Poor plastering job

[chriselevate]

Cut a long story short, I’ve had 4 local plasterers do pretty bad jobs round my place. Not sure what to do anymore.

The latest one has a really good finish on the walls and ceiling and the externals are good but the internals are not great. He fitted fresh boards really really well! He insisted on using an internal tool so he could do a wall and ceiling after each other. I thought it was best to let a surface go off before doing another hence why Plasterer’s do alternates?

On the other walls he’s pulled down from the ceiling with lots of “mini” strokes whereas I’ve seen it done with one continuous horizontal pass before. This has left the internals not very straight/crisp. Any thoughts please?

I’m getting really fed up with it now so please no wise cracks as I’m at the end of my tether with this if I’m honest.

Any plasterers on here your advice would be great please. Thanks.

 

[TicTac]

Pictures please. But are you painting or papering the wall next. One continuous pass can catch on the ceiling, so doesn't always work perfectly either.

 

[chriselevate]

Painting. I’m not sure photos will show it to easily sadly. Would you suggest using easifill or something similar to take out the uneven internal line?

Thanks.

 

[TicTac]

Easifil or similar will be fine. but wallpaper covers over a multitude of plasterers sins.

 

[^woody^]

What I tend to do is use board joint filler put on with a big 14" filler trowel, and then rub it down with an abranet hand sander connected to a vacuum.

This gives a result that the Flat Earth Society would be proud of.

 

[CJRatch]

Easifil or similar will be fine. but wallpaper covers over a multitude of plasterers sins.

Makes sense. Pay someone to skim the walls to hide an originally bad finish to then wallpaper the wall to hide the bad finish the plasterers done. The multitude of plasterers sins shouldn't be there if he's good at his job surely?

 

[chriselevate]

Makes sense. Pay someone to skim the walls to hide an originally bad finish to then wallpaper the wall to hide the bad finish the plasterers done. The multitude of plasterers sins shouldn't be there if he's good at his job surely?

That’s my thoughts. After a top quality skim onto new boards there shouldn’t be any need to fiddle with or adjust the finish should there?

Before skirting and architrave goes on you’d be tempted to get someone in to put 3mm plants round the door frames, new angle beads and reskim then I’m guessing?

 

[chriselevate]

What are your thoughts on internal tools? They a good thing or is it worth waiting for a surface to go off before working to it? And doing alternates to avoid having to use an internal tool?

Just wondered your thoughts on the sort of finish they give.

Thanks.

 

[Notch7]

Maybe you could try a post on the plasters forum, its a fairly busy forum.

https://www.plasterersforum.com

 

[23vc]

Internal angle trowels give a great result if used properly, what’s the actual issue, did you just prefer a very sharp internal angle as opposed to a slightly softer one given by using the corner trowel? Did you tell him that beforehand? Why was the manner in which the plasterer laid it on a problem, short pulls downwards off a ceiling line are pretty common, what issue did they cause?

 

[lostinthelight]

Before any filling I would get at it with a sanding block or the like, its suprising how a little sanding can improve things.
litl

 

[stevethespreader]

Cut a long story short, I’ve had 4 local plasterers do pretty bad jobs round my place. Not sure what to do anymore.

The latest one has a really good finish on the walls and ceiling and the externals are good but the internals are not great. He fitted fresh boards really really well! He insisted on using an internal tool so he could do a wall and ceiling after each other. I thought it was best to let a surface go off before doing another hence why Plasterer’s do alternates?

On the other walls he’s pulled down from the ceiling with lots of “mini” strokes whereas I’ve seen it done with one continuous horizontal pass before. This has left the internals not very straight/crisp. Any thoughts please?

I’m getting really fed up with it now so please no wise cracks as I’m at the end of my tether with this if I’m honest.

Any plasterers on here your advice would be great please. Thanks.

Spreads only do alternates if they can't use a twitcher or have been asked to do alternates but when doing alternates even though there is a dry wall you can still run the twitcher down the wall it still pulls the wet wall into line giving you a nice straight edge ready for your next wall, loads of times I have seen alternate walls done and the skim is really uneven and it shows more when the 2 walls are painted different colours a good spread can get a good corner either way as for his strokes everyone is different I Do one long one from floor up then fill in the top and I always cross trowel I'm not sure what your after? Conformation he can't use a twitcher or why he's done a bad job ?

 

[chriselevate]

Thanks for the replies and friendly advice. After spending so much money I’m just disappointed that I haven’t got crisp lines between the ceilings and walls and between each wall. Externals are fine it’s just the intervals are soft and they are wavey in places.

I don’t mind what technique is used as long as I have a ceiling I can paint white and walls I can use a colour on and they both look separate blocks of colour.

I’m just asking advice on here as I want to do two things... 1. Fix the room that’s been done and 2. Avoid the need for this happening again by finding someone else who can get crisp straight internals.

I just wondering how I achieve those two things or if I’m aiming for the impossible.

Thanks for the sanding suggesting btw. Any tips with fillers and sanding much appreciated if that’s likely to fix it.

 

[chriselevate]

Internal angle trowels give a great result if used properly, what’s the actual issue, did you just prefer a very sharp internal angle as opposed to a slightly softer one given by using the corner trowel? Did you tell him that beforehand? Why was the manner in which the plasterer laid it on a problem, short pulls downwards off a ceiling line are pretty common, what issue did they cause?

Yes told him I wanted crisp and not soft internals. Short pulls downwards are ok if you don’t remove too much plaster surely? I think that’s he’s done as you can feel that the wall is smooth but the top couple of inches it’s slightly bumpy where the finish is uneven.

 

[stevethespreader]

Yes told him I wanted crisp and not soft internals. Short pulls downwards are ok if you don’t remove too much plaster surely? I think that’s he’s done as you can feel that the wall is smooth but the top couple of inches it’s slightly bumpy where the finish is uneven.

If he's removed plaster with the twitcher he's probably pressed to hard when the skim is soft I used to get sharp lines by twitching then rubbing the barton plastic trowel up the internals works a treat the trowel is so soft and flexible you can push it right in the corners without digging in these angles was done with the twitcher and barton on a room that was extended by about 3 feet so ceiling line as well as the walls, you can see the effect nice sharp lines you would not be able to do this kind of work without the twitcher

Nandos6

• stevethespreader
• 29 Jan 2016

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