In
Part 1 I described how I was going to fasten the 1/8 Masonite to the walls. This
worked very well because there were enough fastening points that the Masonite
stayed flat.
Before
mounting the Masonite in the two corners, I bent it into a gentle curve on the workshop
floor, wrapped it with string so it would roughly maintain the desired curve
and sprayed the outside of the curve with water approximately every 90 minutes
for a day, leaving it over night to make sure it was completely dry.
I
didn’t saturate the Masonite but made it wet enough that it was damp to the
touch (if you saturate Masonite it can “puff up” but it won’t return to its
previous state once dry). The Masonite took on a gentle curve, making it a lot
easier to screw into the 1x2 framework I had fastened to the wall.
After
all the Masonite was mounted to the wall, I gave it a coat of paint primer to
seal it. Then, using drywall tape and drywall mud I covered all the joins and screws.
As I had used drywall screws to mount the Masonite, the screw heads were flush
with surface without any need for countersinking.
After two or three rounds of
sanding and patching I had a very smooth and stable surface which I again
painted with primer to seal it – I applied two coats of primer.
To
be continued……