DRYLINING------------Wass at??

DRYLINING------------Wass at??

Leaving school in 1960 was a pretty memorable time, in those "hairy" days, encouragement to get a job, and more importantly, what type of job was on the lines of "you'll never be good at anything boy!" -- H'mm just what one needed!

Necessity being the mother of invention & needing to eat etc., we soon got ourselves a job & what a job – Trainee plasterer, 1/6 (7 p) per hour – be on site at 7-30 boy & don't be late, leave off at 5:00 p.m. & don't be early! It was 9-59 a.m. and lunch break - "not for you boy, Jewsons lorry is here, get that unloaded " -- 2 ton Siraphite plaster, 2 ton thistle & 2 ton carlite etc. all in 112 lb bags (56kg.) - all by hand of course, no forklifts or hoists, -- " and by the way boy just take half of it upstairs, we'll come and give you a hand boy when we've had our tea" did they? – heck no!!

Maybe you can remember some of the winters of the early ‘60's seemed like freezing and deep snow and drifting for months on end, all just great for plastering, unfreezing water tubs /hoses first, no gloves (sissy), no glass in the window frames, no doors hung, damp.cold, no W.C's – not even "thunder boxes" no electric!. Oh how we would have loved ‘Elf & safety'—No No, not really, this made MEN of us Boys, it was great learning, really though, for it produced a lot of common sense, ( mustn't mention that today though!!) Integrity and various other living skills – motivational.

Little did one realise though that within a few years – when I'm a man and a skilled "spread" that there would be Dickies, Work belts, Forklifts, Hoists, Harnesses, Electric whisks, ( not ex -bicycle sprockets). Compliances, Risk assessments,etc & not of course forgetting the religion of - " the answer is NO before you ask" -- Health & Safety.

But back in the mid ‘60's, we started to hear the word which we thought was "drycleaning" (drylining) - with comments like "No, her indoors cleans my boiler suits / overalls we don't need any of that fancy cleaning from Sketchleys." It soon became apparent of course that the word was quite alien to the British vocabulary –Drylining, Ah, this of course provoked all the imaginable & usual linked queries, with derisory and cynical comments like, "Wass that load of rubbish, it'll never catch on here, tell the Yanks we don't want their ideas here" etc, etc,

Soon after, there started to develop a ‘them & us mentality', comparing plastering v drylining & plastering, plasterers v dryliners or stickers & never the twain should meet or mix. This was pretty widespread & wasn't just at site or tradesmen level - understandably plasteres were hearing pretty daft comments like "there'll be no plastering after the year 2000, secretly therefore some feared for their futures so they kind of broke the holy grail by becoming stickers etc.

Conversely, at the same time drylining etc. was objected to, and rejected by some:-

) Tradesmen
) Builders
) Architects
) Specifiers
) Developers
) Local Authorities etc

However, & as they say," the rest is history." Fortunately, there were also those who were visionary at all levels & opportunists in their own right, forward thinking enough to see the whole potential within the bigger picture, with the mentality " where would we have been without the wheel."

Undoubtedly the industry came to the U.K. from the U.S.A. Before I started in the industry in the ‘60's however, we knew that most things in life take time to develop & come to fruition & everyday usage, most items, products & practices etc continue to evolve & improve. Drywall is no exception, even today (2010) products, systems etc continue to arrive in the country not only from America, but also the Far east, Australia etc, sadly not much seems to be developed in this great country of ours.

Nevertheless, in the ‘60's, plasterboard was plasterboard, whatever color/size you liked provided it was grey/cream, 8'x4' / 6'x3', Silver backed (duplex) & Tapered edge were becoming available but in short supply, I well remember a local merchant being quoted up to 40 weeks delivery for an "a" schedule load of boards direct to site. Can you imagine a contractor today going to his builder and saying something like " there'll be a delay on your drywall Jewsons have just quoted me 40 weeks delivery for my boards." I think that "sparks would fly". Thermalboard, Glasroc, firewall, plank, soundbloc etc.etc. had not yet been introduced, Oh! How did we manage?

Even in the early ‘70's, freehand sticking was frowned on. I've seen sticking removed by a clerk of works because "it" was not done properly, properly meant the drylining system whereby small, black fibre pads were bonded to the block/brickwork, in line horizontally at skirting level, ceiling level & mid point. When "set", the 9.5mm only boards were nailed to the pads with dot & dab infills, to create the perfect drylining system –"you bet"-- cobblers, the speed merchants , piece workers, subbies of our industry soon made sure that those fibre pads were soon all confined to the dustbin & were soon withdrawn officially as unnecessary.

