Drywall Sander

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Shanemc

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#233316 10-Apr-2018 12:16

Hi all, looking for some advice around drywall sanding.

I'm about to repair the wall in our bathroom and laundry. It will mean replacing a couple of sheets of plasterboard.

So I will need to do some stopping and sanding.

The whole house has wallpaper on the walls, so eventually I'd like to go through a processing of getting that off and painting the walls.

I am therefore thinking of getting a DIY drywall sander.

I see some non-vacuum cleaner ones on trademe for around $150. And some with vacuums for around $400.

Does anyone have any experience with these. Do they leave much dust, does the bag leak dust? I have an old household vacuum I use for the garage and renovations, can I hook that up - or will the fine dust just clog it up.

Thanks for any advice on this one

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#1992689 10-Apr-2018 12:38

Shanemc:
The whole house has wallpaper on the walls, so eventually I'd like to go through a processing of getting that off and painting the walls.

I am therefore thinking of getting a DIY drywall sander.

I don't think you'll get far beyond making quite a mess with trying to sand wallpaper, you'd need to soak and scrape it off, and that's a huge and equally messy job. If your house is uninsulated an easier, if slightly more pricey, option is to rip off the gib, put in insulation, and re-gib. That way you get a warmer/quieter house as a side-effect of the work you're putting in.

Shanemc

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#1992762 10-Apr-2018 14:21

Hi Neb, thanks for that. Sorry I probably should have been clearer. My intention would be to soak and scrape the wallpaper off. Then I'm assuming it will require either patches of stopping or a full skim of the walls. Then the drywall sander, if they are worth it...

Interesting the walls are not insulated and I have been weighing the economics of replacing the whole gib and insulating. But I figured it would just add more and more jobs - I assume the skirting needs to come off, probably the carpet needs to come up and be refitted? Does the ceiling needs to be re-painted because of the skirting?

neb

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#1992783 10-Apr-2018 14:57

Ah, OK. Well it'll still be quite a job, which I don't envy you for :-). The hassle of recladding depends on how well you want to do it, if you don't mind being slightly cowboy you could use a wallboard saw to cut the gib above/below the skirting/moulding and only replace the main mass of it while leaving the skirting/moulding intact. That is somewhat cowboy though... you shouldn't need to lift the carpet or redo the ceiling to replace the skirting, the carpet will be tacked down beside the skirting so you can just pry that loose with a prybar and put in a new lot once the gib is on (I haven't seen your house, assuming a somewhat standard design here). If you do go down that path, paint the skirting before you attach it so you don't end up painting the carpet afterwards.

One general note on this, you're going to end up with gib dust everywhere. Use dropcloths, keep doors closed, tape up gaps, vaccuum, sweep, but still be prepared to wipe a ton of dust off everything, it gets everywhere.

Best way to do it is a room at a time, moving through the house as you go. Start with the room(s) that need it most and if/when you get tired of doing more you can declare victory and stop.

richms

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#1992898 10-Apr-2018 18:14

Replace the gib. The material cost is minimal and you will be stopping anyway, gives you the chance to insulate, wire, plane the studs where they are really bad etc.

Richard rich.ms

elpenguino

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#1992917 10-Apr-2018 18:50

I've done both myself. The time involved in stripping the wallpaper , skimming, sanding and painting gives you a 3/10 finish. The cost is say 1/10, assuming your time is free.

Re-lining gives a 10/10 finish - but is highly dependent on the plastering work. The DIY cost is 3/10 but the work is more complex. You need to remove skirts, architraves, scotia and what not. Inevitably they will break - even if they don't it is often quicker to replace them than it is to strip/paint/fill etc. If you're not good with angled cuts you will just turn long bits of wood into short bits of wood.

Gib board is cheap @ $20 a sheet. Batts not much per bedroom. The difference is amazing and you can do all the other things mentioned - hot points, networking etc. This stuff is all so much cheaper when DIYed.

Just be warned that (amazingly) you need consent to fit thermal insulation to exterior walls.

https://www.building.govt.nz/projects-and-consents/planning-a-successful-build/scope-and-design/check-if-you-need-consents/building-consent-exemptions-for-low-risk-work/schedule-1-guidance/

https://www.building.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/projects-and-consents/building-work-consent-not-required-guidance.pdf

Section 13.

It has to be thought of as an investment or you would be tempted to do the quick and dirty solution.

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elpenguino

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#1992966 10-Apr-2018 20:41

To answer your original questions - yes, gib dust will clog a normal hoover. OTOH I have a separate normal hoover for jobs like this and I make sure I clean all the filters very regularly - sometimes every 5-10 mins depending on how much dust I am hoovering.

I have plastered approx 8-10 rooms to date and what i have learnt is that it is much easier to not apply excess plaster in the first place than it is to sand off extra plaster. I carefully plan the gib layout to reduce the number of butt joints to zero. The joints between sheet edges are much easier to plaster competently. I view sanding as a job to remove the tool marks from the surface layer of the joins - not to even out levels.

