Plastering over..plaster

[Dan]

A colleague of mine has received a few quotes for re-plastering his house..all roughly about the same.

Some of the plasterers have recommended plastering directly over the existing plasterboard, whilst others have recommended removing the old board entirely.
Its an old house and the concerns of the plasterers wanting to go over the top is perhaps there may be underlying structure problems eg walls not straight etc.. that may make plastering more of a challenge. Or they may just be being lazy.

Can anyone offer advice on the better of the two options?

Thanks

 

[willair]

Dan,check your structure problems first from the stumps ,slab up
if the wall are not straight now covering with new gyprock is only going to make the walls look worse,go with the plasterer who will strip out and refit new materials, the others are just too lasy,plus if the house is a older type most if not all of the internal frame will be hardwood not pine so the wall should be straight in the first place.
good luck
willair

 

[Bushy]

Dan I agree with Willair,
I just had a new ceiling done in whole house. Only one contractor recommended removing old and then replace with new. His reason - to much weight on ceiling timber and if there are problems you won't know. He got the job.
I kicked down the old gyprock and found 4 lengths of oregon that needed repair.
regards Bushy

 

[Cosmo]

Hi Dan,

I’ve done a fair bit of gyprocking as a handyman over the years. Both ways have their problems.
Firstly plasterboard over the old stuff is fast with little mess. Another benefit is that dips and peaks in the walls can be “averaged” out with the sheet.
The main problem is how the contractor will deal with all the cornice, architrave/ skirting boards as the walls are approx 10mm thicker now.
The second way is very messy, time consuming and creates a hell of a lot of rubbish to be carted away.
Iwouldn't load up the ceilings with extra sheets of plasterboard.
I believe either way will have the same end result appearance.