Can this be easily fixed?

[NotAgainFFS]

I'd appreciate some help with how to manage this plastering work please.

It's the first time I've had plasterers working for me. They came highly recommended from a friend.

They have finished working in this room and I'm not happy with some of the finish. I expected, and asked, for the edges and corners to be square and straight. I didn't think I was being unreasonable when I asked.

As well as these photos showing the undulations of that 135º corner some of the plasterwork at the corners seems to be pretty flat and then build up so that there's a good few mm of a curve before the actual edge. And the edges seem pretty bumpy. On one surface, near the window, you can see the outline of the scrim tape for a couple of inches below the plaster.

Any help on how to approach this and get the finish I want would be greatly appreciated.

I need to speak to them in the morning and I want the best from this.

Thanks very much!

View media item 75178
View media item 75177
View media item 75179

 

[roughcaster]

For plasterers that came "highly recommended", the work they have done for you, going by your pics, is "very poor quality", verging on rubbish,,, seriously.

 

[NotAgainFFS]

Thanks for your reply.

They're also a day late of the 10 days they told me they'd take and have only finished one of six of the rooms.

Where can I find a reputable plasterer?

How can I get myself out of this situation? Should I give them a chance to put it right or have the more difficult conversation with them now?

 

[Micilin]

I don't think they would be capable of putting it right.That is shocking work - not even bad work.

Maybe you have to give them to option to put it right, but say that if they can't, you won't be paying them so they can decide what to do.

Don't let them do any more than that.






At least you can stop it now, which is good

While I think you did the right thing to get a recommendation, always worth asking to see their work - if only to guage their reaction. This is partly why I go off on one when we get threads on prices given by people whose quality etc is unknown and not taken into account.

Can anyone in that area help please?

 

[Micilin]

Sorry, as for solution you will end up bonding and setting that . It is too bad just to reskim

 

[NotAgainFFS]

Nightmare.

Asked to meet them at my flat to discuss what I wasn't happy about. They were meant to be there anyway but anyway...

After pointing out a couple of things, those in the photos, he lost his temper and said he wanted paid £400 for the preparation work they'd done and call it quits. I gave him the opportunity to discuss putting them right and he said he'd no time for arguing over stupid wee things like that.

When I said I'd need to think about the money he threatened he'd rip all the boards down that he'd used on the ceiling in the living room. And also that I'd made a big mistake sacking him - which of course I hadn't done. I asked him if he was threatening me and he said no, "we are doing something special to your walls to stop them cracking and no one else but us will do that."

I decided to call it quits and pay up if they cleared everything and disappeared. I'm not in the position to argue with two angry tradesmen who have my keys. Life is too short.

Another month of rent and storage space and no further forward, however.

Any good, reputable plasterers who can help and not rip me off? I'd like to hear from you.

Thanks for your support people.

 

[Alastairreid]

Decent time served plasterers (tradesmen) are becoming the minority up here!! people going on 7 day courses and putting themselves about as competent spreads.

 

[joe-90]

If the walls aren't straight then neither will be the skim coat.

 

[NotAgainFFS]

Surely there is a way of straightening up the wonky walls? They don't stay that way forever?

If I ask a plasterer to straighten everything up and give me good square corners and sharp edges with no lumps, consistent depth around window facings etc am I being unreasonable? If I tell him that and ask him to name his price, it seems fair, and I accept am I being unreasonable?

I don't think I am.

So where do I find the next plasterer?

 

[joe-90]

A skim simply means putting a smooth coat over YOUR walls. If you are unhappy with that then you don't need a simple skim. Expect to pay at least twice as much for perfectly flat walls. Write a spec stating that all walls must be FLAT and TRUE. If they are not, THEN you can complain.

 

[Micilin]

A skim simply means putting a smooth coat over YOUR walls. If you are unhappy with that then you don't need a simple skim. Expect to pay at least twice as much for perfectly flat walls. Write a spec stating that all walls must be FLAT and TRUE. If they are not, THEN you can complain.

Joe is right that a skim can only do so much - but a tradesman would sort this out before starting.

joe, look at the second pic - that's not skimming.

All of the pics are full of fat, it's just appalling

 

[NotAgainFFS]

That's EXACTLY what I asked for, he quoted his price, I accepted, and THAT is why I complained when it wasn't to spec.

So where do I find a plasterer that will behave reasonably and competently?

 

[joe-90]

Pot luck I'm afraid. If the house is old and you make it dead flat and square, it'll look like a cheap overboard job. Sometimes a little rustic is much more natural and friendly. Why so obsessive about dead straight lines?

 

[NotAgainFFS]

I know what I want. You may call that obsessive. I just call that "spending my hard earned cash on what I want and not what the tradesman thinks is acceptable to him."

So it's pot luck. Amazing.

 

[NickB_99]

All of the pics are full of fat, it's just appalling

At the risk of abuse here from Micilin, RC et al....

I can see pic #2 is seriously poor, but from pics 1 and 3, there looks some fat - but is that level considered heavy?
From 1 & 3, as a skim it does seem to look reasonably smooth in the main? we have seen far worse on this forum!
Maybe it's difficult to tell from the pics at distance, and if I saw it for real, would no way think it any way acceptable.

I can understand the OP being unhappy if they wanted square and nothing was done to address this.