going frameless (door)

Hi, I'm expecting baby in 6 weeks and my husband and I are trying to do as much work on our 'new' old weatherboard in melbourne as possible before then.

Two questions:
1. Where can i buy a screed (ie large flat surface with straight edge and d handle) for larger areas of wall plastering in Melbourne - Bunnings mentone had never heard of them...

2. We have two bedrooms rooms with ugly wide door frames. We are proposing to remove the frames altogether and reinforce/replaster the corners for a lighter, more modern look -has anyone done this, did it look good, is metal re-inforcing the way to go? any hot tips on doing it?

Thanks heaps -

If you are going to pull off the architraves, what you will probably find underneath is the rough cut edge of the plaster, then a gap, then the edge of the door jamb. If the door jambs are flush with the plaster, you will be very lucky. So you might have a problem getting a good flush finish.

The other problem you will probably have is that it will crack along the join between the plaster and whatever you use to fill the gap. I don't know what sort of reinforcing you have in mind. You could try using the flush external corner strip that you use with gyprock. I don't know how successful that would be with the timber door jamb.

Do you intend to paint the jambs the same colour as the walls and attempt to make it all look the same?

Ah yes that weird last minute must redecorate the house and nursey before baby comes along syndrom. LOL- Some biological drive I'd say.:D or diversion tactics.:rolleyes:

I'll leave it up to somebody with more experience in plastering to answer your questions. BTW CONGRATULATIONS:)

Hi C,
Yes, would paint the jams the same colour.

Yes, was planning to use the metal corner stripping used with gyprock external corners...sounds like we might have to see what's under there and worst case, add a finer architrave if the jam sticks out much past the plaster...what do you think?

thx bleedin thumb - definitely a biological drive, and unfortunately left a bit late in this case - although now that I've finished work can at least do the research and buy the materials for hubby to work late into the night!

Silent has just explained what I wanted to but more succinctly.
You could put a shadow line around the frame which means that youy overcome the problem of joining your reinforcement strip to the timber.
I can't find my catalog at present I'll have a look and post a link.

http://www.rondo.com.au/rondo/documents/Exangle2004.pdf

Heres a link for the steel. page 7 has the shadow lines. Good luck.:)

Thanks bleedin - what is a shadow line...or is that what the catelogue will tell me?

Also, any idea on where to buy the screed in melbourne (for inside the bedroom walls, where the plaster falls away above a join line ie. is not flush and will need a fair bit of plastering to make it flush..

Quote:

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sounds like we might have to see what's under there and worst case, add a finer architrave if the jam sticks out much past the plaster...what do you think?

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I think that's a good idea.

6 weeks, a shodow line is a small recess around your frame or jam. It means that the point where the crack normally appears is butting up to the jam and out of site. its a bit more fiddly than a straight plaster corner but for what you want is worth it. A little trick is to prime and paint your steel profile before you fix it especially if you are going to paint it a different colour ( to highlight the shadow for example) other wise you use a very small brush and swear a lot.
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Bleedin and silent: Thank-you both heaps for going to so much trouble to help. We'll check out the damage under the architraves, and then decide whether to go the shadow line or just finer frame.

Anyone know where I can find the plaster screed (for smoothing large areas) in melbourne (Bunnings doesn't have them)

Cheers ..6weeks

No problem.

Regarding the screed, I can't help with that but I've never seen a plasterer use one. Usually, you would just use a broad knife (you can buy cheap plastic ones from the same place you get your plaster top coat etc) and use a straight edge to check that it's straight. Not sure what sort of finish you would get trying to screed it. You could use a straight bit of timber? Maybe Rod will be able to answer this one better.

You might choose to use a screed if it was solid plaster, for gyprock it probably doesn't have a purpose. Rod will correct me if wrong. Are you sure you are not looking for a trowel?

John.

Most plasterboard resellers have a 2.4 m long straight edge but they don't have the D handle. The straight edge with the D handle is used by concreters to screed off concrete.

So I would try a supplier of concreters tools.

I just use a 4 ft spirit level if I have to float a large area with plaster. This forms the general level, then scrape back and finish off with a 12" blade.

I am a little confused with exactly what you want to achieve removing the frames. Are you doing away with the doors completely or do you just want to get rid of the arcs.

If you just want an opening with no door, like a square opening with no frames, there is a post below that describes how to set up the external angles for this method.

If you want to keep the timber door frame and the door but remove the arcs. Then that is no problem either. The shadow line p50 angle is most likely the best way to go. Or you can use a p25 stopping angle butted up to the frame to finish off. If using the p25 (no shadowline) it is a good idea to have the p25 angle protrude about 5mm beyond the timber frame to give it definition. If it finishes flush you will get a hairline crack between the angle and the frame.

By having the 5mm quirk to give it definition you can run a very thin bead of no more gaps up the join to prevent a hairline crack appearing. You cant do this very neatly if it is flush.

You can not use external angles over the timber and trowel off the plaster onto the timber. Timber and plaster expand and contract at different rates and will ultimately crack and fall off.

Hope that helps.

Cheers.

PS. Any of you guys wanting to use p50 around the doors for a shadow line look, can get a much better finish by rebating the timber fame 10mm wide and 8mm deep to achive the shadowline and then use a p25 angle butted to the frame. It comes up much cleaner and sharper.

Rod.

Rod, how about MDF stopends? why do they not crack?

Cheers Pulse