Bad plastering

[Damo1176]

When we had our conservatory done a few years back we had electrics put in. The electrician used plastic coverings or whatever you call them to ptrotect the cables and pinned that to the wall rather than routing through the house external brick etc etc. I thought no problem. The plasterer then came in and whinged about the fact that he had not routed in the wall but plastered anyway. Again I was not too concerned as both are professional and know what they are doing. However jsut a few months ago our conservatory sofa was bumped against the wall, not hard but still. It made a cirlce about 2" in diameter seem cracked. I poked it and it felt like it gave like there was sime spring in it, I worked my way up the wall to find that this was true all the way up and cracks had formed near the topp as well, I removed some of the plaster (the loose stuff) and found that the plasterer had put merely 3-4mm of plaster all down across the electricians covering meaning any knock and it would crack.

Question 1: Is my grievance with the plasterer for not doing it thick enough or the electrician for not routing into the wall?

Question 2: Am I in a strong enough position to get either of themn back and expect it to bne corrected.

Question 2: If question 2 = not really then can someone advise what my best course of action is.

I have put an image in of the affected area, I see no point in filling over it again the same way as once again it will be too thin, I also though about putting some boxing in that corner to cover it almost like with radiator pipework.

 

[brist]

Make sure the cables are sunk in the wall about 5mm below wall surface and reskim wall. Then u will have no problems.

 

[Damo1176]

I'm not that skilled at DIY but I am assuming that means I have to pull the cabling out (eek!!), remove the plug socket, drill into the breeze block wall, stick the cables back in the wall and then attempt to plaster it again (which I've never done!).

Point is do you agree that either the electrician should have done that in the first place or that the plasterer should have put the plaster on thicker.

 

[brist]

The Electrician shoud have gone deeper with his channels and the plasterer should of told u that.

 

[Damo1176]

The Electrician shoud have gone deeper with his channels and the plasterer should of told u that.

Trouble is the electrician did not channel, it was new wall and he simply pinned the plastic conduit to the wall and then the plastered came in afterwards and skemmed over it, he's done the same all the way round but this one area being right in the corner just seems to have been skimmed to thin, I am pretty convinced that it is 6mm plus thick the rest of the wall but thiiner towards the door, trouble is 2 years down the line I am not sure whether we can drag the plasterer, the conservatory company who hired him or the electricianback so I guess I will have to fix it myself, some tradesmen really **** me off when they can't be arsed.

 

[brist]

Seems like you have been done over by cowboys mate. If i lived close i d skim them for u 4 free.

 

[AnonymousImport]

Nowadays there is no requirement for the cables to be capped with that plastic rubbish, as long as it's installed in the areas set out by the recent building regs. So you can have the cables clipped to the wall with cable clips which obviously allows plaster better adhesion to the wall.

In any case the plasterer should have built up his coats with enough thickness to cover the capping with his base coats. Sounds like he wanted to save time and materials.

Cheers,

Dave

 

[davy_owen_88]

Plastic capping has never been a requirement of BS7671 but it is still good practice because it protects the cable from being damaged by the corner of a trowel.

Is it possible the electrician was under the impression the wall was being dry-lined? If so that would explain why he didn't bother chasing into the blockwork.