Regibbing bedrooms

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mailmarshall

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#113405 16-Jan-2013 09:23

Hi guys

We are thinking of regibbing our 3 bedrooms and putting in insulation (R2.4) into the exterior facing walls.

In addition will need the walls and ceilings to be plastered and painted. The rooms are not big - probably 3mx4m. Ceiling already has insulation.

We will need new skirting and architraves also.

Some questions:
1. Should I invest in sound insulation within internal walls? What benefits does this really bring?
2. Any ideas how much would it cost for tradesmen to do the job i.e builder, plasterer and painter? Is $6k per room too much?

Thanks heaps

M

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#745503 16-Jan-2013 09:35

I had this done recently. Sound insulation, yes absolutely, make the rooms really nice and quiet. It's not too expensive.

I had a builder regib a 4x4m room, add insulation, repaint the ceiling and walls. Quotes ranged from $3500 to $6000, and I had the cheaper guy do it as I'd used him before and he did a good job. He had to build a frame over one wall as it was really out of line, so we now have two layers of insulation there. For three rooms you might be $9-$18K. If you DIY it'll be much cheaper but will take much longer, with much more disruption. I paid more than the quote, because it's an old house and we found more work needed to be done once we got the walls open. I don't remember the exact cost but I could look it up if you like.

Don't underestimate how much disruption this is. If you have a family you'll want to be out of the house while it happens, if at all possible. It's noisy, dusty, just awful. You'll need a series of skips.

I can recommend a guy if you're in the Wellington region, he's good, and reasonably priced.

mailmarshall

349 posts

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#745515 16-Jan-2013 10:03

Hi

Just got a quote for $15K + GST without the sound insulation and I nearly passed out!! Currently sipping my cup of tea very slowly.

When you look at the materials they are not too expensive but the labour is the killer I suppose!

I am in the WLG region so it might be useful to get another quote. Will PM you to get details of your guy if required.

Ta

M

BlueShift

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#745522 16-Jan-2013 10:26

timmmay: I had this done recently. Sound insulation, yes absolutely, make the rooms really nice and quiet. It's not too expensive.

What he said. We were in the Gib Living Solutions brochure a few years back as the poster family for sound control Gib. We put in sound control between our living areas and the bedroom end of the house, its great, once we close the hall door, we can have a party in the lounge/Dining/Kitchen and the kids barely hear a thing.

NonprayingMantis

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#745527 16-Jan-2013 10:28

its not that hard to actually fit the gib yourself if your walls are fairly even. If they are warped you will find it quite fidly fitting wedges etc in the right place.

Stopping requires more skill though, so you wanted to save money do the gib fixing yourself and get a stopper in to give it a nice finish.

also, you can save money by not using Gib brand board. Use British Plasterboard or Elephant Board. Just as good (better in some cases) and cheaper.

Skirting and Archetrave is also fairly easy to fit too, provided your walls aren't warped.

I would definitely reccomend the noise blocking insulation and plasterboard if you have kids or are flatting. especially if you want to do more than sleep in the bedroom, wink wink.

If you are paying for the whole thing my guess (very rough estimate) for price would be:

Labour:
~2 days labour for ripping out the walls, making adjustements with nogs etc and fitting new board @ $50/hour
~2 days for stopping @$50/hour
~1 day for skirting and archetrave @$50/h
~1 day for painting @75/h

so probably labour costs in the region of $2000 +GST

for materials:

~$200 worth of plasterboard, ~$200 worth of insulation, $200 worth of skirting and archetrave.
maybe $100 on paint. $100 on new light switches and sockets (I assume you can fit these yourself if you arne;t moving the switches or adding in new ones)

so parts cost maybe around $800

so I reckon a rough total of about $3k

If you need a sparky to move switches or plug sockets add another $1k onto that.
If your house is very old then nogs may need to be added and adjusted so possibly another $500 there.

$14k is ridisulous. sounds like the quoter has lots of work on so is giving you a silly price since he doesn;t care whether you use him or not.

tonyhughes

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#745530 16-Jan-2013 10:31

+1 for sound control.

Two reasons -

1. As above - PARRRRRRRRRRR-TAY - and baby can sleep without hearing a thing.
2. General living - a sound deadened house feels/sounds much better, little things like not hearing the sounds of footsteps, tv chatter, conversation you can't make out etc, quiet adds to the 'quality' of a house.

