Box plane lump out of plastered wall

[SpannerWielder]

I have just paid a (useless) plasterer/decorator to plaster and paint bedroom three in our house.

Its the small box room and we are in our third week, it has been painted but the snagging list is enormous. Lots of blisters, patchy paint, trowel marks, craters... Anyway things have escalated to the point I have thrown his stuff outside and told him to not bother coming back. I have paid him for bits of the job as he has completed them...

Anyway I have 20 days to rectify a couple of issues (myself). The issues are as follows:

lump in a plastered wall - can i use something like a box plane to remove the high patch and then easi-fill it back up and feather into the rest into the wall? Is there a better way of removing material?

The paint seems to be blowing out and blistering in places and hasnt adhered to the newly skimmed walls. I cannot confirm if he applied PVA or a milk coat or what.. I have removed a lot of loose and flaky paint with a scraper and hope to use filler to blend in the edges of the sound paint. Does this sound a fair idea. If the paint has adhered is it likely it will be ok or will this be an ongoing problem?

One of the walls was dot and dabbed and im not sure why but he used 600mm wide stuff. You can see a ridge up the wall where the joint is. Hopefully I can blend this in with a plasterers trowel and yet more easi-fill..

Any suggestions please as this clown has used the time he quoted, plus the time I had allowed to do a couple of bits. So now I have my contingency time to fix, fill and re-paint most of the room.

 

[Wayners]

Use toupret standard powder filler vs easyfill or any other. Easyfill has its place but better options now.
Sand with 180 grade and if you must 120 grade but that will take off lots of material.
Wallpaper scraper or wood chisel lump off.
Use duck tape to stick on and pull off old paint but leave if its stuck good enough.
Prior to painting coat the fillers and bare plaster with acrylic primer undercoat.
Get a good surface before you paint.

You can also look at toupret wall smoothers if needed.

 

[opps]

I too stick with Toupret. Easifill is cheap and evey easy to sand but too soft.

When faced with very high spots I use a DA sander with 40 grit connected to a dust extractor and finished with 80 grit. Any back filling, use Toupret interior and then sand again.

With regards to the blistering paint- did you thin the first coat as per the manufacturer's instructions? If yes, it might be the case that he over polished the plaster. You can apply some Zinsser BIN (a shellac paint) over any problem areas. It will prevent the water in the emulsion from reactivating any PVA.