[Jo_b]

Hello, just a funny little 'they do things differently here' question!

We've been living in Wellington for a little under two years, and we are currently having our kitchen rennovated after a bit of a flood (the insurance is paying for most - yey!)

Yesterday, the plasterers came. They were very neat and tidy, and have done a good job, BUT, unlike plastering we've had done back in the UK where a total skim of the plasterboard is normal, all they have done is skimmed the joins in the gib.

Is this normal for NZ? I was a bit shocked at first (I mean it looks ok, but seems a bit half-a-job), but I'm assuming that's just what they do here....

[willsken]

Totally normal. Hubby is a Gib stopper over here and this is exactly what he spends his day doing. Just the joints and no skim over the rest of the plaster board. :yes

[Moorf]

Yes, it threw us too when we had renovations done on our previous house. And getting gib stoppers was very hard, too, they are in demand (at least they were 3 yrs ago!).

Why is this - could it be that plastering walls in an earthquake country isn't a great idea? :confused:

[Jo_b]

Thanks! I suppose it makes sense....kind of!

[Jo_b]

Hadn't thought of that, maybe?

I now have a whole new list of terms in my vocab. Dwangs, gib stopper, square-stopping. One of the builders thought it was funny I refered to 'glassfibre insulation' instead of 'pink batts'. Luckily the other was from Manchester!

[Moorf]

Ok, gotta ask - what's a dwang!!

Plus, at least you didn't look quite as stupid as us when we were told, by an enthusiastic real estate agent pointing up into the open loft door, that the house had "pink bats" - I kid you not, we asked if they were rare... :o and could you move bats on in NZ (unlike the colony we had in our barn in Scotland!).

[Gar1]

Ok, gotta ask - what's a dwang!!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwang

[peebles16]

Ok, gotta ask - what's a dwang!!

Plus, at least you didn't look quite as stupid as us when we were told, by an enthusiastic real estate agent pointing up into the open loft door, that the house had "pink bats" - I kid you not, we asked if they were rare... :o and could you move bats on in NZ (unlike the colony we had in our barn in Scotland!).

:laugh :laugh Oh that's made my day :)

Karenx

[Tia Maria]

Plus, at least you didn't look quite as stupid as us when we were told, by an enthusiastic real estate agent pointing up into the open loft door, that the house had "pink bats" - I kid you not, we asked if they were rare... :o and could you move bats on in NZ (unlike the colony we had in our barn in Scotland!).

:laugh Cheered me right up too!

Cheers

Tia

[mylesdw]

Ok, gotta ask - what's a dwang!!.

You might know it as a noggin?

While we're on the subject of building terms:

- spouting

- wetback

[Moorf]

:o I even wrote it up at the time! http://britintheboonies.blogspot.com/2006_03_30_archive.html

[Moorf]

My goodness - noggins and dwangers - today is certainly a school day :D

Spouting is, I think, guttering? I'd only just got used to the Scottish word for them, too! Rhones? I forget...

[Gar1]

You might know it as a noggin?


No thats a stupid name. Its a DWANG

[willsken]

Well, I always knew it as a noggin ...... and I think it sounds far more professional than a Dwang!! :D

[Bergita]

No clue what a noggin is (other than a head??) or a dwang? How about a description, like it's that doohickey at the end of the whatsit that you use for something or other...?

[Moorf]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5a/Dwang.gif

A dwang :cool:

[Bergita]

Thanks Moorf, that's cleared it up for me nicely. :yes

[Gar1]

No thats a stupid name. Its a DWANG

Sorry should have added one of these :D

[KerryS]

Plus, at least you didn't look quite as stupid as us when we were told, by an enthusiastic real estate agent pointing up into the open loft door, that the house had "pink bats" - I kid you not, we asked if they were rare... :o and could you move bats on in NZ (unlike the colony we had in our barn in Scotland!).

