.

Maybe paint the ceiling/cornices/dividers/architraves/skirtings white and the walls a darker colour but not too dark, just so you can tell there is a distinct colour difference between the white edges and the walls. One of the lighter warm beiges will look nice and give a contrast against white - we used dulux Hog Bristle and Hog Bristle 1/4 strength against gloss white trim and the result is extremely nice, although I wouldn't use the full strength hog bristle in a small dark room or if you have low ceilings (ours are 11 foot). There's plenty of light, warm beiges - don't pick a cold beige. Then do the floors with new carpet or laminate timber, add those plantation shutter looking fake wood eco blinds and the whole house will be lifted and it will be cheap.

Get a colour consultant in if you're not good with colours, they will be worth it. If you paint the whole house the same off-white colour, trim and all, it will look tolerably ok but I reckon some contrast with those joiners could look very good.

thanks for your ideas, I like the ideas for the eco blinds. I will keep the polished floors and I won't be changing to carpet etc. I also hate beige and the current colours are beige and a sickly dark brown and I want to get right away from those .... I have already decided and purchased the paint for the colours, it is a white with a slight green tint and any dividers or skiting have a nice contrasting darker colour, I have different colours organized that will flow together for each room. I'm good with colours as I explained in last post as well. I'm not really wanting to discuss colours here as it will take this thread in another direction but I appreciate your feedback.

As I have stated a number of times, I don't want to keep the ugly old big & clumsy dividers. I really want to know what is going to be the best solution to get rid of that problem. Some have said put plaster board over all the walls while others say take the dividers off and either fill up the gaps or put new dividers over them.

There is also the issue of getting the walls smooth as the current board is very hard and it can't be sanded much. Someone suggested I could paint a lot of coats over the rough surface while another person said I could use wall paper to make the walls smooth.

At the moment I'm currently thinking placing plasterboard over all the walls which includes the lounge & 2 rooms. This would solve all the problems including covering up the gaps if I pull the dividers down and making the walls smooth for painting. I guess I'm just a little unsure how difficult it will be and the cost? I have plenty of time but I want to keep the costs down.

 

[Project1080]

Monsoon,
Since it's you're PPOR and you have time on your side, but want to keep costs down, my preference would be to replace with gyprock. The old saying. "Do it right first time".

You could try the auctions - Gray's online and the like or Bunnings. Plasterboard ain't all that dear.

Project 1080.

The project: 10 IPs in 80 mths.

 

[HomeBuyAU]

Monsoon,
Since it's you're PPOR and you have time on your side, but want to keep costs down, my preference would be to replace with gyprock. The old saying. "Do it right first time".

You could try the auctions - Gray's online and the like or Bunnings. Plasterboard ain't all that dear.

Project 1080.

The project: 10 IPs in 80 mths.

Yes I sort of decided earlier this evening that I'm going to go that route, thanks for your feedback and thanks to everyone here that offered their advice.

I measured up the walls and it looks like I will need about 30 boards, Bunnings sell them for $10 each for 2400x1200 so my local shop will probably sell them at a similar price. It's a bit of a shame as my lounge is 2550 high and the rooms about 2600 high so I will have to lay a small section all the way around the top I guess. Anyway it will be fun and I have plenty of time. For around $300 and a little bit more on adesive and nails I think it will be well worth it. Im going to be doing a bit of reading first at places like http://www.how2plaster.com/ that someone else pointed me to on another forum.

My place is my PPOR but only for about 8 months to 1 year and then I will probably rent it out and buy another, better home for my PPOR but that all depends on how my business goes...

 

[battler]

It's a bit of a shame as my lounge is 2550 high and the rooms about 2600 high so I will have to lay a small section all the way around the top I guess..

You can get 1350mm wide sheets and do it with one join.

 

[HomeBuyAU]

You can get 1350mm wide sheets and do it with one join.

ok but this is for the height as its 2550 & 2600 but I will look into it and see what sizes they have and pick the ones to suit my measurments.

 

[RumpledElf]

Plasterboard comes in two heights only - 1200 and 1350. It comes in all sorts of lengths ... 2400, 3000, 3600, 4200, 4800 and probably one longer but I've never needed to buy longer than 4800. Its very cheap stuff. My ceilings at the old house were a convenient multiple of two 1350 sheets and one 1200 sheet, or so I thought until I found out that in the middle of the room I had to trim the top sheet ...

You want to order the stuff so, if at all possible, you have no vertical joins on any of your walls. You'll need that funky perforated silver edging for any outwards-facing corners and go with self-adhesive mesh tape for the inside corners and horizontal joins, its easier to work with than the non-adhesive paper tape. Liquid nails, plasterboard adhesive or cornice adhesive to stick it to the old walls. Probably regular plasterboard adhesive is best or you'll rack up a fortune in liquid nails, the stuff isn't especially cheap considering how much you'll need of it.

You'll also need new skirtings and cornices, I'd imagine. 50mm cove cornice is also dirt cheap and comes in the same lengths as plasterboard. MDF skirtings seem to be about $5-8 for a 5ish-m length, depending on what profile you get.

Makes you wonder why houses are so expensive, considering how little the stuff they are made from costs.

 

[Jas]

I found plastering to be pretty easy - one tip is not to use too many nails to secure it in place. The plasterboard glue holds it in place, the nails only hold it while the glue is drying.

 

[RumpledElf]

Heh. I have a plasterboard wall in my old house (the bathroom is just the corner of a bedroom walled off, hence the amazingly poky size of 4.3x3m ) that is ONLY nailed on, no glue. It is also done vertically, the lazy buggers noticed that plasterboard comes in 3600 lengths and that is approx the ceiling height, give or take cornices.

It moves like crazy and you can see the heads of all the nails where they have worked their way out. At least screws stay put for longer. As a finishing touch, they painted the wall bright blue and the ceiling pale green. Ewwww.

 

[HomeBuyAU]

thanks jas & rump for the nice info, I think I know what to do now, cheers!

 

[HomeBuyAU]

Hi,
I wanted to start this by taking off the dividers but I just had a go on small one in a room and it was very hard. I put the hammer claw into it and tried to rip it out but the wall started to dent. I then tried hammering it off and it won't budge. Is there an easier way to take these off?