Hello!
We gained access to our new house a few months ago, and the renovation is progressing at a rapid pace with contractors doing a complete overhaul of the kitchen and bathroom, while I'm working on the surfaces in 5 rooms.
Everything is moving a bit fast, and it's easy to end up going quite far down the wrong path before realizing and correcting it.
In one room I'm working on, the walls consist of interior layers of Tretex (15mm) - vertical tongue and groove plank (60mm) - wind barrier paper - exterior panel. No insulation at all.
These walls are wavy and have several layers of wallpaper since 1943, so I simply thought I would retain Tretex’s insulating ability by putting gypsum (13mm thick) over the Tretex to get a nice, even surface to paint.
Everywhere that needed leveling I placed hardboard strips (2400mm strips) under the screws.
BUT where the gypsum is directly against the Tretex, the substrate is too soft and doesn’t provide enough support, so it kind of cracks very easily before the screw head has sunk into the gypsum. If you look behind the gypsum board, there’s like a coin-sized indentation around the screw.
Unfortunately, it was my first time installing gypsum, and I just found it very cumbersome and ended up using an insane amount of screws instead (2000 for 43m²), without understanding the problem. Sometimes it went well, and I thought it had to do with my touch, star sign, or the like.
What I didn't realize in my haste was that the hardboard, even though it's thin, is enough to unload the gypsum from underneath so everything behaves as it should (I think). So about the last 20% of the room turned out nice!
So gypsum on Tretex = NO!!!! Tretex and gypsum is a problem.
Gypsum with hardboard strips under the screws = YES (I think). But thin battens would probably be better.
Unfortunately, everything is in place and it’s been puttied (and I think it will hold, time will tell).
But a tip for others considering this.
Question: Can I use MDF boards instead of gypsum when continuing in other similar rooms? I'm feeling burned out on gypsum right now.
We gained access to our new house a few months ago, and the renovation is progressing at a rapid pace with contractors doing a complete overhaul of the kitchen and bathroom, while I'm working on the surfaces in 5 rooms.
Everything is moving a bit fast, and it's easy to end up going quite far down the wrong path before realizing and correcting it.
In one room I'm working on, the walls consist of interior layers of Tretex (15mm) - vertical tongue and groove plank (60mm) - wind barrier paper - exterior panel. No insulation at all.
These walls are wavy and have several layers of wallpaper since 1943, so I simply thought I would retain Tretex’s insulating ability by putting gypsum (13mm thick) over the Tretex to get a nice, even surface to paint.
Everywhere that needed leveling I placed hardboard strips (2400mm strips) under the screws.
BUT where the gypsum is directly against the Tretex, the substrate is too soft and doesn’t provide enough support, so it kind of cracks very easily before the screw head has sunk into the gypsum. If you look behind the gypsum board, there’s like a coin-sized indentation around the screw.
Unfortunately, it was my first time installing gypsum, and I just found it very cumbersome and ended up using an insane amount of screws instead (2000 for 43m²), without understanding the problem. Sometimes it went well, and I thought it had to do with my touch, star sign, or the like.
What I didn't realize in my haste was that the hardboard, even though it's thin, is enough to unload the gypsum from underneath so everything behaves as it should (I think). So about the last 20% of the room turned out nice!
So gypsum on Tretex = NO!!!! Tretex and gypsum is a problem.
Gypsum with hardboard strips under the screws = YES (I think). But thin battens would probably be better.
Unfortunately, everything is in place and it’s been puttied (and I think it will hold, time will tell).
But a tip for others considering this.
Question: Can I use MDF boards instead of gypsum when continuing in other similar rooms? I'm feeling burned out on gypsum right now.
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Tretex has almost the same insulation value as regular insulation, but the effect of 15 mm is not very significant regardless of the type of insulation. However, in the wall described above, Tretex makes up 1/3 of the insulation, and the risk of drafts behind the plasterboard during windy weather is significantly reduced; the multi-layer principle also applies to houses.Stefan N said:
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I will do this in a week or so. I've accounted for some of the "incidents" you mention, but it's worth filling it up and avoiding screwing it directly onto the wooden planks because that must be a nightmare.
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Thanks for the calculation example Larsbj! I had thought along those lines but hadn't really analyzed the whole thing in detail.larsbj said:
Today I went shopping for gypsum and masonite bands for room2. The masonite makes a huge difference, so I'm not going to take a chance even though it seems fine for most. It's like setting studs/spars but extremely thin. If it's uneven, you just add double or triple layers where needed. This time it will be orderly with masonite bands every 45cm even before the gypsum is in place.
In the ceiling, it will probably be proper spars, so you can move lamp outlets around a bit too.
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there are surely a hundred such tips, but they are shortcuts to a renovation that ends in catshit, if I may say so. I don't understand why it should be so difficult to do it right from the start. When it comes to plaster, it's one of the best wall materials we have today, and it's fine to place this in front of the tretex, but you need to frame up a new wall if you require the wall to be straight and smooth, like in all new constructions. Quite simple; use, for example, sparse 28X70, which doesn't add much thickness. Start by placing the two outermost ones= one in each corner, not all the way into the corner, about 10-20 mm out on the wall. The studs are standing, level them and use mazunite pieces behind the stud to make it straight if the substrate is uneven. Once the two outermost are set, it's easy with a straightedge (straight board) to screw up the other studs in between, with measurements 600mm cc. Here is now a straight and smooth wall to screw the plaster onto. If there are windows, doors... you need to shift and frame the recesses and divide the measurements between the studs, more than 600mm between studs doesn’t work, as the board's construction dimensions are intended for this. This is how we renovate old houses, it doesn't take very long, and it turns out well and the customer is satisfied. But of course, it's poooooossible to nail, glue, staple, bind the plaster outside the tretex, but that board will, over time, become as crooked and warped as it was before.baljbalj said:
baljbalj, You're talking about strips at 2400mm!! If you frame as I explain, you use pieces of masonite e.g. 70X70mm, these should be between the tretex and the frame, just where the screw will sit, to straighten the wall. Use 5 screws on the vertical frames, on the other hand, I don't think the board wall inside the tretex is that crooked. It’s not a bad idea to put wind barrier on the outside of the tretex before the gypsum, as there might be moisture in the wind blowing into the wall, causing the tretex to bulge.
Yep, 2400mm. They didn't have 2600mm. This is to build as little as possible outward into the room. Studs would have been wonderful, but I attempted a shortcut by attaching directly to the tretex, which didn't work out so well.
I don't know how much crooked is normal for a wall, but there were places where there was a bulge in the middle of a drywall sheet that had to be supported by three masonite strips along each long side and lay directly against it in the middle.
I don't know how much crooked is normal for a wall, but there were places where there was a bulge in the middle of a drywall sheet that had to be supported by three masonite strips along each long side and lay directly against it in the middle.
Well, if you're going for a major renovation, I agree with you when it comes to exterior walls, but if it's about interior walls and you just want a good surface to finish, renovation plasterboard works great directly on the tretex. Sure, you can tear down the tretex and put up plasterboard instead, but it doesn't add much value... rather more work. However, putting regular plasterboard on tretex often leads to more work around doors and windows.