Finishing plasterboard: plastering, skim coat or renovation fleece?

Which finish levels exist for plasterboard?

Eurogypsum, the European federation of the gypsum industry, has set out four quality levels together with UEEP, the European association of plastering and drylining contractors. They describe how much work goes into the joints and the board surface, and which final finish suits each level.

If no level has been agreed for a project, the same guideline says Q2 applies. That is where things often go wrong.

A wall handed over as ready for wallpapering often has its joints closed in practice, but has not been sanded or primed smoothly enough. The guideline itself calls terms such as ready for wallpapering and ready for painting unsuitable for describing a level.

Even Q4 does not make a wall completely shadow-free. The guideline itself states that an absolutely flat surface cannot be achieved by hand. Q4 does largely prevent shadowing in raking light, and that is what matters for a smooth, painted wall.

Can you finish a plasterboard wall or ceiling without plastering?

Yes, if paintable wallpaper is going on the wall. Renovation fleece, glass fleece, glass-fibre fabric and glass-fibre wallpaper can go on plasterboard, provided the joints and screw heads are properly finished and the board has been primed. The wallpaper absorbs the small irregularities still visible after the joints are filled, and is then painted.

We never skip the priming. Bare plasterboard is porous and absorbs moisture from the adhesive unevenly. The gypsum industry guideline prescribes a primer under every wall finish, whether paint, wallpaper or plaster, and also for repairs.

When applying renovation fleece to plasterboard, we therefore first check the joints and the primer, and only then does the wallpaper go on.

Which wallpaper you choose depends on the room. Renovation fleece wallpaper gives a smooth wall that looks like plastered work. Glass-fibre fabric wallpaper has a visible texture and can take more knocks, which is handy in a hallway or on a landing.

There is one thing wallpaper does not do: straighten a crooked wall. If the boards are not flat, or the joints are too rough, a skim coat goes on first and only then the wallpaper.

Plastering plasterboard: when do you need a skim coat or full plaster?

If you want to paint the wall directly, with no wallpaper in between, the whole surface needs a finishing layer. In the gypsum industry guideline that is Q4: the joints finished and then a layer of at least 1 mm over the whole wall. Skim coating is explicitly named there as a Q4 finish.

Our plasterers apply the skim coat by hand, let the layer dry and sand it smooth. For a complete home, applying and drying take 3 to 5 days, faster in summer, and we can place heat fans. Only then does the next layer go on. The drying times of plaster and skim coats therefore also depend on the season.

In a new build, the joints between plasterboards are the weakest spot of the wall. The home settles and shrinks in its first years, and a hard layer is the first to show a crack there.

That is why, for new builds, we recommend renovation fleece wallpaper, with a skim coat underneath where the wall needs it. Fleece bridges small shrinkage cracks. This is how a skim coat in a new build works: as a flat base under the fleece.

In existing buildings, where the home has stood for a long time, the risk of new shrinkage cracks is much smaller. There, a plaster layer ready for painting can be a good choice if you want a smooth, painted wall.

For a plasterboard ceiling, including a suspended ceiling, the same choices apply. You can have it plastered ready for painting or have it papered with renovation fleece and painted. If only the joints are visible, a film coat can also go on first, after which we roll or spray the ceiling.

What does finishing plasterboard cost?

What finishing plasterboard costs depends on the route you choose. Below are the rates from our price list that come up most often with plasterboard. The m² prices for skim coat and plaster always include materials.

Prices exclude VAT. The VAT rate is stated in the quote: for the renovation of a private home more than 10 years old it is usually 6%, otherwise 21%.

If the wall needs both a skim coat and wallpaper, they appear as two items in the quote. Sanding is always included in the wallpaper package of hanging, filling and painting. Corner beads on external corners cost €16.00 per linear metre.

If you want wallpaper without painting, or with your own materials, separate rates apply in our price list.

Can’t you just paint plasterboard directly?

Usually not, because paint does not make a wall flatter. Joints, screw heads and small differences in height remain visible, and under a fresh, even coat of paint they sometimes stand out even more than before.

You see the difference above all in raking light: light that falls low along the wall, for example from a window. According to the gypsum industry guideline, Q2 and Q3 are suitable for matt paint, but tool marks may remain visible in raking light. If you want to largely prevent that, you need Q4.

If you are finishing a new build, settlement comes into play. A thin coat of paint does not move with the plasterboard, while renovation fleece does. A joint that is invisible at handover can therefore come back later as a hairline crack in the paint.

Painting directly is possible, then, but only on a wall that has been finished for it. If you choose that, the finishing layer appears in the quote as a skim coat or plaster. That way you see beforehand what a smooth, painted wall costs compared with a wall with renovation fleece.

Who finishes your plasterboard?

At Bouwsector België you do not have your plasterboard finished by two separate parties. Our 32 in-house plasterers finish the joints and apply a skim coat where needed, and our 40 in-house wallpaper hangers then hang and paint. They belong to one team of 97 tradespeople, so the scheduling between those steps is in our own hands.

In the more than 600 new-build homes we finish every year, plasterboard walls are the rule rather than the exception.

With your request, tell us whether paint or wallpaper is going on the boards, and whether the contractor handed the walls over as ready for wallpapering. Then the right route is already in the free quote you receive within 24 hours.

Because “ready for wallpapering” says little about the finish level, at the site visit we check the joints, the flatness and whether the boards have been primed ourselves. At the site visit and wall inspection we record everything, so there are no surprises afterwards.

On substrates other than plasterboard, too, you can have walls plastered with us.