# Forum Home Renovation Plastering  Screws into ceiling, and adhesive as cornice cement?

## Spelunx

So I am half-way through the ceiling job at my place, and it is looking great!  (I WILL post some pictures, I promise! :Biggrin:  :Biggrin:  :Biggrin: )  I had to put up the U channel by eye, but it all worked well! 
I have two questions, if someone could help me out: 
1.  With the screws into the plaster ceiling, how far should they imbed?  Some of the screws today popped straight through the paper layer, which I assumed was a bad thing, but others are sitting flush with the plaster.  What is the best way to go?  Should it be slightly indented, flush, or buried into the plaster?  I am concerned about how it will look after I do the finishing off...  Any tips or advice would be great!  
2.  Can I use stud adhesive for cornice cement?  I have half a bucketload left over... 
Cheers 
Jayson.

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## Rod Dyson

No do not use the stud adhesive as cornice cement. 
The screws need to be slightly imbedded but not to break the paper. If they are above the surface nip them up until they are just below the surface. 
If the screw breaks through the paper you WILL need to put another screw in beside it, fixed to the correct depth otherwise you will get popped screws heads. 
Jayson, the stud adhesive will theroetically stick the cornice permanently, however it would be a cow to clean off the execess and you would need to pin the cornice in place as the adhesive takes 24hrs to dry. Personally I could not think of a worse way to put up cornice!! No more nails and any adhesive will also do the job but you dont see people doing that for good reasons. Chuck the stud adhesive and spend 20 bucks on a 10kg cornice adhesive, and save yourself some grief. 
Cheers Rod

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## Joister

hi Rod 
a quick question - would the adhesive also give a little bit of 'lifting' grief which obviously the cornice cement would not? 
hi Spelunx - assuming you're ok about bogging the embedded holes 
and another question for Rod - advantages of putting up screws alternating with adhesive (making sure the spacings are ok)

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## Rod Dyson

Screw spacing is important to avoid popped nails. Stud adhesive shrinks when it dries it is pulling the board closer to the joist (ever so slightly), so if a nail is close it will crack around the head commonly known as a popped nail.  
There are other causes of popped nails but that is the main one. 
I am not sure what you mean by "lifiting grief" if you mean will the adhesive let go. Then I doubt it would. The main issues are that it takes a long time to dry meaning the cornice would need to be pinned exactly in place untill it dries. It leaves a mess that cant be sanded away, to clean up even partly dried stud adhesive would mean lifting the paper surface that would need patching. Believe me its just not a good idea to use stud adhesive for cornice!  The grief I mean is, cleaning off excess, finishing off mitres and the junction of cornice and the wall/ceiling lining.  
Cheers Rod

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## Spelunx

Cheers Rod, it will have to wait until tomorrow, when I can get into town and buy some cement...  jeeze I am going to have a fair bit left over though! 
I might have to go back over a few screws and imbed them some more, but most will be OK, I think.  
I will certainly have a lot of practice plugging holes, as there was a few there that ripped straight through, it seems like it is a bit of an art-form! 
Cheers 
Jayson.

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## Rod Dyson

With a cordless drill you need to set the tension so it won't push then in too deep. 
Also to see if they need to be nipped up use a scraper and swipe over them quickly yoy will hear the click of metal against metal if the scraper touches the screw head.  It is more accurate that feeling with your hand.   
Also if the screws are into timber a light tap with a hammer will do the job as well, just not too hard or you can break the head of the screw and not know it. 
Small jobs always leaves a lot of material over. You can buy cornice adhesive in 2.5kg, 5kg, 10kg and 20kg bags.  Stud adhesive is either 1 L or 4L.  In most cases on small jobs, I suggest to my customers to buy just the cornice adhesive and use it for a basecoat as well, rather than buying base coat, cornice adhesive and top coat. 
Cheers Rod

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## Joister

good luck Spelunx 
as per Rod's comments i've found getting the settings on the cordless working for you and then going lightly till you get the hang of it

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## rod1949

There's a bit you can get that has a collar around it which helps to eliminate the screw breaking the surface.  I got mine from the Gyprock shop.

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## scooter

> There's a bit you can get that has a collar around it which helps to eliminate the screw breaking the surface.  I got mine from the Gyprock shop.

  Yep, looks like this.

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## rod1949

> Yep, looks like this.

  Right-on  :2thumbsup:

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## Rod Dyson

Yep that will work, I presume it is adjustable and can be locked into position? 
This is a smart tool for those with cordless guns. 
Great Idea.

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## scooter

> Yep that will work, I presume it is adjustable and can be locked into position? 
> This is a smart tool for those with cordless guns. 
> Great Idea.

  No, not adjustable, Rod, just cheap & cheerful & fixed depth. 
The wings on the phillips bit will chop out after a while as the idea of the collar is that it limits the screw depth then the bit slips in the screw head.

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## Rod Dyson

I see, it would be very usefull for short term work. A set depth loses a bit of flexibility but still very good for the handyman. 
When you encounter different frame types the screws bite in just that bit different where you need to set the depth either deeper or less deeper. Also differing screw types bed deeper than others. 
In the past 2 days I have put in 4000 screws so I have a bit of a feel for this LOL. 
Cheers and thanks for the good tip. (pardon the pun)

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## sketch

> There's a bit you can get that has a collar around it which helps to eliminate the screw breaking the surface.  I got mine from the Gyprock shop.

  will second (or third?) that these bits are great. just re-sheeted my entire house with a $35 ozito hand held, some into 40 year old hardwood, some into fresh pine. had very few paper-breakages, and very few not-quite-in-far-enoughs. given it was my first gyprocking job, i was pretty happy with spending less than $50 on tools

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