RunningMan

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#745532 16-Jan-2013 10:34

Sound insulation is designed to deaden the sound echoing in a cavity more than stopping sound transmission through. To reduce sound transmission through, the best solution is a combination of gib noiseline/braceline (now one product - it's far denser than standard gib) combined with insulation in the cavity. The type of insulation is less important than having the correct fit with no air gaps around it.

It would be well worth having a read of http://www.gib.co.nz/noise-systems/ to get a better idea of how the various products fit together.

From experience in having had rooms renovated, I'd suggest a few things:

1) Noiseline gib, properly installed so you don't have cavities from one side of the wall to the other is noticeably quieter - you can easily tell the reduced noise transmission.

2) Go for the highest R rating for insulation you can for thermal. It will be more expensive, but the results are better.

3) You can save money by doing some of the real donkey work yourself - pulling down the old gib, installing insulation etc.

timmmay

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#745650 16-Jan-2013 12:23

$15K is about right for a professional quote. I've copied and pasted from above my estimates based on what I had/learned

-- quote
Labour:
~3 days labour for ripping out the walls, making adjustements with nogs etc and fitting new board @ $50/hour = $1200
~1 day for insulation $ 50/hr = $400
~2-3 days for putting up gib @$50/hour = $1000
~1 day for skirting and archetrave @$50/h = $400
~3 days for plastering (remember it's three coats and needs to dry in between coats and sanding) $65/hr = $1550
~4-5 days for painting @75/h (including ceilings) $2700

so probably labour costs in the region of $7500.

for materials:

~$1000 worth of plasterboard, ~$800 worth of insulation, $300 worth of skirting and archetrave.
maybe $500 on paint. $400 on new light switches and sockets (I assume you can fit these yourself if you arne;t moving the switches or adding in new ones). Total near $3000
-- quote end

That doesn't account for anything strange to your property, and may even be a bit rushed.

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NonprayingMantis

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#745671 16-Jan-2013 12:57

timmmay: $15K is about right for a professional quote. I've copied and pasted from above my estimates based on what I had/learned

-- quote
Labour:
~3 days labour for ripping out the walls, making adjustements with nogs etc and fitting new board @ $50/hour = $1200
~1 day for insulation $ 50/hr = $400
~2-3 days for putting up gib @$50/hour = $1000
~1 day for skirting and archetrave @$50/h = $400
~3 days for plastering (remember it's three coats and needs to dry in between coats and sanding) $65/hr = $1550
~4-5 days for painting @75/h (including ceilings) $2700

so probably labour costs in the region of $7500.

for materials:

~$1000 worth of plasterboard, ~$800 worth of insulation, $300 worth of skirting and archetrave.
maybe $500 on paint. $400 on new light switches and sockets (I assume you can fit these yourself if you arne;t moving the switches or adding in new ones). Total near $3000
-- quote end

That doesn't account for anything strange to your property, and may even be a bit rushed.

ack, just realised the OP was asking for a quote for 3 bedrooms. My estimates were based on 1 room. so my estimate for three rooms would be around $10-12k

Batman

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#745688 16-Jan-2013 13:34

in the same vein anyone knows a good tradesperson/builder in Dunedin that they can recommend?

timmmay

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#745694 16-Jan-2013 13:39

I use builderscrack.co.nz to find tradespeople.

mattwnz

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#745731 16-Jan-2013 15:11

labour

NonprayingMantis:
timmmay: $15K is about right for a professional quote. I've copied and pasted from above my estimates based on what I had/learned

-- quote
Labour:
~3 days labour for ripping out the walls, making adjustements with nogs etc and fitting new board @ $50/hour = $1200
~1 day for insulation $ 50/hr = $400
~2-3 days for putting up gib @$50/hour = $1000
~1 day for skirting and archetrave @$50/h = $400
~3 days for plastering (remember it's three coats and needs to dry in between coats and sanding) $65/hr = $1550
~4-5 days for painting @75/h (including ceilings) $2700

so probably labour costs in the region of $7500.

for materials:

~$1000 worth of plasterboard, ~$800 worth of insulation, $300 worth of skirting and archetrave.
maybe $500 on paint. $400 on new light switches and sockets (I assume you can fit these yourself if you arne;t moving the switches or adding in new ones). Total near $3000
-- quote end

That doesn't account for anything strange to your property, and may even be a bit rushed.

ack, just realised the OP was asking for a quote for 3 bedrooms. My estimates were based on 1 room. so my estimate for three rooms would be around $10-12k

Some of those hourly labour rates sound very high. Painting @ 75/hr, I chose the wrong profession. Painting is relatively unskilled work that you don't need an qualifications for, and I do my own and get a professional finish.