Incidentally, the first fiberglass as an insulation product, used in roof spaces, was 25mm thick- fat lot of good that was & yet within 25 years the minimum requirement would be 250mm, I seem to remember that similar claims for the savings on insulation today were made over 30 years ago!! Blimey, we should be having continuous free heat, gas and electric by now!

As the above mentioned board products were being introduced, there were also partition etc. systems, including metal stud partitions, paramount panels (egg carton), Furrings to walls , M/F/ ceiling grids, laminated partitions (superb) to which every fiberglass laminator at LOTUS thought was a big new opportunity.

In 1970 we were beginning to hear the word AMES & taping machines etc, information was coming through that machines etc. would:

) finish joints etc in a quarter of the time
) rid the world of plasterers

What a great idea, so full of expectation it was a case of, I'll have some of that please and change from Artexing to jointing. The inference out there was that riches untold and ever thought of could be achieved, easily 50 quid a week (good bricklayers even were only earning half of that)

So, Dear Mr B.G. "can I have one of these machines please?" But AAHH! At a supposed value then of 3,000 (35,000) today, Mr B.G. said "we can't just let any old subby have one!! "you'll have to get :-

) recommendation from B.G. rep.
) backing from a Ltd. Co.
) references
) do a weeks training at Erith.

That week in Erith was my only holiday that particular year –what a yawn, a hot-blooded jointer wanting to make a fortune had to join in with about 30 others of similar mind. Ames jointing in a room approx. 3M x 6M, almost a waste of time—started at 10:30a.m. & finished at 3:00p.m. Because of sharing with those 30 others, I was privileged to machine tape only 1 half of a ceiling/wall internal, next four days one had to 7"-10"-12" box just one flat ceiling joint, also sand with a pole sander and slurry two wall joints, I left for home on the Friday thinking, if this is "speed", I ‘ll go back to my caulker & knife.

But in truth, as cynical as I can be, I have to say that after that weeks intensive training!! I was now a fully fledged Ames jointer, ready and able to turn out quantity and quality of joining not yet seen anywhere-- Was I Heck!!

Why was the taper always getting stuck & jammed, cable always breaking, corner finisher always scratchy, box blades and skids always slipping & out of line, leaving thick edges everywhere –useless machine!!. Truthfully of course, I was to blame, I was far too impatient and had to realise the old saying that it's practice & practice & practice etc etc that gets one to a satisfactory skill level, so in applying common-sense & being realistic, I gradually became skillful and achieved excellent quality & quantity jointing all over the country., having established a Ltd Co. of respect, & helping create a national but unlinked network of similar Co's to form part of a now (2010) well known respected & necessary industry.

Like all Industries, Drywall generally has had to move to keep pace with all new environmental/green /carbon issues with all necessary compliances, often very annoying and costly- but that's life, neither must we forget to mention our old adversary (joking) Health & Safety. It's not been easy for many tradesmen to accept that the whole H&S thing is of course for our benefit.

In recent years, to assist with H&S and the industry generally, we've all seen the introduction of new allied, time saving etc pieces of equipment & tools etc., all to make life easier & cleaner etc . When I started machine jointing, all one needed was the inevitable" coffin" box for the Ames kit and possibly a bucket for knives, caulkers & trowels etc., but it seems a whole van load of gear & equipment is needed not just for Ames machine or Columbia or whatever make, but also generator/ ? 110v leads from power supply, transformer, power sander, power vacuum, stilts, approved hop-up / steps or mini-tower, power mixer (not bicycle sprocket)!! Etc, Etc

Sadly, some of the imports have not been particularly good or easily attainable, who else has heard comments, after trying to order a new piece of tooling from a dealer or supplier like, "Yes we can get that for you sir, it'll be 5/6 weeks"

That said, things have improved recently, amongst the many drywall merchants, suppliers, wholesalers etc.

You may have guessed by now who I am and who I am connected to!

Belmore Tools In Norwich and also on the web, many of you may of heard of us and many of you are our customers past and present.

We have worked hard over the last 5 years with our dedicated team to bring you the most up to date and innovative tools and accessories to make you finish the job not only quicker but with more precision to detail allowing you to achieve the best finish every time!

When Marcus at Belmore Tools asked me to write a few words about the trade I was unsure exactly what and who to write about, I hope you have enjoyed my first of what I hope will be many Belmore Blog entries. I look forward to your comments.

Happy jointing to you all

Ivan J Reeve
Belmore Tools

http://www.belmoretools.co.uk