Old bathroom plasterboard plaster and scrim questions

S

Sophie

New Member
Hi, new poster and just a DIY renovater (hope it’s ok to ask a question) with a new house - well a very old house .. 300 year old cottage with 1969 extension (living in extension, working on cottage which is a separate building ). Started taking down the plasterboard in the old cottage (stripping back to limecrete walls) . All seems normal enough until the bathroom. In there the plasterboard is spaced from the walls using big dobs of plaster (not timber Latts as before ) but also the plasterboard has the brown side facing out into the room which is different from everywhere else in house . There also seems to be an extra ‘layer ‘ of what looks like plasterboard under the window - I think it’s plasterboard and not AIB as there is paper on both sides , but stand to be corrected. There seems to be two layers of plaster as well in bathroom. A thin one on top (maybe 3 or 4 mm with the paint on top then one below that’s about 8mm) both are hard , brittle , will break when banged on hard surface and comes away in chunks. In other parts of house it was just one layer of plaster . The plaster boards are joined with metal mesh at the window corners then cotton scrim elsewhere. The cotton scrim has a sparkle in it, only noticed as the bulb went and I was taking a second look with the torch. When I shone light on it it has what looks like glittter. Between this and the extra ‘layers’ asbestos has come to mind. I am wondering would double layering plaster boards in spots like under window have been a done thing? And is it normal to uncover what looks like two layers of plaster and then there’s the glittery scrim... Any thoughts from the professionals ? Have stopped work. Was working in those papery painting overall’s and FFP3 mask with window open. Have closed window and the door on the room for moment and wet wiped shoes phone tools etc. Many thanks in advance for any advice , L
 
Old bathroom plasterboard plaster and scrim questions
 
Sophie said:
Hi, new poster and just a DIY renovater (hope it’s ok to ask a question) with a new house - well a very old house .. 300 year old cottage with 1969 extension (living in extension, working on cottage which is a separate building ). Started taking down the plasterboard in the old cottage (stripping back to limecrete walls) . All seems normal enough until the bathroom. In there the plasterboard is spaced from the walls using big dobs of plaster (not timber Latts as before ) but also the plasterboard has the brown side facing out into the room which is different from everywhere else in house . There also seems to be an extra ‘layer ‘ of what looks like plasterboard under the window - I think it’s plasterboard and not AIB as there is paper on both sides , but stand to be corrected. There seems to be two layers of plaster as well in bathroom. A thin one on top (maybe 3 or 4 mm with the paint on top then one below that’s about 8mm) both are hard , brittle , will break when banged on hard surface and comes away in chunks. In other parts of house it was just one layer of plaster . The plaster boards are joined with metal mesh at the window corners then cotton scrim elsewhere. The cotton scrim has a sparkle in it, only noticed as the bulb went and I was taking a second look with the torch. When I shone light on it it has what looks like glittter. Between this and the extra ‘layers’ asbestos has come to mind. I am wondering would double layering plaster boards in spots like under window have been a done thing? And is it normal to uncover what looks like two layers of plaster and then there’s the glittery scrim... Any thoughts from the professionals ? Have stopped work. Was working in those papery painting overall’s and FFP3 mask with window open. Have closed window and the door on the room for moment and wet wiped shoes phone tools etc. Many thanks in advance for any advice , L
Click to expand...

Pics, pics and pics @Sophie
 
Just get a professional to look at it ,fishing for information to try sort it yourself is pointless telling someone what the problem is and them being able to fix the problem is two different things ,just pay someone to do it
 
Here are some pics , -pic 1 shows the scrim with the glittery shiney effect under light. 4th pic shows me having peeled back some of that board in pic 2 and 3. Which looks like plasterboard to me? Just looks different from all the other board. Pics 5 and 6 are pics of the two layers of plaster. Maybe I’m being an idiot and this is all just completely normal. You must be sick of amateurs asking questions like this. We just don’t have the money to get anyone in to do this sort of work and are saving all the cash we can for the professionals like plasterers etc . thanks for your help
 

