Bad plastering in new development house

[Mamma373738]

We are the second owners of a new-ish development house. DH is trying to install curtain rails but he says the plaster from the developer is rubbish and making it impossible to fix anything to the walls. We should have taken more note of the hacks that were in place from the previous owner - bits of wood screwed into the walls to make them more load bearing for the fixtures. He is trying to come up with his own solutions, but is there anywhere we can get some advice, online or would we get a builder to sort it all out - either installing the fixtures or maybe even replastering some of the walls?

I’m gutted because we have a SEN child and I had planned to make one of the rooms into a gym for them. But now, installing everything we wanted like a Swedish ladder, hammock swing, monkey bars on the ceiling - anything load bearing - seems risky.

That’s what you get when you buy a new build I’m afraid, thin plasterboard walls.

Using a wooden batten to fix curtain rails
as the previous owner has done is a generally accepted way of doing things.

Try googling plasterboard fixings and you might find some other solutions that would work.

Wouldnt a lightweoght swish type rail work.? The other the other installations sound extreme though even for a stronger built house. Is there an outside area more suited ?

Firstly, there are videos like this that show the fixings and how much weight they can take.

However, this is assuming you have actual plasterboard that is either attached to a brick wall with "dot and dab" ie adhesive or screwed to a frame made from wood. Again, YouTube can help you understand this.

Depending on the age of the house it may have some weird "plasterboard" a bit like Ikea furniture so a very thin layer of particleboard with a honeycomb centre for stability. You need to determine which one you have.

You can make a small hole in the wall in a non obvious area and see what you have.

I highly recommend both the channels of the people I have linked. This one below shows you how windows are made in houses so you understand what is happening inside the wall.

The best advice I can give you is to buy 2 power tools, one an SDS drill and the other an impact driver. Both of these replace your normal drill and will go through stuff like a hot knife through butter. We are really good at DIY, we have installed bathrooms, tiled walls and floors, fitting flooring, some simple electrics too.

posted twice somehow.

Op, curtains are heavy and plaster is generally not strong enough to take fixings, regardless of the age of the house. Spreading the load over a long wooden batten or drilling fixings into the brickwork/ blocks will be more successful.

Presumably this is an outside wall if the curtains are for a window....

Thank you all - I’ll look at the links and share them with DH. Yes it’s for an outside wall so drilling into brick too. The long battens look like a good idea.

I knew that a new build would have problems (we were limited with locations and this was the best option) but I had hoped being second residents meant most would be ironed out. I really didn’t expect rubbish plaster to be one of them - surely there is an expectation that owners will be attaching fixtures and curtain rails, TVs, so everyone will be having the same issues!

Re the indoor gym, it’s not that uncommon or extreme. DC has complex needs and its already a struggle to get DC outside for anything even the playground, and it’s much worse in the cold or bad weather. He needs to jump and swing to regulate and that’s impossible outside on a cold and wet day. We need to figure out something that works year round, not just the couple of months it’s warm in the summer.

When it's a plaster board wall you need to find the wall.joists and screw heavy things onto them.

I exclusively use these in my new build. Curtain poles, mirrors, radiator covers, toilet roll holders. Been up for years no issue. https://www.screwfix.com/p/easyfix-self-drill-plasterboard-fixings-metal-32mm-100-pack/2422H?tc=YT4&gclsrc=aw.ds&gadsource=1&gadcampaignid=901249366&gbraid=0AAAAAD8IdPxZRtqnjvMQDiMJRcQ6SeJ&gclid=Cj0KCQiA9t3KBhCQARIsAJOcR7w7PO3Yt7Np3VDr9C3qo9a8LctCBlMYQV-wZHiojpFYbhJM2rAZwDEaAjW2EALwwcB

It's not bad plastering it's the build method. You need to understand how the house has been constructed in order to get the right fixings. It's likely the external and load bearing walls are brickwork with plasterboard stuck on with blobs of fixing and the internal walls are likely wooden stud frame with plasterboard to make the walls.

Watch some videos - these are good and you will feel more confident with what you are dealing with.

Different fixings -

External dot and dab wall explained

I’m not sure this is a plaster problem but rather a lack of knowledge problem? You aren’t screwing things into the plaster to hold them, well you are, but you need to be using the appropriate fixings.

Curtain rail - if going close to the top of the window which you will be you could be hitting the steel lintel which will prevent the fixings going in properly. What have you used for this? Have you either got a good depth hole or are you using the appropriate self tapping steel fixtures?

