Repairing tongue & groove walls

That needs gap filler. It's such a fun job... NOT!!!

I've done it more times than I care to count. You need the gap filler, gap gun. I prefer to push into the gaps going upwards. One or two gaps at a time (so it doesn't dry out), damp rag to wipe off excess, but I usually use my finger until the skin wears off.

It makes such a huge difference to how it looks.

I went into a neighbour's house once, as we were gap filling an IP. He'd gap filled his VJ walls, but had filled the gaps to make the wall flat. He thought he'd done a great job.

Vacuuming... We recently reconfigured walls in a Queenslander to put living areas and new deck on the side with city views. That meant the VJ ceilings in the bedrooms were now going to be in the living rooms. And the ornate plaster ceilings that were in the living and dining combined room now was part of the living room. We had to make it all plaster, or make it all VJ.

Hubby started this job, but builders took over when he had health issues. Builders pulled down one side of the ceiling and enjoyed 90 years of dust that fell on them. Decision was made to leave the rest, batten it out and add fake VJ across the whole ceiling. No vacuuming of the remainder. But dust may trickle down where the ceiling joins the walls, unless you ensure you use gap filler along that join.

 

And... I know a few people who love the gaps, and don't fill them, believe in the genuine, true Queenslander, gaps and all.

I find my eye drawn to them, and I think they look messy with gaps all over the place, so we have always filled them. One fun game is to guess how many tubes of gap filler you will use. I think last job we did was over 30 tubes.