Stud Wall (drywall) and Refurbishing a Rubbish Room to Make a Slightly Less Rubbish Room.

I made good my bedroom.

It was rubbish. Now it is less rubbish.

The plaster was uneven, over which was blown vinyl wallpaper (no photos of that I am afraid - no WAY are you seeing the state of that room before I ripped it out!). It was painted all the colours, and frankly looked like it had been painted using a catapult.

There was a hole in the ceiling, covered with a piece of scrap plywood. To be clear, this hole was superfluous, and not required. It was made by my ex-father-in-law when he was kindly helping with a stuck valve in a water tank in the attic. It was not deliberate, he slipped and his foot came through the ceiling. Aside from the obvious aesthetics issue here, the bigger problem was that whenever I was in bed looking up at the ceiling, doing all the various assorted wonderful things you might do in bed, I was perpetually reminded of my ex-Father-in-law's feet... A great mood-killer!

My bedroom was not a nice place to be.. It had to change, and I was the one to do it. It was either that, or never, ever turn on the light in there.

This Instructamabubble will walk you through how to put up a drywall, and also how I rectified the past DIY horrors left by people who compensated their lack of competence and ability with an abundance of enthusiasm and tenacity.

After measuring the room and thinking about it, it became apparent that I needed lots of things. When I went to the DIY shop, I realised I needed ALL the things.

Happily, the DIY shop stocked ALL the things. So I bought them.

Materials purchased:

• Plasterboard
• Scrim take (fibreglass tape that goes over your joints and small gaps)
• Plasterboard screws
• CLS timber stud
• Skirting board
• Packers of assorted thickness
• Assorted wood screws
• Plasterboard bonding adhesive (for sticking plasterboard to brick walls)
• Paint
• A radiator
• Plumbing fittings for the radiator

Tools I needed:

• A mitre saw (for cutting the CLS)
• A battery drill with hammer funciton
• A tape measure
• A multi-function power tool - it came with sanding heads, half-circle saw blades, straight blades and a bag of chocolate (I may have "accidentally" put the chocolate in there)
• Stanley knife
• Claw hammer
• Spirit level
• Pipe cutter
• Straight edge
• Pencils

I'm a "Blank Canvas" kind of guy. I don't mess around, if I am going to do something, I like to make sure it is done properly.

I would call this part the "fun" part, but really... It sucked. It was dirty, dusty, made a mess I had to clean up and it was laborious. Especially cleaning up.

Most of the brick walls had fairly sound plaster on them. But the stud wall was lath plaster, which is an old way of plastering where wooden laths would be nailed to the studs, and plaster applied directly to the wood. Plaster famously does not bond too well to wood. Over the years, the plaster had started to let go. Tapping the walls you could literally hear where the plaster had let go. Were I to plaster directly to this, I would be redoing it again in the near future. I do not like redoing work. I am lazy. Once is enough, thank you.

So, I decided to take the plaster and the laths down. There is no real finesse here, you just have to get amongst it with a hammer and have at it!

Smashysmashysmashsmash...

Once the plaster was off the wall and swept up, it was time to grab the claw hammer and pull the laths off the wall. You need to make sure you remove every single nail in the studs as you do this, otherwise they will cause problems later.

I continued until all the laths and plaster were off the wall, and just the studs remained.

What you should NOT do is simply move the furniture to the side and start smashing. Dust goes everywhere. There were people I share my house with who were not at all happy at the amount of dust now sitting on everything. I know they were unhappy, because they sat me down and explained to me in a very stern tone that they were unhappy with me. They seemed to not at all care about my industriousness nor my efficiency in just getting on with the job rather than mincing around doing time consuming things like "moving furniture and belongings out of the room" and "making sure the bedding and mattress were at least covered with dust sheets". People and their "rules" [eyerollingemoji]

My advice is to empty the room out, and what cannot be moved out, cover with dust sheets, otherwise people may talk at you for extended periods of time.

Not one to be deterred by something as trivial as "You have probably done enough now, so put the hammer down" I proceeded to continue removing plaster, this time on the alcove and chimney breast.