Take your time, apply more plaster judiciously and you shouldn't need a sander.

Get a proper respirator style mask.

Most of the posters in this thread are just like chimpanzees on MDMA, full of feelings of bonhomie, joy, and optimism. Fred99 8/4/21

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blackjack17

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#1992977 10-Apr-2018 21:11

We have regibbed most of our house.

Your best bet is to get someone else to do the stopping. Gibbing is not too bad esp with a screw gun. Stopping takes time and is just painful.

The difference in finish between new gib and dewallpapered gib is huge.

Do the regib your self and pay someone to stop

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mclean

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#1994185 11-Apr-2018 11:06

If you're thinking of going down the stripping/re-stopping route then try stripping a small section first. Depending on how the papering was done it's sometimes impossible to get it off without wrecking the GIB facing. If that's the case and its really well attached then you might consider sealing and re-stopping over the old paper. It's not ideal but OK in areas where you don't need a great finish and don't want to re-line, plus it saves a lot of time. This is obviously no good if the paper is embossed.

I would say if it's not worth steaming off the paper unless it comes off easily and cleanly.

Fred99

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#1994200 11-Apr-2018 11:32

There's a wallpaper scoring tool called a "paper tiger" which may (or may not) make stripping old wallpaper much easier.

When I did EQ repairs on our house I DIY all interior plaster, difference being that it was all plasterboard as opposed to gib. Stripping wallpaper from gib can present problems if the paper on the gib delaminates, but that can usually be skimmed over. Plasterboard has a smooth cast plaster surface, so if you can wet through to the glue backing, the wallpaper peels off - next issue is to wash off all the residual wallpaper glue before prep for painting - which takes some elbow grease.

It's impossible to say how well the paper will strip from old gib - without trying it out.

I did the entire house sanding by hand. I used a cheap Bunnings shop vac that crapped out about 90% of the way through - as I expected would happen - but it only cost about $80 and proper drywall vacuum machines are very very expensive.

MikeAqua

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#1994241 11-Apr-2018 12:16

Proper drywall sanders tend to be quite aggressive. Be prepared for that.

Another option is to get a cheap workshop vac as mentioned by Fred and research an accessory called dust deputy. You don't want to buy the genuine article but they are easy to DIY and there are cheaper copies. They are basically cyclonic separators.

The trick for trapping GIB fines (which are the bits that stuff a vac) is to have little bit of water in the bottom of the separator.

Mike

Shanemc

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#1995461 13-Apr-2018 13:12

Thanks for the comments.

I have stripped wallpaper off the toilet walls already. Came off OK. The house is from the 80's the Gib seems in reasonable conditioning and the plastering under it seems reasonable also. I will be replacing a couple of patches of gib, due to moving the basin and some water damage.

Im not that keen to get someone to do the stopping, as I imagine it will be a number of small projects, rather than doing multiple rooms at once.

Very interested in the cyclonic dust filter. I'm thinking I might get something off aliexpress and one of these cheap drywall sanders and see if I can attach the vacuum to it.

Something like this from bunnings, and I see some similar things on trademe.

https://www.bunnings.co.nz/ozito-225mm-1200w-portable-drywall-sander_p06290593

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scuwp

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#1995506 13-Apr-2018 14:06

Don't forget that once the wall is prepared you will need to use a pigment sealer. They don't call it "pig" sealer for nothing. It's horrible, horrible stuff.

I don't envy your job ahead. I only did a small bathroom and it was a nightmare to get the finish right. A previous poster said something like 3/10 is the best you can expect, and I think that's pretty accurate.

Sorry can't comment on the sander. I just did it by hand and was probably one of the easier steps.

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Shanemc

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#1995513 13-Apr-2018 14:16

I imagined I'd get away with using the broadwall sealer.... Might have to look into that more then. Wife (and kids) would not let me use a pigment sealer inside the house...

It will be a useful test. The toilet is only 1.7m x .9 and I'm planning to tile up a metre. if the finish only comes out 3/10, I'll probably tile the lot and budget for a plasterer from then on.

djtOtago

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#1995515 13-Apr-2018 14:24

If you are just replacing a couple of patches, then just sand it by hand using something like https://www.bunnings.co.nz/usl-240-x-85mm-eco-gib-sander_p00783997
or something from this range https://besttradetools.co.nz/collections/drywall-interior-plastering-hand-tools-accessories-sanders

But if you ever have an entire room to do, get a professional in to do it. They will be fast, cleaner, better.

elpenguino

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#1995525 13-Apr-2018 14:30

When I've stripped wall paper I've used bog standard water based sealer/undercoat and it seems to have been fine. YMMV.

If it's the toilet you're doing I'd also be tempted to strip and paint - who spends much time in there.

I've tried the paper tiger as mentioned but it leaves lots of little marks - fine if you're skimming with plaster anyway. On the last lot, I paper tigered then grabbed the clothes iron and found that good to soften the paper.

Most of the posters in this thread are just like chimpanzees on MDMA, full of feelings of bonhomie, joy, and optimism. Fred99 8/4/21

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