Oh my, that has cheered up my afternoon immensely! :D

[Gar1]

I think the main reason that they don't put a skim coat on the plasterboard is more due to cost. I have a friend who is a plaster and that's what he says anyway.

[YouMeAndThree]

Pink Bats! That would have been me too. They sound kinda cute though don't they :D?

Lx

[Steven & Ann]

I know a local plasterer, he told me that the plaster chemistry is different here. NZ plaster has a more elastic structure, but as a result doesnt work up the same as UK gypsum, which dries into a brittle finish. It also goes off faster because of the ingedients and the slightly hotter climate, so there is less time to work it up smooth.

The other thing I learnt was that ceiling boards have to be glued as well as nailed/screwed to reduce the chance of them pulling off in a major earthquake.

Inner corners are generally done with a bead of sealant, to avoid cracking in a quake. Then paper tape the corner, and gib stop over that. If the paper tape unglues in the quake, the corner often still holds.

Paper tape is preferred to mesh, apparently, can't recall why but it sounded good at the time.

[M-Squared]

Sounds a lot more like US construction, where wood-framed houses are the norm, too.

I wish someone could come and look at our house and tell me WTF it's made of! It's not a regular Kiwi house...

[canajanz]

LOL

I was a bit shocked the first time in the UK when they wanted to do the whole wall

the differrence is in the underlying material
Plasterboard has to be plastered
Gib Board doesnt ... North america has been doing this for ever ... you put up the Gib then seal the seams. There IS a difference between paint quality and wallpaper quality .. IMHO it's worth getting paint quality in case you ever want to paint rather than paper

yes it is perfectly normal ....

[tea drinker]

What is different about a NZ property to make it survive an earthquake without too much damage?

Treat me gently as I know little about house construction...unless it's a dwang or a noggin of course :D

[Gar1]

LOL

I was a bit shocked the first time in the UK when they wanted to do the whole wall

the differrence is in the underlying material
Plasterboard has to be plastered
Gib Board doesnt ... North america has been doing this for ever ... you put up the Gib then seal the seams. There IS a difference between paint quality and wallpaper quality .. IMHO it's worth getting paint quality in case you ever want to paint rather than paper

yes it is perfectly normal ....

GIB is Plasterboard. Gib is a manufactures name that has become know as the item, same as hoover.
It is more traditionaly common to have the wall skimmed in the UK as this is a much better, harder finish. However it is becoming more common in the UK to have the ames tapers just seal the joints in boards. This is done mainly for cost reasons and the fact that there is less call for paper.

Trust me if you have to use a steamer to get paper off the wall its much better if the wall has a plaster layer. Although it is becoming popular to paper straight onto the gib

[Caroline and Dave]

We have got the internal plasterers in now and I thought I'd put on here photos of what they actually do. I wouldn't reccomend stripping wallpaper on it though. I was speaking to one of the plasterers who was from huddersfield and he says that in his opinion this is a better way of doing things. The boards are a lot finer surface here and you don't get any cracks come through as you do in the UK
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q109/davros1nz/retainingwall2007.jpg
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q109/davros1nz/retainingwall2020.jpg
There is coving to go at the top. Now they just paint over this once architraves etc have been fixed and seal the corners

[Tia Maria]

OK, here's a question .....

We have wallpaper that comes half way down the wall and meets paint, there is wallpaper border to hide the join.

We want a new look but am I right in assuming if we strip the wallpaper we will have to plaster the whole wall afterwards?

Someone suggested putting lining paper on the bottom half and then papering/painting over - does this sound possible?

Cheers

Tia

[canajanz]

Ok, gotta ask - what's a dwang!!

Plus, at least you didn't look quite as stupid as us when we were told, by an enthusiastic real estate agent pointing up into the open loft door, that the house had "pink bats" - I kid you not, we asked if they were rare... :o and could you move bats on in NZ (unlike the colony we had in our barn in Scotland!).