The plaster was loose and not in good condition here, and I wanted to add a socket for behind the Beetle bonnet shelf for the clock that I still have not made to go on there.

I found the original fireplace behind the plaster. It looked quite nice, with the brick archway.

I removed a couple of bricks from it to have a peek inside. You never know, someone might have hidden money in there. I was disappointed.

I considered opening it up and making a feature of it. However, this would have taken a LOT of work, made a LOT of mess, and the archway was not square in the middle of the chimney breast. I know my wife well enough to know that this would drive her potty. I also could not really think what I could do with it once it was open.

I decided it was a headache I did not want to deal with, so I put the brick back and left it closed up. I wanted to hide a duffel bag in there, with an old hammer, a balaclava, some rope, plastic sheet, gloves and a shovel. However, I was told that some might not see the funny side of this, and that perhaps it would not be a good idea. So I hid a creepy porcelain doll in there instead. Just as I got the camera to take a photograph, the creepy doll slipped and fell down the hole, never to be seen again. Oh, well! Someone will find it eventually.

If plastering a room, the radiator and hanging brackets need removing.

To do this, you have to drain the radiator. You may want to get a professional in to do this.

You need to identify which pipe is the flow and which is the return. To do this, when the system is totally cold, turn the heating on and regularly touch both pipes. Whichever gets hot first is the flow. Mark or label them so you don't forget. I bet you don't do this.

My method:

1. Close the valves on the radiator
2. Have towels and buckets to hand
3. Have something to catch water under the radiator, that will fit beneath the radiator. A cup, bowl, something like that.
4. Have another something to catch the water under the radiator, that will fit beneath the radiator. A biscuit tin, lunch box, anything like that.
5. Open the bleed valve on the top of the radiator.
6. Crack open the pipe that connects to the radiator at the bottom.
7. Catch the water in your water catching thing, and empty it into the bucket as it gets full, swapping it with your second, now empty water catching thing.
8. Keep going until the radiator stops letting out water.
9. Undo the pipes connecting to the radiator.
10. Put your towels under the joints, and empty your buckets, and have an empty bucket next to you.
11. Lift the radiator off the brackets, and immediately tilt the radiator into the bucket. This is easier with a friend.
12. The water that comes out may be black and sludgy and gross. So make sure your towels are where they need to be.

I hope you read this before starting, rather than just doing each step as you read them. If you didn't, I am not sorry.

Remove the radiator brackets from the wall.

Next up, I inspected what was there so I knew what to do next.

The electrics were interesting, with a "School Science Project" vibe to them. The were not safe. I won't go into too much detail, and will say at this point that if you find horrors like this, GET A QUALIFIED COMPETENT PERSON to look. I am qualified, to the latest UK standards, hold certification and could (if I wanted to, if I wasn't so lazy) trade as an electrician. But aside from the obvious nasty tape and "dodgy look", there were some serious safety issues.

For those who have an understanding of BS7671 IET Wiring Regulations, I have written the issues in italics as a point of interest. For those who could not give a monkey's, just skip the italics.

The house is wired with two ring mains, upstairs and downstairs, and a single radial circuit for the lights throughout the house (no separate circuit for upstairs and downstairs on the lights, total pain in the backside). Separate radial for the cooker. Single RCD protection on the main incomer. Not my choice, it's just how it is. One day I will stick a new consumer unit in and wire it properly but for now I just live with it.

In the bedroom, there were two double sockets in series off a single spur, arranged in a mini ring of their own. Imagine a spur off a socket, into a JB, then a "ring" with two sockets off that JB. Not sure who thought that was a good idea.

In addition, the CPC was cut either side of the first and last socket in the room. Reconnecting the CPC on either side of the room saw the RCD trip.

Some scorching was noted on the line terminal of one of the sockets, and the screw terminal was cross threaded, allowing the line conductor to arc.

Lastly, there was a diagonal cable chased into the wall (pictured) which ran to the lights in the en-suite bathroom next door. This was fed from the ring main, not the radial lighting circuit.