Generally - if you are going into plasterboard sheets you need to be using hollow wall anchors to grip behind the board. Rawl plugs or similar will just come straight out again. I suspect this is what you and the previous home owner are doing. You can also get very heavy duty grips ‘gripit’ plugs such as the below which will hold up to 100kg - I.e it would support the weight of your husband hanging off it.

www.screwfix.com/p/gripit-tv-clam-plasterboard-fixings-25mm-x-205mm-4-pack/371hp?ref=SFAppShare

Heavy Objects - you need to be fixing into a ceiling or wall beam / stud (or use something like the above). If you need to put things where there are none / they aren’t spaced correctly then you need to build some support. I did this as an example when hanging a heavy column radiator which is about 60kg when full.

Using wood battens if secured into a stud will work but looks a bit naff surely?

As the last two posters have said it’s not “rubbish plaster” (what even is that anyway?) it’s the construction method. You need plasterboard anchors and/or stud locators to ensure you screw into the studs. If it’s brick/block behind then you need to ensure you go deep enough into the solid block.

On the flip side hanging pictures
on these kind of walls is usually easy - a light tap and a nail goes straight in.

Ah ok thanks for correcting me. I think DH knows how to properly attach the fixtures but I’ll go back and get him to explain it to me again, we’ll watch the videos and I’ll update.

Sadly you've encountered the appalling lack of good construction technique and expertise / skill applied to new builds, as the developers make it look pretty but as for being robust, that's pot luck. You need to check if you have sufficient battening behind the plaster board, as too often this is also an issue where costs are cut.

No they’ve sadly encountered the limit of their current knowledge. I’m not saying that there aren’t issues with new builds but I’d put good money on this being simply the incorrect usage of fixings. The studs will be to building regs - 400 or 600mm centres. If you affix to these then they will hold the weight of a baby rhino being hung off them. Otherwise you need to use the right proverbial tool for the right job. Live and learn. All good.

Stick some photos up if you’re really stuck. With old plaster you may get some falling off / cracking as you drill in, but I’m talking my late Victorian house old rather than a circa 2000’s new build. For your curtain rail I’d guess one of two things:

1. you’ve not got a deep enough hole / don’t have the appropriate fixation in there. When the weight of the curtains goes on it will pull the whole thing out / down.

2. you’ve hit the steel lintel so can’t go deep enough to support the weight. Similar to point one above this will mean the item can’t be supported.

if you want to hang pictures there are many solutions that don’t involve drilling - stick on hooks basically that are load rated up to 15 ish kgs each from memory. For relatively light stuff you don’t need to drill anything - no nails range of products for instance.

As PP's have said, it will be nothing to do with "rubbish plaster" or poor build quality, it will be down to a lack of understanding of construction methods or and/the correct fixings to use.

Is it timber framed or brick/block with cavity (around here, timber framed is actually quite rare with brick/block being the norm)?
If it is block then the "rubbish plaster" is irrelevant, the fixings should be going through the plaster and securing to the block behind.

Can’t you use plasterboard raw plugs?

You can but they won't hold heavy items like large tv brackets or heavy pictures / curtains.

This.

older houses have solid walls and not internal battened plasterboard
so easier to fix through solid construction

Nope. They often have lathe and plaster which is a horror show to hang things off as it is literally thin slats of wood with plaster slapped over the top. They will then have brick external walls as per most houses.

Yes we have lathe and lime plaster and tbh I have no idea how everything’s holding up ( the heavy stuff is hung on the chimney stacks However)

We don’t have brick externally, it’s again lathe and lime render between all though oak framing ( a lot of properties near us have the same )

I tagged a pp about plasterboard and battens re older properties though

My house is 25 years old. We have a combination of dot and dab external walls plus dot and dab internal walls as we have 2 solid walls in the house. We also have walls that are classed as premade walls which are the shitty particleboard things with the honeycomb and an internal wooden frame but only on some walls. It was an eye opener when we moved here. This is why I suggested drilling into the wall to see what the construction is and it might vary to each wall.

The videos I linked above show all the different fixings just like Charlie DIY videos also linked above, all three, Proper DIY, Mr DIY and Charlie are great for this sort of thing. Good comparisons with explanations. Proper DIY video actually shows how windows are constructed, he makes these mock ups, meaning you can visualise what you need to drill into. If you want to drill into masonry without swearing every 4 seconds, an SDS drill is the best tool.

I wholeheartedly agree, screw beyond the plasterboard, into the masonry to get a good solid fixing.

This is house number 6 for us, we have only lived in new builds due to school catchments and commute to work.

I think your indoor gym equipment will either need to be fitted to a freestanding frame that can bear the weight or fixed to a ceiling joist (as these are designed to take the weight of the roof, but you will need to go into your loft to work out where they are in relation to the room below. Alternatively, could you put a garden room up with the gym inside and make it a lovely sensory space away from the main house