# Forum Home Renovation Doors, Windows, Architraves & Skirts  Finishing joins in masonite wall

## Fisherdroid

I am going to sheet the walls of my laundry with masoinite. What is the best way to cover the join in the sheets. I see there is a small cover strip available but I was thinking I could just plaster it as you would with plaster walls. There is a stud behind each vertical join so there should be no movement.  
Any comments on plastering masonite joins? ( it is not the rebated masonite).

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## Bloss

Ordinary masonite does not like water or much moisture and in a use such as you intend (I wouldn't use it in a laundry) the plastic joining strips are the go. Tempered Masonite is suitable for wet areas, but is more costly. See:  http://www.gunnersens.com.au/images/...%20Details.pdf 
Any attempt to fill and paint the joins if simply butted together will fail IMO - and using plaster stopper will make it happen sooner and you will end up with fine crack lines, probably before you finish painting. 
Having said that there is no reason why you couldn't use a flexible acrylic filler like the old 'no more gaps' straight over the butted joints then cover with a flexible acrylic paint. Not according to the destruction manual, but should look OK and last for the life of the paint anyway. If there is any movement this will not give smooth flat surface though - the joins will become visible. 
In the 'olden days' there was a masonite product especially made for bathrooms with a faux tile finish and pre-coated with a primer and undercoat. The joins were with aluminium flat strips and corners (internal & external) and if I recall correctly some sort of latex based sealer. This was to compete with the 'Tilux" asbestos cement pre-finished sheets popular at the time. The problem with both was the poor technologies available to seal the bases in showers and floors (tiles had the same issue of course), but the masonite managed to last many years when well maintained. 
A little harder to build with, but you should use compressed fibre sheeting in a laundry - or around the base with plaster sheeting above that and for the ceiling. Comes with recessed edges to you can finish using plaster and joining tape etc.

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## jimbo_jones

When we bought our current place it had masonite on the walls with cover strips. we didn't want to pull of the masonite, because we didn't know what we were going to find underneath. 
So due to a shortage of funds and time, we pulled off all the cover strips, and used an angle grinder to create a recessed edge. I still remember the smell. 
Anyway, we then taped and filled the joins like you would gyprock. 
It isn't a great solution - the masonite expands and contracts like crazy- we have a ridge pushed up along the join during expansion, and about a 1mm gap during the colder months. It might be ok in a laundry, but every time I look at the walls, I wish I had of pulled of the masonite in the first place.

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## peterb666

Where you have a solid backgournd and the masonite is well secured, you can get away with using plaster jointing compound however I do prefer to use cover stips which I usually rip from a suitable piece of timber rather than buy.   
Masonite doesn't go very well in any moist area and I wouldn't recommend it for a laundry - it will buckle and discolour if it gets wet.

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