No messing, I just rewired the room and pulled out what I could of the old stuff, and picked up the radial for the light and extended that to the bathroom.

After resolving the electrical issues (that diagonal cable embedded into the wall is the sort of stuff that would make the Baby Jesus cry by the way! Whoever did that needs taking outside and leaving there, tied to a tree!), I added some sockets and made good the wall around them, and ran in cables to fit sockets to the stud wall once I had put the plasterboards back up. Once again, DO NOT DO THIS UNLESS YOU ARE COMPETENT AND TRAINED AND UNDERSTAND BUILDING REGULATIONS FOR YOUR COUNTRY!!! If you DO decide to mess with electrics based on what someone on the tinterwebz told you to do and get a tickle or worse, please know that I will be pointing and laughing at you.

Make sure either the power is turned off, or any cable ends are made safe with an appropriate connector on the end so you don't end up giving yourself an electric shock. Don't just wrap them in tape. If you do, I will laugh hard when you accidentally shock yourself.

This was easy peasy... Mostly.

It is a smart idea to mark the floor where each of the studs are at this point. This will help you a LOT in step 9. Trust me. Just do it. Now.

Ok, did you mark the studs on the floor? No? Well, then on your head be it.

The principle for fixing the boards up is simple. The boards are just the right height to go from floor to ceiling. They should be the right width for the studs in the wall (the upright timbers).

No such luck! the stud wall, as I mentioned, was built for lath plaster, so the spacing of the studs was not important. they were all "roughly" the same distance apart, but were not the right distance for the plasterboard sheets.

The choice was simple. Either cut the boards to fit, or add studs (or add timber to the existing studs) to give me somewhere to attach the boards. I went for the latter.

Offering the boards up to the wall, I would measure where the additional timber needed to go (if required), cut the timber to length and screwed it in place. It really was that simple., and faster and cleaner with a better finish than cutting boards to fit the spacings. If you live in an old house, you might well have to do this kind of thing, as plasterboard was definitely not around when these stud walls were built!

I added timber on the fly as required while I fitted boards. Where I did have to cut plaster board, the way to do it is either:

1. Score the paper with a Stanley knife along the line of cut
2. Bend the board so it snaps
3. Cut the paper on the other side of the cut with the Stanley knife
4. For awkward shapes and cuts, my multitool was perfect. Be warned, it makes a dusty mess so where a mask (like we haven't heard that enough lately!).

Offer the boards up to the studs, and screw in plaster board screws every 6" or so, wherever there is a stud. More screws is better, you need the board to hold well and not flex.

Because the boards I used were 2.4 meters long, they fit perfectly floor to ceiling, so not much cutting was required. Just lots of screwing! I like screwing. I find it therapeutic.

For the brick walls, I mounted the boards horizontally as this was easier.

I offered up the boards, marked and cut them to size.

Clean the wall down, and dampen it a little too.

Mixing up some plasterboard adhesive, I applied it liberally to the board in all four corners and in the middle. I found the formula for how much to add:

Add what you think is enough, then add the same again.

Offer the board back up to the brick wall, and push it nice and hard to smoosh the adhesive into the wall. Wiggle the board around a little to make sure it is properly smooshed.

Using a spirit level, you can now adjust the board so it is vertical. The adhesive should hold it pretty well if you mixed it right, and the board should not shift or sag. Make sure it is resting on the floor.

I let the bottom board dry totally before putting the top board on, which also needed cutting down to size.

To do the ceiling, you will be far better off with a friend to help. I have no friends. You should definitely find a friend.

My ceiling was gross, horrible fibreboard stuff. This would not do. I wanted a plastered ceiling.

I needed something to fix the plasterboard to. So, I screwed CLS timber across the joints, at intervals that matched the board size (you can see in the pics), with another CLS timber in the middle to support the boards.

I packed out these timbers with the plastic packers to make it nice and level and parallel, screwing them into the joists above as I went. I had to back screws out and add more packers or take packers away regularly to get this right.

