Wet plaster or dry lining?
For me the choice between wither dry lining and just joint filling the gaps and a full wet plaster was very easy to make. Developers often dry line purely because it is cheaper and does not introduce a wet trade inside the build. However good the dry liners are there always seems to be marks between the boards which show up really badly with any wall washer lights.
Wet plaster
Wet plaster gives a better finish and is able to withstand knocks well. I had also used Habito plasterboard which has to be plastered as it only comes in a square edge board, and due to how hard it is to cut and fix, was not fitted quite as accurately as normal plasterboard might be. The plasterers made pretty swift progress and fortunately did not make too much mess. As it was the middle of winter I hired some large dehumidifiers to help it dry and keep as much damp as possible out of the fabric of the building.
Plastering window reveals
Skimming the ceiling
Plaster drying out
The ceiling was plastered in one go with a larger team. The cutouts for. the down lights were made after the plaster had dried, which gives a neater finish than trying to plaster over pre-cut holes in the ceiling. Essential to have an accurate record of where all the down lights are located to be able get the hole in the correct place without hitting joists and then pull the cables through.
