Wall dramas

[CraigH]

Hi guys, looking for a bit of advice please.

I just started doing my en suite. I have a shower tray which is 760mm square but is walled on 3 sides. I managed ton work out before I took it out that the gap between the walls is less than that so the plasterboard is sat on top of it, so the shower tray fits up to the studs on 3 sides.

So anyway my plan was simple...
Knock off the tiles, remove plasterboard and get the walls down to the stud.

Then I was going to use aqua panel to reboard the walls, then tank the shower area. I'm well aware aqua panel isn't everyone's favourite thing and tanking over it is maybe overkill but I liked the size of the boards in what is a small room. So these I already bought...

The problem I have is that there is no stud wall, as such as I expected it anyway. It seems to be a 1" wood frame that's then plaster boarded on one side nailed to the frame. Then there is some more board in the middle at 18.5my, this isn't fixed to the frame but dot and dabbed to the board on the other side. The plasterboard I have removed on this side of the wall was fixed to the outer frame and dot and dabbed in the middle to the middle board.

Seems like a cheap way of saving a bit of wood to me by not putting stud work in for boards to attach to.

So anyway, where do I go from here? Ideally like to still use the aqua panel I have bought.

Help!

 

[White Room]

Stick some pictures on, for me it makes it easier to get my head round it.

 

[CraigH]

Not sure how clear it is from that. There are no studs, just an outer frame with that on the middle. The pb I took off was fastened top and bottom with nails and the dot and dab u are there
But what u see there isn't fixed to the frame either. I assume pb is dot and dabbed to it from other side also....

 

[CraigH]

Just found a thread with some electricians complaining about the same thing. Basically 3 layers of pb dot and dabbed together with the middle sheet being a thick one. No studs as such...

Where the hell do I go from here?

 

[White Room]

It's called Gyproc Laminated partition, the middle sheet is 19mm and then the outer sheets 12.5mm.

I know they don't do it anymore as I can't find on BG website but it was cheap and a fast build.

 

[CraigH]

It's a shame the cheapness isn't reflected in how much you pay for the house!

The house was built in 1997 by a small local builder, I would have hoped someone like that was a bit more traditional but appears not.

I'm guessing my options are a bit limited now. I'm assuming I cant screw aquapanel direct to that?

So is my only option back to plasterboard and dot and dab ? Then tank the thing to death?

 

[White Room]

Yes, that looks like your best option....

 

[CraigH]

Money well spent on aqua boards then! You try to do a proper job......

I'm only going to tank the wet bits, so shower area? Don't need to tank the whole thing?

 

[White Room]

Get your money back on the Aqua boards and yes, tank just inside the area.

 

[Time's Ran Out]

So why not fix the aqua panels direct to the plasterboard with fast set adhesive - or is there weight issues or something I'am missing.

 

[CraigH]

Thanks for your help.

With regard to just fixing to on, knauf say mechanical fixing only I assume due to weight. Each one measures 1200x900 and is over 12kg each so pretty heavy I guess

 

[Time's Ran Out]

I'am thinking they were more like wedi!

 

[Ttt1601]

aquapannel do state only mech fixings, but instead of platersboard, wedi( or similar) can be stuck and tanked easily and is a better option than pb, in my personal opinion, have done it before a couple of times, as there is a housing estate in my hometown that every one is like this and have had a couple of them to do now

 

[CraigH]

aquapannel do state only mech fixings, but instead of platersboard, wedi( or similar) can be stuck and tanked easily and is a better option than pb, in my personal opinion, have done it before a couple of times, as there is a housing estate in my hometown that every one is like this and have had a couple of them to do now

Thanks for reply.

However I have now stuck up new plasterboard, not what I originally wanted but there you go. Will tank it to death so should be OK.

There are 2 things too, first is that when I took old stuff off it was pb, not tanked either i don't believe. Plus it was original bathroom so was 19 years old so am guessing plasterboard can't be all bad, it was bone dry with no sign of water damage anywhere.

My biggest concern tho is the middle layer of pb. When I get bored in 10 years time or so and want it doing again, or better still when I do main bathroom which shares the partition wall with my en suite it's going to be difficult. The middle layer of pb has had some stick getting this side off and as it's attached to other side in main bathroom it makes things difficult in the future.

If everytime you take the pb down the dot and dab is still there or brings part of the middle layer down with it and that is attached to the other side, it is hardly going to last.

I wrongly assumed I could just take it out and whack some nice cement boards up on the studs..... this laminate wall idea seems crazy, especially when builders know people replace bathrooms, more so when you have to take pb down to get the shower tray out!!

 

[Ttt1601]

I do agree with you, awful way to construct wall, but as with most things like this, it was a new idea that saved money, thankfully has largely been diacredited and is not to often used but a lot of houses from 20 ish years ago have this, and I always worry when approaching these walls especially when removing existing tiles. The best thing you can do, (I know this isn't practical right now) is try and time a bathroom refurbishment in with an ensuit refurbishment and completely replace the exsisting wall with a stud wall.