How Long Does GIB Fixing And Stopping Take?
The board can go up in two days. The walls will not be ready for paint for another week.
That gap catches plenty of homeowners out, and it is where most renovation programmes slip. After price, timing is the question we hear most, so here is how long each stage takes on real Auckland jobs and what decides whether yours runs fast or slow.
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| Job | GIB® Fixing | GIB® Stopping | Ready For Paint |
| Small repair, hole or crack | Same visit | Three short visits over 2 to 3 days | Within the week |
| One bedroom reline | About 1 day | About 4 days | About 1 week |
| Three-bedroom home | 2 to 3 days | 4 to 7 working days | Up to 2 working weeks |
These assume a clear site, framing that has passed its pre-line inspection, and reasonable drying weather. Fixing is labour. Stopping is mostly waiting.
Fixing and stopping are separate trades, and the difference between GIB fixing and GIB stopping shows up most clearly in the programme. One is measured in sheets per day. The other is measured in drying time.
Stopping is built up in layers. Tape and a base coat go on first, then a second coat, then a wider finishing coat, then sanding. Each coat has to dry right through before the next goes over it, and on most jobs that means 24 to 48 hours between coats.
Rushing does not save time. Compound that is still damp keeps shrinking, so a joint that looks flat on Tuesday can show a hollow line by the weekend. We would rather wait a day than come back in a month.
For a single bedroom reline in decent weather, the week usually runs like this:
A whole house follows the same rhythm. With two-person crews handling GIB® fixing across Auckland, a three-bedroom home is usually lined in two to three days. Our GIB® stopping team then moves from room to room while each coat dries, which keeps the stopping inside four to seven working days instead of stacking one room after another.
Weather is the big one. GIB’s own drying data shows compound that dries in about 14 hours at 21°C and 40% humidity can take 12 days at 98% humidity. Few Auckland homes get that damp indoors, but a run of warm, sticky days in a closed-up new build gets closer than people expect.
Other things that add days:
Leave a window open about 50mm at each end of the house so damp air can escape overnight. In cold, damp weather, some heat helps, and GIB suggests around one 2kW fan heater per 50m² of floor area.
Keep it gentle. Blasting a room with heat can dry setting compound out before it has set, and that causes problems of its own.
Keep other trades out of freshly stopped rooms, and do not let anyone paint early. Painting over a joint that has not fully dried can delay its shrinkage by weeks or months. That is how a brand-new wall ends up showing lines in February.
Most of the building trade stops for two to three weeks over Christmas and New Year. Work back from there.
A three-bedroom reline needs up to two working weeks for fixing and stopping. The painters need their turn after that. And every other renovation in Auckland is aiming for the same finish date.
If you want painted walls before the break, October is the month to lock in your fixing and stopping dates.
If you are planning a reline, renovation or new build and want it finished before Christmas, get in touch with us. We can look at the scope, give you a realistic programme for fixing and stopping, and tell you when the walls will be ready for paint.