Remember, these timbers must run across the joists, not with them, otherwise you will be in a right old pickle!

I used a ratcheting prop to help get the timbers and boards on the ceiling. It was hard on the shoulders but I got there eventually, screwing every 5-6" as I went. I wish I had a friend. I should have lots of friends, I get "Friend Zoned" regularly.

Don't forget to make a hole to poke the lighting cable through. I did not do this. It is a pain in the neck to try and remember where the cable is after the boards are up.

Once all the boarding was done, I applied scrim tape to all the joints ready for plastering. It was starting to look like a room now!

You could fill the joints with filler instead. But I didn't see the need since I was plastering the walls.

The boarding done, I cut the holes for the sockets using my multi-tool with a straight saw blade.

To do this, I simply placed the socket where I wanted it (complying with building regulations of course) and marked where the box sat.

Then I measured the size of the box, and drew a rectangle to cut out.

Carefully with the saw I cut the holes. and fitted the back boxes, and fed the cables in.

I would love to pretend that I plastered the room. I did not. I hate plastering. I can plaster, but I much prefer someone else to do it for me.

So I gave a man some pieces of paper with the Queen's head on them, and once he had enough pieces of paper he came along to my house with some tools and bags of plaster and a mean look on his face, and he set about it.

After lots of grunting and making manly noises, he had plastered my room. I was delighted. I do not have a photo of the whole room plastered. I have one, but now I don't. I don't know what to tell you. It's gone. POOF! Into the ether.

Let the plaster thoroughly dry (we are talking a couple of weeks!).

Once dry, you can go around with a piece of fine sandpaper and sand off any "slugs" or high spots in the plaster you find.

You must prime the plaster before painting. There are so many people who will swear by different ways. The way I did it works just fine for me: I used watered down white matt emulsion paint. NOT vinyl emulsion!!!! I watered the paint down to the viscosity of full fat milk, and gave the whole room four coats of this to give a good base.

After some careful consideration of colour schemes, lots of planning and a LOT of wandering around paint shops...

Nope. That's not right. That's the sort of thing that happens to other people. Let me start again.

After walking into a the first paint shop I found and impulse buying the first discounted paint that I saw, I got home and opened the tins to see what colours I had bought.

I work on 16-bit colour, like most men. I know colours like "Blue" and "Red" and "Green" and "Brown". I have no idea what puce or mauve is, and as far as I am concerned "Magenta" is a girls name.

On opening the tins, my brain told me I had the colours "Light blue. Or maybe slightly greeny in certain light?" and "Light grey-ish".

The tins assured me that I had purchased "Duck Egg Dream" and "Winter Goose Down". Those are not colours. One sounds like the sort of thing that happens after you take tramadol for your back pain before bed, and the other is something that you line winter jackets with.

The colours did look ok together, so I applied them to the wall. I painted the walls as opposite pairs, two walls in "Light blue. Or maybe slightly greeny in certain light?" and the opposite two walls in "Light grey-ish". I also painted the celling in "Light grey-ish". I was pleased with the result.

Some tips to help get the best finish:

Paint the ceiling first. Use a roller on a broom handle. It is the most unpleasant part of painting, but you do not want those little flecks of paint going everywhere when you have already painted the walls.

Next, cut in by hand with a fine brush. This is tricky to get right, but using a small 1/2" brush, go along the very edges of the wall you want to paint. Make long, even strokes. It takes a bit of practice but you will get there with a little attention to detail.

Now, you can go to town with your roller and fill in the rest of the walls.

The paint I used was high quality and only needed two coats for a really nice finish.

I was going to use an inter-coat sanding pad to give a smooth finish, but I quite liked the eggshell texture that the rollers left. Also I am lazy.

Next up was to fit the skirting boards and architrave.

Do you remember how I told you back in step 5 to mark the floor where the studs were, and you ignored me and didn't do it? Well, now you are about to feel very silly.

I selected pre-finished skirting because I could not be bothered painting it. It came already painted, ready to be cut and fitted. it was not much more expensive and I was happy with the quality.

