plastering

Please tell me this isn't a plastering disaster!

we recently had our upstairs bathroom completely gutted. It all had to be replastered as all the walls were tiled floor to ceiling.
The walls have all dried ok apart from this one.
The pictures were taken today and this plastering was done approx 9weeks ago...plenty of time to dry. Note the dark patches, especially above the toilet.
This is an external wall. The shower used to be on it and the house was rented with no working extractor fan. The picture with the ceiling shows dark around the coving, this was an area that was affected by the shower and before redoing, the paint was peeling from (I assume) the condensation.
When we took the tiles off, the old plaster fell off back to the brick for most of the wall. Our local builder (who has done lots of work on our road) was employed to put the bathroom in from scratch. He used his own workmen and plasterer. I didn't note what exactly the plasterer did. I'm sure he skimmed most of the wall but sure what he did with the exposed brick wall. I don't think plaster board was used though, don't remember seeing any but could be wrong.
The house is 1930s with that awful pebbledash exterior, can see no cracks in it. Had the gutters cleaned out a few months ago, they are in good condition.
The dark patch has dried in the middle but is still there and I'm fed up. I want to finish the room and redecorate!
I'm a bit mystified as to why the damp patch is in the middle of the wall too. No pipes there or anything, has always had the loo there.
There is a working radiator on the opposite wall and the window has been pretty much open for the past 6weeks. It is quite a shaded room, only gets sun in the evening.
I'm now scaring myself witless after all the money we spent on this bathroom!
Any ideas? Thanks

......If it was my house, I'd be asking the builder back round to take a look and see what he has to say about it. Keep in mind though that plaster can and does take a while to dry - that's why you should give it up to 6 months on new builds to allow the stuff to dry not just on the surface but right through into the brickwork beyond. Hope this is of some help.

Firkin

How well have you been ventilating the room? Better off posting in the Building section.

Perhaps the undercoat has been patched if so those areas where it is patched will take longer to dry out - I would give it more time, mark the edge of the dark patch with a soft pencil so you can see if it is slowly shrinking or not.

Did the plasterer put up the coving, because if he did, then I suspect the marks are from the PVA he used to seal the plaster before he applied the adhesive. Feel the plaster to see if you can feel a difference in the texture between the light and dark patches beneath the coving.

Above the toilet looks like it was leveled with bonding first. Bonding can be plastered over the next day (but I've seen some plasterers do it the same day) and it then leaves dark patches as it dries through the plaster. As others have said time will tell if it's drying or not, but I have seen it stay dark permanently.

Have a talk with the builder/plasterer.

Firkin said:

that's why you should give it up to 6 months

Click to expand...

you sure about that ?
op, try taping the dark patches to see if it has blown but i doubt it , he probably bonded the first coat then laid on same day as i used to all the time tbh and as doggit has said PVA is used to seal the bonding to stop the skimming moisture getting sucked in to quick and for adhesion . its had plenty of time to dry and get on with decorating , try using stain block before giving a mist coat of paint for first coat if your worried .