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Sophie said:
Hi, new poster and just a DIY renovater (hope it’s ok to ask a question) with a new house - well a very old house .. 300 year old cottage with 1969 extension (living in extension, working on cottage which is a separate building ). Started taking down the plasterboard in the old cottage (stripping back to limecrete walls) . All seems normal enough until the bathroom. In there the plasterboard is spaced from the walls using big dobs of plaster (not timber Latts as before ) but also the plasterboard has the brown side facing out into the room which is different from everywhere else in house . There also seems to be an extra ‘layer ‘ of what looks like plasterboard under the window - I think it’s plasterboard and not AIB as there is paper on both sides , but stand to be corrected. There seems to be two layers of plaster as well in bathroom. A thin one on top (maybe 3 or 4 mm with the paint on top then one below that’s about 8mm) both are hard , brittle , will break when banged on hard surface and comes away in chunks. In other parts of house it was just one layer of plaster . The plaster boards are joined with metal mesh at the window corners then cotton scrim elsewhere. The cotton scrim has a sparkle in it, only noticed as the bulb went and I was taking a second look with the torch. When I shone light on it it has what looks like glittter. Between this and the extra ‘layers’ asbestos has come to mind. I am wondering would double layering plaster boards in spots like under window have been a done thing? And is it normal to uncover what looks like two layers of plaster and then there’s the glittery scrim... Any thoughts from the professionals ? Have stopped work. Was working in those papery painting overall’s and FFP3 mask with window open. Have closed window and the door on the room for moment and wet wiped shoes phone tools etc. Many thanks in advance for any advice , L
Click to expand...
If you’re unsure, you can get a testing kit for about £30, which will buy you piece of mind. What looks difficult and dangerous to you is just another boring day for the people who work in this s**t day in day out.
 
ChrispyUK said:
If you’re unsure, you can get a testing kit for about £30, which will buy you piece of mind. What looks difficult and dangerous to you is just another boring day for the people who work in this s**t day in day out.
Click to expand...
Fair enough. Thanks for the advice and reply. Appreciated .
 
Sophie said:
Hi, new poster and just a DIY renovater (hope it’s ok to ask a question) with a new house - well a very old house .. 300 year old cottage with 1969 extension (living in extension, working on cottage which is a separate building ). Started taking down the plasterboard in the old cottage (stripping back to limecrete walls) . All seems normal enough until the bathroom. In there the plasterboard is spaced from the walls using big dobs of plaster (not timber Latts as before ) but also the plasterboard has the brown side facing out into the room which is different from everywhere else in house . There also seems to be an extra ‘layer ‘ of what looks like plasterboard under the window - I think it’s plasterboard and not AIB as there is paper on both sides , but stand to be corrected. There seems to be two layers of plaster as well in bathroom. A thin one on top (maybe 3 or 4 mm with the paint on top then one below that’s about 8mm) both are hard , brittle , will break when banged on hard surface and comes away in chunks. In other parts of house it was just one layer of plaster . The plaster boards are joined with metal mesh at the window corners then cotton scrim elsewhere. The cotton scrim has a sparkle in it, only noticed as the bulb went and I was taking a second look with the torch. When I shone light on it it has what looks like glittter. Between this and the extra ‘layers’ asbestos has come to mind. I am wondering would double layering plaster boards in spots like under window have been a done thing? And is it normal to uncover what looks like two layers of plaster and then there’s the glittery scrim... Any thoughts from the professionals ? Have stopped work. Was working in those papery painting overall’s and FFP3 mask with window open. Have closed window and the door on the room for moment and wet wiped shoes phone tools etc. Many thanks in advance for any advice , L
Click to expand...

something like this

Link Removed
 
Not seeing anything looking like asbestos - shiny stuff appears to be vermiculite, some crass attempt at insulation, ditto the double boarding. Presumably solid walls given age of building, and lots of condensation in the bathroom.
Wrong side out might be DIYer thinking it will get a better bond onto tiles, ditto mesh on windows, then saw the cost/skill in tiling and went for a 2nd plaster board, or, that the extra depth of plasterboard would stop the condensation.
Crack on with ripping it all off then talk to a lime-plastering plasterer who knows what they're on about. There is a recent thread on here about a con-job waterproof plaster,( ignore), but with a link to a specialist damp company who might give you some advice/contractors names
 
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