dot and dab, is the guy "taking the piss" or im i expecting the unresaonable?

[Tom Bainbridge]

no two ways, the job is a total pain in the ass basement conversion

giving the guy as much leeway as possible, the access is total crap, materials storage is damm near impossible, parking costs 2 quid and hour, the job is cental london (england) and the conjestion charge is 8 quid a day

giving him less leeway, ive paid for a parking suspension permit within 3 feet of the front door

how many sheets of drywall (8x4 foot) should he be able to "dot and dab" a day

he is a 2 gang team crew, im refraining from letting you know the output.

lets say, i aint impressed

[Tom Bainbridge]

just in case the term "dot and dab" doenst cross the atlantic

im a carpenter so bear with me

the drywaller has a badly out of true wall so he mixes up the right gear and "dots and dabs" against the bad wall

he then pushes the drywall boards against the "dots and dabs"

[MarkMc]

Man, prepare to get.... ;)

Untrue walls? Isn't that the carpenters... oh never mind. :)

The "d & d" are acting as a shim to push the boards out to a true plane? What is a d & d made of?

[m beezo]

I have no idea how many he should be able to do in an 8 hour day. Mostly because I have never seen anyone do something like that here. If the wall is out of level or plumb or both then here we would use some sort of shims behind the board. Hopefully attach them to the studs after string lining or using a long level to see where we need to put walls back like they should be.

It sounds like what he is doing is like you might see a tile guy do. Add a bit more here or there to get the tile to sit flat. Back butter is one term us Yanks use for such a procedure.

Is that a normal procedure for you guys? Tell us a bit more about the technique.

[Tom Bainbridge]

markmc, quite correct. carpenters put up the original 9 to 12 inch thick brick foundation walls 150 years or so ago :)

in a more genuine note

the walls are very inaccurate, 2 to 3 inches out of plumb (below ground and not much better above ground)

this is nothing unusual for the period

the dot and dab is a similar prouduct to what you call mud but thicker, throw it on the wall and it sticks

push the drywall against it, job jobbed

[Tom Bainbridge]

mbezzo, im new to the techique hence my question

work on the basis the basement walls are wet

a damp proof membrane is attached (a wykamol? product) is fixed to the wall first

now there is a completly dry surface to do dot and dab from

the wykamol has a mesh on the back, the mesh holds the dot and dab material

[MarkMc]

So they're going over a brick wall that's quite wacky. Had me confused there. Times I've had to deal with that I've always set up screed boards and did a pre-hanging pass leveling out the 'dots' before applying sheet goods.

[Kgphoto]

normally we would reframe a wall and then set the boards to that.

If I was to try this process, I would set up a series of string lines and do all my shimming with the dots and then "dab" to that. However, this doesn't sound like a very strong process and will leave a lot of voids that can be damaged by furniture and vacuums later.

[dave_k]

We use that technique on block walls up here. It's really fast. On a straight run, minimal cutting, vertical application, with a body with 20 years less mileage that I have now, I would hang my head in shame if I didn't hang 40 sheets a day

We don't call it it dot and dab we call it laminating.

[David Meiland]

I gotta wonder about installing drywall over brick below grade.

[frenchie]

In central London (or central NYC, for that matter), the odds are really slim there's dirt on the other side of that wall - much more likely: another basement.

You can do things in city basements that you just couldn't in the 'burbs or the country.

[David Meiland]

You can do things in city basements that you just couldn't in the 'burbs or the country.

Not sure what you're implying about city girls vs. burb or country girls... maybe I need to find out.

Seriously, a brownstone basement may have side walls common to the neighbors, but the front and back are probably backfilled. The front might be well covered with sidewalk and stay dry... who knows about the back.

[frenchie]

Not sure what you're implying about city girls vs. burb or country girls... maybe I need to find out.

Get your mind out of the gutter. I'm talking about things like 80-year-old plaster, directly applied to a stone & brick foundation wall, still in good condition. Things you can do? I took it all down, exposed the stone & brick. Sealed it, but: to stop the mortar crumbling dust all over the place; not because of any moisture.

Seriously, a brownstone basement may have side walls common to the neighbors, but the front and back are probably backfilled. The front might be well covered with sidewalk and stay dry... who knows about the back.

Sure, out here in Brooklyn, where people have actual back yards... I'd worry about DW in a basement around here, for example. But in the city? The backyard is probably paved; and on those rare occasions where it isn't paved, it's so sheltered by the buildings all around it, that hardly any precipitation ever hits it.

Just saying - the only moisture I've ever seen, in central-city basements, was from plumbing issues.

[Joepro0000]

Tom send me a ticket out there and I'll come with the Mexicans and slap that drywall up in 2 hrs, then tour the city.

[frenchie]

It's a pretty cool city.

And if you find the right places, you can ignore everything you've ever been told about the food being bad. I'm still looking to find as good a burger, in NYC, as I had in a pub in Ravenscourt a few months ago.