Building Practices in the Netherlands / Europe

[dlu]

I'm visiting family in the Netherlands which, naturally, means that thoughts of entertainment naturally turn to remodeling...

Specifically, their apartment has nice high ceilings except in the entry hall where the ceiling has been dropped. I think this was done to hide a structural beam that passes through the hall. The building was built not long after the war and the walls are real plaster. The material used to drop the ceiling is super interesting. It's a plastic extrusion that you run around the perimeter of the room, with neat little covers for the corners. Kind of like a surface mount wiring system. Then a sheet of vinyl (I think) is stretched between the extrusions and held in with strips of masonite. A miracle is performed at the final edge and it really looks quite nice. But doing any work above it requires undoing the miracle (and then redoing it) and doing things like hanging lights is quite a challenge.

Anyway, we're thinking it would be fun to pull that down and run some picture mold around where the extrusion used to run. That part seems pretty straight forward. The beam however is in kind of funky shape and has a couple of runs of conduit on the face. So I was thinking that we could fur out the face of the beam and then cover it with sheet rock. But... My efforts to find sheet rock on the Praxis (https://praxis.nl) website have been less than successful.

So, I'm wondering. How would you properly tackle this job in the Netherlands? Is there a product like sheet rock here with a different name?

 

[Hans Mertens]

"gipskartonplaat" of "gipsplaat" is what you need to look for. In Belgium it's often referenced to as Gyproc, the name of the most common fabricator.
Praxis, link to gipsplaat

You come all the way from the US to do some remodeling during your holiday? Respect!

 

[bertv]

The ceiling in the description is something that became kind of a craze a few decennia ago. It is basically a piece of white (pvc) plastic, stretched between thin profiles that are attached to the walls. This kind of 'upgrade' hides the cracks and other displeasing defects of the original plastered ceiling that were caused by the stress of intense foot traffic on the next turn of stairs above it.
Your best bet on restoring this to a more or less original state is to build a slightly lower frame (wood or metal stud) clad with the thinner version of sheet rock (9,5 mm) that is made for this purpose, give that a skim coat and adding moulding in the correct configuration. Check with the neighbours that have the older 'look'.
If that beam is obstructing a clean solution, just integrate it into the ceiling, visibly and painted in one of the 'heritage' colours of Amsterdam. There is a paint store in Woustraat that has a great selection of these 'Old Holland' paint colours and products.

 

[dlu]

"gipskartonplaat" of "gipsplaat" is what you need to look for. In Belgium it's often referenced to as Gyproc, the name of the most common fabricator.
Praxis, link to gipsplaat

You come all the way from the US to do some remodeling during your holiday? Respect!

Thank you! It's more fun than not, and a nice way to learn about the country.

 

[dlu]

Another question...

The walls here are covered with a material, that at first glance, appears to be a coarse textured fabric wallpaper. But in the spot where a prior owner's cat attempted to remove it, we discovered that it is more like wide sheets of mesh joint tape set in something. Maybe thick primer? Any idea what this is called? It seems to do a really good job of hiding / managing the hairline cracks in the plaster.

 

[P_K]

There's a textured wall covering material you'll see in Germany know as Raufaser that gets applied with sizing then painted over which makes for an enormous PIA to remove especially if there's several coats.

Raufasertapeten bei HORNBACH kaufen

Raufasertapeten im HORNBACH Onlineshop & im Markt: Raufasertapeten: Dauertiefpreise✓ große Auswahl✓ 30 Tage Rückgaberecht✓

www.hornbach.de

Might be the same thing.

 

[peter halle]

Even here in the US we have similar products : https://www.adfors.com/wall-coverings

And by the way, for those who like free things, Fibafuse is a fabulous reenforcing tape for drywall install and repairs and works as well as paper tape (the mesh tapes out there are not designed for the ready mixed joint compounds) but embeds in your first layer of mud better and may require fewer coats. You may get a free roll and a a bit of merch from this link if your watch a few videos and take their online test. I actually did it a couple of weeks ago and promptly received the promised. I am non affiliated and I had used it previously but went looking for another roll. Turns out the big box stores sell it but I ended up ordering another version which had more reenforcing power. Anyway, the link to the "class" and potentially a free roll for USA viewers / participants:

https://www.adfors.com/drywall-finishing/fibafuse-paperless-drywall-tapes

Peter

 

[bertv]

If that fabric is quite wide it probably is glassfiber mesh. That is often used on unstable walls or in places where there is a higher risk of dents etcetera. There are two version of it. One has some structure to it and is a fair bit thicker that the other version that is quite smooth. It is glued on the wall like wallpaper, but with a specific glue.

I hate the stuff.

 

[peter halle]

If that fabric is quite wide it probably is glassfiber mesh. That is often used on unstable walls or in places where there is a higher risk of dents etcetera. There are two version of it. One has some structure to it and is a fair bit thicker that the other version that is quite smooth. It is glued on the wall like wallpaper, but with a specific glue.

I hate the stuff.

The first link was both types. I saw the type of product you hate for the first time at an IKEA store here decades ago. I wondered it that was fun to remove.

Peter

 

[bertv]

The first link was both types. I saw the type of product you hate for the first time at an IKEA store here decades ago. I wondered it that was fun to remove.

Peter

Can’t steam it off and it reminds me of hospitals and care homes. Bad memories.