Insulated platerboard

**762baynet** · 13-01-2010, 17:01

My house was build in 1908 and has solid walls. In the next month or so I will be stripping the old plaster from the inside of the front of the house and I want to replace it with plaster board that is backed with 1inch of insulation, it is a Kingspan product.
Does anyone know if this can be fixed direct to the bare wall, and if so how? Has anyone done a similar project before?

**para_medic** · 13-01-2010, 17:08

You checked here, right? http://www.insulation.kingspan.com/literature.htm

**Sympathetic_Reaction** · 13-01-2010, 17:09

There are 2 'normal' ways to fix plasterboard to the wall.....either batten and screw (looking at probably half inch wooden battens horizontally, which will give you a nice airgap as well to reduce heat loss further and reduce damp transfer) or dot and dab (where you just dot 5 or 6 blobs of plaster on the back and press against the wall)

Personally if you are DIY-ing i find batten and screw much easier and simpler as well as more effective...but you lose a bit more of your room.

S_R

**Bernster** · 13-01-2010, 17:11

Herr Fritztle I presume?

**Bernster** · 13-01-2010, 17:11

Herr Fritztle I presume?

**762baynet** · 13-01-2010, 17:13

Originally Posted by Bernster

Herr Fritztle I presume?

Eerrrrr, Ja!

**Sympathetic_Reaction** · 13-01-2010, 17:13

Following up on Para_medics comment

It looks like Kingspan do a different board for each fixing type...so make sure you decide which you are doing and then chose the correct type...K17 for dot/dab and K18 for batten.

Another bonus of battening is that you can run the electrics behind it more easily....as you can tell I'm not a fan of dot/dab.

S_R

p.s. i've done this before if you want to PM...happy to pass on my mistakes.

**Litotes** · 13-01-2010, 17:17

Don't you have to nail battens to the wall and then install a vapour barrier? Otherwise, the warm, moist air passes through the plasterboard, condenses on the cold wall and runs down to the floor where it festers and creates the ideal conditions for dry rot!

Litotes

**762baynet** · 13-01-2010, 17:21

Ok, that link seems to make it clear, thanks.

**PE4rocks** · 13-01-2010, 17:22

Originally Posted by Litotes

Don't you have to nail battens to the wall and then install a vapour barrier? Otherwise, the warm, moist air passes through the plasterboard, condenses on the cold wall and runs down to the floor where it festers and creates the ideal conditions for dry rot!

Litotes

Not if one buys the right kit, apparently.

Linky

**762baynet** · 13-01-2010, 17:22

Thanks CR, I may pm you in a few days re this.
Thanks all

**Bugsy** · 13-01-2010, 17:46

Oh, sorry! As an avid DIYer, I only clicked on the link because I wanted to find out what "platerboard" was.

MsG

**putteesinmyhands** · 13-01-2010, 17:58

Just to add, when you take off the original plaster, you're likely to find that the structural wall is far from straight. Dotting and dabbing onto the brickwork will then magnify the unevenness.

Do you need to remove the original plaster? If it's sound, you'd have the option of gluing the panels onto the flat(?) plaster or going along the (preferred) battened route, reducing the effort packing the battens out.

The other thing about the plaster is that with a building of that age, it's likely to be reinforced with horse-hair. Before the Anthrax Prevention Act came about in 1919, horse hair had a reasonable chance of being contaminated. Even afterwards, there was some risk. Encapsulated in plaster, the anthrax risk is about nil, but there is a slight risk if you start disturbing it.

The HSE provides free guidance: /www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/hsg174.pdf but note that it's a bit out of date. It says that no construction workers have died as a result of removing plaster, but some cnut proved them wrong about four years after the document was published (and they haven't revised it).

If you can keep the plaster, I'd recommend that you do so.

**GoodIdeaAtTheTime** · 20-01-2010, 17:50

From the age it is likely to be plaster and lath in which case you will have to remove the plaster and the lath before going any further. The lath will have been mounted on uprights so you have something to fix to. However the spacing is not going to be 400 or 600 so you have choice of cutting every single board to fit or you can fix some horizontal studding (with vertical dwangs) to the existing timber and then fixing to that. Whatever you do you should stick in a polythene vapour barrier before you start - get a staple gun.

It would seem plaster and lath has a finite lifetime once central heating has been installed, my handy plasterer replaces a couple of ceilings a month that have collapsed as the plaster has turned to dust.

**buttonsin3s** · 20-01-2010, 17:59

As puttes said, the wall will be far from flush, doing my bathroom at the moment, used battens and moistureshield plasterboard. A fecking nightmare. Good link PE4.