What is this on my walls?

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David321

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# 251578 2-Jul-2019 11:17

Hi all,

Knee deep in renovations and have had some great advice from this forum, now I am back for more!

I am about to have my new kitchen put in and would then like to have the walls prepared for painting, the top half of the walls are that fibre plaster stuff with weall paper over top, them bottom half seems to be some sort of fake tiles, I am not sure if these have been glued on over the fibre plaster or if it is a material all on its own.

Obviously the top will have to be skim coated before painting, but the bottom half I am unsure about the best way to do it, maybe I should smash it off and screw jib to the bottom half of the wall, but I am not sure this could be plastered to the existing top half of the wall, and if the jib would even be the same thickness?

Has anyone come across this sort of thing before who could put forward some info/advice?

Thanks!

wellygary

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# 2268335 2-Jul-2019 11:24

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To be honest, I would seriously look at seeing if you could keep them, its deco fretting likely fits with the age of the house...

I mean tiles in Kitchens it pretty de-rigueur these days , and would be a point of difference,

eracode

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# 2268343 2-Jul-2019 11:29

Bit hard to see from the photos but if they are definitely not individual tiles I’m pretty sure it’s a form of hardboard that you used to be able to buy years ago (maybe still can?) that was embossed with that tile pattern and then painted white and sold in sheets for jobs like this. Often used in bathrooms. Can’t remember the product name.

Edit: Found it:

https://productspec.net/product/4b6f36fe4ff399d11457c73c/hardieglazetm-lining

This updated product appears to have a fibre-cement substrate. Earlier versions - decades ago - were hardboard.

eracode

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# 2268353 2-Jul-2019 11:59

Now I’m second-guessing myself. That top row of ‘tiles’ looks way thicker than the product I was referring to - and the scalloped dado was certainly not part of the product.

If it’s in good nick, I would consider keeping it. Depends on what sort of look you want.

JayADee

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# 2269637 4-Jul-2019 07:47

If that's tile I'd keep it.

CokemonZ

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# 2269695 4-Jul-2019 09:02

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looks like painted tile

David321

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# 2269705 4-Jul-2019 09:32

I have just hacked at this stuff and it is not something that has been stuck on the plasterboard as I thought it may have been.

It seems to actually be plasterboard molded into its current shape/form, meaning removal is the only option, then the framing would be exposed and gib would have to be screwed to the wall.

Now I am left with the question can you have a wall with the bottom half as gib and the top half as fibreous plaster, with no problem in plastering the two different surface types together to make smooth for painting? or would I have to gib the entire wall?

Bung

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# 2269723 4-Jul-2019 10:04

Anything is possible but since you were already saying the plaster would need skim coating it's a balance of cost of more GIB vs extra labour repairing existing.

MadEngineer

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# 2269732 4-Jul-2019 10:47

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Gib board is dirt cheap. From experience if you’re renovating I recommend stripping the room out and replacing the old stuff - the whole wall with new and ensuring that the walls are insulated. Re-tile or whatever if you like and want to keep that look.

Fred99

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# 2270304 5-Jul-2019 10:12

FWIW, the OP stated that the walls are fibrous plasterboard- not gib. There's a better chance of detaching the sheets of whatever it is from fibrous plasterboard without terminal damage as it's much stronger and internally reinforced - rather than relying on the paper surface of gib, surface damage is easy to fix with plaster, then can be skimmed with Plus 4 etc. It's still made, costs about $100 for a 2.7 x 1.2 x 12mm sheet. Typical gib fixers these days don't work with it, in new builds it's only used on premium homes because of cost, can be curved and used on feature walls etc by steaming it.

It's also a mission to remove it, especially when it's been fixed with galv. clouts into rimu framing for 50+ years.

I'd suggest saving it if possible.

MadEngineer

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# 2270314 5-Jul-2019 10:37

We had ours done - 1939 built home with native solid as rock timbers and it came out easy as.

Fred99

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# 2270357 5-Jul-2019 11:19

MadEngineer: We had ours done - 1939 built home with native solid as rock timbers and it came out easy as.

Probably depends on what was used for fibre and fixings. Our house is 1962, rimu, plasterboard is reinforced with what looks like flax fibre. (the new sheets use AR glass fibre) Removing sheets is a sod of a job, it's tough, won't pull past the clouts, can't get a claw under them easily. I was considering replacing it with gib as part of my quake repairs, but as I did a full reclad and insulated all exterior walls as part of that, so repaired the plasterboard instead - was relatively easy. They didn't use to tape joins - which had cracked - especially as they used to fix in line with studs over doors/windows. I reinforced those with fibafuse, better than new.

The other reason I suggested the OP consider repair is that for replacement architraves. skirtings have to come off, plaster cornices if they're there would have to come off. Repair might be quick and simple, replacement with gib might be time-consuming - once restoring those details is taken into account.

JayADee

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# 2270467 5-Jul-2019 13:18

Our 1950 house had fibrous plaster. It's a bugger of a job to get off rimu, you need a pry bar and you need to pry off every cm of it because it's flexible and held on with a million fasteners that don’t come off with the plaster and which you then have to go around afterward and pull out.

David321

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# 2270513 5-Jul-2019 13:56

Yeah I am thinking that smashing off just the lower half (the tiles) and putting gib onto the exposed framing will be the way to go. My question is can gib and fibreous plaster go together on the same wall, I know that normal plus 4 plaster will not stick to the plaster so the gap between the new gib and the old plaster would have to be filled with something else, although I am not sure if there is a product out there that would allow this to be done.