We were told to be careful which sort of pot lights we used as the older vented ones allowed "bat dust" to sift through and fall down. Bat dust! 3 day pause ... BATT dust! from the pink bats!! oh :o

[canajanz]

GIB is Plasterboard. Gib is a manufactures name that has become know as the item, same as hoover.



Sorry I should not have used the MF name GIB board

Our plasterer told me that 'real' [his words] plaster board is harder and has a different finish therefore SHOULD be plastered over whereas this GIB board is what I knew in canada as 'dry wall'.
And that name is probably the whole explanation .. dry wall as in does not have to be [wet] plastered.

[PeteS]

Noggs or Dwangs? Noggs in the North Island, Dwangs in the South Island. Generally.... They are Noggs in the UK.

You confused them with Glass fibre insulation? Try using the term Rockwool instead. Confusion levels will rise.

Now, IMHO, what they do with Gib in this country is diabolical. They do not know how to do proper plastering because "no-one does it", and they use the cheap option of just doing the joints with paper tape or sticky mesh. This means when you strip wall paper, you can take the top layer of Gib with it. I suggest that you paint the wall before wallpapering so you can strip in the future!

Terms that have confused me? Hotpoints. Heatpoints. Water table.

Hotpoints and Heatpoints are both terms used for Power point or Socket outlet.

Water table is used to describe the ditch at the side of a road that water runs in having come from a road.

[andrewp]

So slightly off topic if I may, but here in SA no-one wall-papers. I've never understood the attraction. We always paint walls, but then again, all our internal walls are always brick and plaster.

Why do people use wall paper? It's always struck me as lots more work that rolling on a coat of paint.

[ant7jen]

Did somebody say pink bats? :D

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2046/2009234214_9b58a863d1.jpg?v=0

http://radio.weblogs.com/0107064/MyImages/pink-bats-breast-cancer.jpg

[Gar1]

Noggs or Dwangs? Noggs in the North Island, Dwangs in the South Island. Generally.... They are Noggs in the UK.
.

No they are not. They use the term dwang in Scotland (which is still part of the UK). I assume that is how the Kiwis got the word.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwang

However do agree the rest of the statement about the state of the wall linings in NZ. Just sad to say that its becoming common in the UK as well. But it does keep the cost down. Harry Enfield's Loads Of Money character comes to mind

From wikipedia (for those that think Drywall is not pasterboard).

Drywall is also commonly known as gypsum board, wallboard, plasterboard (USA,UK, Ireland, Australia, Lebanon), Gibraltar board or gib (New Zealand - GIB being a trademark of Winstone Wallboards), rock lath, Sheetrock (a trademark of United States Gypsum Company),[1] gyproc (Canada, Australia, UK), pladur (Spain - after the Pladur brand), or rigips (Germany and Central Europe - after the Rigips brand), or simply board.

Also from wikipedia

Lath and plaster has been replaced altogether with drywall or plasterboard (also a type of gypsum wall board, although a bit thicker), since it can be installed without application of plaster to finish the surface. As plastering is a skilled trade, and hence expensive, reducing the amount of plastering required in a new development also reduces the building costs.

Look at GIB's website they call the stuff plasterboard as well.

Phew sorry rant over.:exit

[PeteS]

A pommie mate of mine works as a site manager for Mainzeal. He says it takes the gib stoppers 4 days to stop walls because they can only do it in thin coats and then sand it back. The same job in the UK takes 2 days. And it's a hard shiney finish. I think the difference in work practice is due to differences in skill levels.......

[NikT]

A pommie mate of mine works as a site manager for Mainzeal. He says it takes the gib stoppers 4 days to stop walls because they can only do it in thin coats and then sand it back. The same job in the UK takes 2 days. And it's a hard shiney finish. I think the difference in work practice is due to differences in skill levels.......

I've found gib stoppers take half the time here, than it does for a plasterer to skim drywall in the UK.
And gib stopping was getting more common in the UK for commercial projects when I left.

Nick.:cheers