Before and After

Not much new stuff to report, other than we have finished putting up the plasterboard. We are in the process of organising a plasterer to complete the finishing. It has been highly recommended by many people that we should leave this job up to the professionals. DIY almost certainly will result in a bumpy, seam showing, uneven, ugly finish (which naturally we don't want).



The cords are for our new light and pulley switch that will be installed after plastering and painting.

Goodnight Vermiculite

On Saturday we tackled the ceiling in the bedroom. The hoist worked a treat. We wouldn't have been able to do the job without it. The plasterboard is HEAVY and big and really awkward to maneuver but the hoist, though seeming to be a cheep, rusty hunk of metal worked perfectly, even without the spring that fell off and went missing half way through the job...

Pete drilling up the first plasterboard sheet with our faithful hoist. The (temporary) pendant light behind him has a wooden block to give strength to the light fitting yet to be installed (drilling into the wood will be stronger than just drilling into vermiculite).



It was so nice to wake up on Sunday morning to the sight of a smooth ceiling. It was quite a dramatic effect from one days work.









We have opted for a shadow-line rather than a cornice. Much more modern and clean. This nifty metal edging form Greyking makes the job easy and neat. We ordered them in 3 meter strips and have enough to finish the rest of the ceiling.

Plasterboard Gets a Hoist

Two deliveries last week. The first to arrive was a purchase from eBay for a plasterboard hoist. We need this to carry the weight of the plasterboard to the ceiling. Even with two of us lifting the boards, they are so big and bendy that it is almost impossible to do without this machine. You can find them at many hire places. We looked at Kennards in Alexandria. It costs about $80 for a half day, around $100 for a full day. Because it is going to take us a long time to get the job done (we usually work on the renos one day a week because of work), we decided to splash out and buy one for $189 (inc. delivery). We figure we can sell it at the end of the job and make most of our money back anyway.



The plasterboard arrived on Friday morning. This was part of the bulk purchase from Grayking. They supplied us with 13 Boral panels that are 1200mm x 3000mm and 10mm thick (two panels slightly shorter for the wardrobe wall.) The delivery guy showed up at about 9am. Rain was approaching and we had to move quickly. There was no way they were going to fit up the stairs, we were going to have to hoist them into our apartment through the balcony. There wasn't time for that on Friday so we had to stand them up next to the bins at the side of the building. They needed to be covered by a tarp, (which was too sort) to stop them getting damaged from the fast approaching rain. There was nowhere else to put these gigantic panels. The other option was to cut them down to take them up the stairs, but cutting panels means more joints, which isn't good when it comes to plastering later on.

The delivery guy and Pete unloaded all the panels. Pete and I decided to at least TRY and fit them up the stairs. We maneuvered the boards, sliding it up the central spiral of the staircase, and flipping them over by the first floor to get them over the rail. It was really tight, some boards were scraped on the sides from the stair rail, others bumped the corner from scraping on the vermiculite ceiling. The marks are really minor though, hardly noticeable and wont be seen once on the ceiling. About 15 minutes after we got the last panel up, there was a downpour. Pete made it to work for the rest of the day and I started at 12. It was a busy, but successful morning.


These panels are MASSIVE and take up so much room in our apartment. It is starting to get uncomfortable in here!