Easyfill over plaster and other tales of woe...

[Sanch]

Hi,
I've found this site really useful over the past few weeks as we are in the process of renovating a Victorian terrace and hopefully someone can share their thoughts on a couple of things...

1. Our builders have plastered various walls and have used finish plaster, but have now gone on to coat the entire surface in Gyproc Easyfill! I thought it was purely for filling? Can someone confirm either way please? Also, if it isn't meant to be used like this does anyone know if it will be fine to paint straight onto it or would we need to line the walls?

2. We removed the chimney breasts throughout the property and needed to get the gaps where the flues were filled in. Same builders rendered but not as they were instructed by a relative who used to be in the trade, i.e. threw clumps at the wall (looked like cowpats) rather than building up in layers with a bonding agent, and now these areas have been plastered (and fully Easyfilled!) cracks are forming outlining where the breasts used to be and all over that area. We're not happy but they are saying you would always expect this with render below. Is that true? We're not talking very fine hairline cracks here either!! If it's normal it'll save them an earbashing...

Any comments would be gratefully appreciated. Thanks for making it to the end of the waffle!

 

[Richard C]

What do their efforts as plastering look like? Easyfill is a plasterboard joint filler for use on the joints between taper edge boards & where no plaster finishing is to be applied; i.e. it's sanded to blend with the boards & paint is applied directly over the board & the joint. I can only imagine they are over-coating their first efforts at plastering becasue they turned out to be a pig’s ear & they can’t actually plaster; I can think of no other reason other than to hide shoddy efforts at plastering & personally I wouldn’t have it!

I’ve only done a limited amount of rendering, when carrying out repair work to cracked walls; I always build up inlayers of no more than ½” thick but I would think there is a definite limit to how thick you can lay it on before it becomes unstable & if you build it too quickly it will crack, how thick is it exactly? There are other ways they could have built up the difference in levels; hopefully others with more rendering knowledge will chip in.

I don’t know what their building skills are like but it sounds as if you have a complete bunch of cowboys as far as plastering/rendering goes

 

[roughcaster]

As with anything applied too thickly, too soon, and without preparation, render especially, will slump and crack. As Richard said, thinner layers, scratched each time gives a far better job. Another thing that is always worth doing when patching new into old is to cut back the edges of the old plaster/render, a few inches all around, making the edges irregular rather than straight, give it all a wash/wet down, put on some PVA and it gives a better join when patching. If the edges of an old render/plaster wall patch, say where a fireplace has been removed or an old door opening bricked/filled in, and the resulting joins are "straight joints" in the brickwork/plasterboard, then it is always better to bridge the joint between new and old together with wire lath, scrim or joint tape. Otherwise it will crack through,showing the shape of the filling underneath. I think the people you employed to do your job, just threw the stuff on the wall, and with no preparation, no idea and no care about what the finished job should look like. If render is guaged out properly and not guessed,mixed up properly and is put on properly, there is absolutely no reason for a finish put onto it, to crack all over it as your's has. Get them back if you can.

Roughcaster.

 

[Sanch]

Thanks for your responses chaps, nice to know our gut feel about it wasn't completely wrong!

They're meant to be coming back to sort various things out and then get on with the rest of it, but seeing as they don't agree with us that there's a problem at the moment we'll see...Just won't be writing their cheque anytime soon I guess!

Cheers

 

[joe-90]

Tell us about them. Are they Brits? Recommended? Poles?

 

[Sanch]

They're a Polish building outfit that came recommended by a friend though I'm not convinced we've got the same guys who did her house. Either way, the project manager is the same and can only be described as useless!

Will gladly let you know their name when they've either finished my house to an acceptable standard or been booted off the job.

 

[roughcaster]

Having not paid out the cheque yet is the ace up your sleeve Sanch. It's a great way of getting any problems sorted out, pronto!!!

Roughcaster.

 

[cjam24]

don't pay them until your satisfied and if you do pay them in monkey nuts

 

[joe-90]

It's pretty obvious they aren't plasterers, they are cowboys with a capital C. Refuse to pay them and threaten to contact Trading Standards. Tell them you'll bill them for putting their bodge right.