I would usually use wood, but I ended up going for MDF for this because it was cheap and discounted.

Using the mitre saw makes this job easy peasy, as mine was a double bevel saw, meaning it could rotate and tilt left or right up to 45 degrees.

I simply measured the lengths I needed, and cut them with the mitre saw using the bevel angle for each end of the board.

Then I screwed the boards to the studs in walls, using the marks I made for the stud locations. To do this:

1. Drill a pilot hole
2. Countersink the pilot hole
3. Wind the screw in so the head sits below the surface of the board.

Easy peasy!

Where you are attaching to brick, the method is the same, except:

1. When you drill your pilot hole, make sure that hole marks the brick behind the board.
2. Pull the board away
3. Drill a hole into the brick on your mark to the depth and width required for the rawl plugs you will use
4. Countersink the pilot hole on the board
5. Attach the board to the wall into the rawl plugs using appropriate screws specified by the rawl plugs you used.

The architraves were attached to the door frame using simple panel pins, hammered home with a nail punch and hammer to get them below the wood surface.

Next up, I hung the new radiator in place.

I followed the instructions that came with the radiator for installing, using the provided hardware. The instructions were very complicated, and said:

Step 1. Measure 450mm from the floor.

Step B. Attach your bracket to the wall here, or above this point.

Step 4. Hang the radiator on the bracket.

Your instructions might be different.

With my radiator well hung, it was time to address the pipework. You may want a professional.

I extended the central heating pipework to bring it to the new radiator.

This was pretty straight forward. Having already removed the old radiator, I now needed to remove the old valves and reroute the pipework.

To do this, you must train the central heating system down. Once again, you may want to get a professional to do this for you.

My method (NOTE: I have a closed loop condenser combi boiler. If you have an open system with a header tank, you will need to close the valve for this and possibly shut your water off):

1. Close the valves on all the radiators in the house.
2. Turn off the central heating.
3. Open the radiator valve that was attached to the radiator you removed.
4. Using the bucket and tubs and towels I forgot to tell you to grab, catch all the water that comes out of the pipe.
5. Once one side is trained, open the valve on the other side until no more water comes out.

There will still be some residual water left in the pipes, so be ready with your towels when we do this next bit.

1. Carefully check where you need to cut the pipes in order to reroute them.
2. Cut the pipes under the floor to remove the old valves and pipework.
3. Route your new pipework to where you need it, and connect to the old pipes.

I used pushfit connectors as pictured, which I have been told will work just fine. I have also been told that my house will explode if I use them. I chose to not believe the melodrama of the doomsayers and everything has been fine so far. If using these make sure your cut pipes are straight, and free of burs and damage and CLEAN.

Make sure you know which of the new pipes is flow and return. Some radiators care, some don't. The one I am installing does not care. But make sure your orientate the pipes correctly if it matters for your radiator.

I attached the pipes to the new radiator valves. My valves were compression fittings, but yours may be different. Follow the instructions that came with the valves carefully, or get a professional to do the connection.

Finally, open all the valves on the radiators in your house, re-pressurise the central heating system, and bleed all your radiators, re-pressurising the system again as needed.

CHECK VERY CAREFULLY FOR LEAKS!!!

I was lazy with the carpet. I walked into a carpet shop, said "That one, please!" and someone came to my house with the carpet and within a couple of hours, had fitted it for me.

Last thing was to fit the socket fronts (I chose stainless sockets - GET A PROFESSIONAL TO DO THIS!!!) and hang my VW Beetle shelf on the wall. This was very easy, it has a strip of chamfered timber that gets screwed to the wall (nice and level) and the shelf sits on that. I have no photos of how that fits on the wall.

I am very pleased with the results, and despite having paid someone to plaster (I HATE plastering!!!) and fit the carpet (because I have never done that before and don't plan on learning as fitting is often included in the price of a carpet in the UK), the rest is my work that I am proud of.

I hope you like my bedroom as much as I do. I really need to paint that door...