Plastering is definitely worth getting done for you, but there are both good and bad plasterers. After I had a professional job done, I spend a week filling small gaps at edges, which they said would normally be done by the painters. So make sure that you specify EXACTLY what you want them to do.

wellygary

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#745749 16-Jan-2013 15:32

RunningMan:
2) Go for the highest R rating for insulation you can for thermal. It will be more expensive, but the results are better.

3) You can save money by doing some of the real donkey work yourself - pulling down the old gib, installing insulation etc.

This and This +1

As a percentage of the Job the cost of the actual insulation is minimal, I would actually go for R3 or R4 wall Batts, sure it will cost you more now, but you will save it in power bills in the future ( assuming you are not planning to flick the house), You cannot put a price on a lovely cosy warm bedroom that requires minimal heating....

Also if you have the time, get a skip bin and rip out all the old gib the weekend before the builder is due to start,

Also check with your local council if they need you to have a building permit, ( for retrofitting insulation some do, while others will exempt it)- but you need either an exemption or a permit.

http://www.dbh.govt.nz/retrofitting-insulation-guidance#aid2

surfisup1000

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#745768 16-Jan-2013 15:53

Labour:
~3 days labour for ripping out the walls, making adjustements with nogs etc and fitting new board @ $50/hour = $1200
~1 day for insulation $ 50/hr = $400
~2-3 days for putting up gib @$50/hour = $1000
~1 day for skirting and archetrave @$50/h = $400
~3 days for plastering (remember it's three coats and needs to dry in between coats and sanding) $65/hr = $1550
~4-5 days for painting @75/h (including ceilings) $2700

Slightly off topic --the hourly rates are are high for what I consider a low skill job. They are getting paid as much or more than people with university degrees (marketable degrees such as comp-sci/engineering / accounting etc).

$75/hour for painting? Wow! I know a painter who charges $45/hour who is very good and sought for all sorts of technically difficult projects.

I guess trades incomes have increased by a lot recently while professional incomes have not. Not saying it is good or a bad thing. Just saying.

timmmay

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#745770 16-Jan-2013 15:59

Good tradesmen do charge a lot. Wait until you get a bad one, then you'll see good ones are worth what they cost. The painter I use paints three times faster than me, and does a better job, plus then I'm not painting all night and weekend. You can get painters for $25/hr, but they're often cowboys.

NonprayingMantis

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#745771 16-Jan-2013 16:04

surfisup1000:

Labour:
~3 days labour for ripping out the walls, making adjustements with nogs etc and fitting new board @ $50/hour = $1200
~1 day for insulation $ 50/hr = $400
~2-3 days for putting up gib @$50/hour = $1000
~1 day for skirting and archetrave @$50/h = $400
~3 days for plastering (remember it's three coats and needs to dry in between coats and sanding) $65/hr = $1550
~4-5 days for painting @75/h (including ceilings) $2700

Slightly off topic --the hourly rates are are high for what I consider a low skill job. They are getting paid as much or more than people with university degrees (marketable degrees such as comp-sci/engineering / accounting etc).

$75/hour for painting? Wow! I know a painter who charges $45/hour who is very good and sought for all sorts of technically difficult projects.

I guess trades incomes have increased by a lot recently while professional incomes have not. Not saying it is good or a bad thing. Just saying.

those rates won't be what the person actually gets paid, they are the rates the custmer pays. If somebody is quoting for a job they need to take into acount, amongst other things, what they pay their subcontracter (maybe $20 per hour?), their own margin, their own overheads etc.
Its the same reaosn why a law firm might charge a lawyers time at $250 per hour but the lawyer won't get paid that much.

ETA: yes, $75 prob is a bit high, but not much.

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