Cracks : Dri Wall plus Thistle Multi Finish

[ifatfirst]

I've been lurking on Plastering and Rendering for months, so I'm thrilled to have a question of my own. Advice appreciated please.

Had house re-wired. Chase cutting led to plaster falling off 2 kitchen walls. Cleared walls back to bare brick.

Really wanted undercoat and top coat, settled for board and skim but plasterer ended up doing:

Wall a) Hardwall plus Thistle Multi-Finish. No probs.

Wall b) Dri Wall (excess free from another job! - turned out to be a nightmare to apply) plus Thistle Multi-Finish. Expressed concern that Dri Wall not left long enough to dry(approx 18 hours). Room left empty to dry naturally. Problem - numerous vertical cracks 1-2.5m with horizontal cracks breaking out from vertical cracks in finish plaster.

What is likely to have caused problem and what's the best resolution to ask for when the plasterer (all his other work has been excellent) comes back? No rush to finish, so have been waiting and watching.

Hope photos are self-explanatory - best I could do. Last one shows affected areas.

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[Richard C]

Wall b) Dri Wall (excess free from another job! - turned out to be a nightmare to apply) plus Thistle Multi-Finish. Expressed concern that Dri Wall not left long enough to dry(approx 18 hours).
Room left empty to dry naturally. Problem - numerous vertical cracks 1-2.5m with horizontal cracks breaking out from vertical cracks in finish plaster.

I don’t really understand what you have there or what your pictures are showing, apart from a total bloody mess that looks like it’s been put on with a garden rake . What do you mean by “Dri Wall” & it not being left long enough to dry? Do you mean he put dry wall adhesive on there as a base

Edit; or do you mean Dri-Coat

 

[ifatfirst]

Sorry it's not clear. The bare brick wall was treated with adhesive, then it had Thistle Dri Coat put on.

http://www.british-gypsum.com/pdf/DS-106-01 Thistle Dri-Coat.pdf

This was left to dry out from about 4pm to 8am and then more adhesive and then the finishing plaster was put on later that morning. I didn't think the Dri Coat had been left to dry out for long enough.

 

[Richard C]

Not personally used Dri-Coat but a look at the data sheet says 24 hours minimum. Looks like your right & it was probably still shrinking back when your spread applied the finish although I'm surprised it looks as bad as it does. If it’s left to dry out thoroughly, PVA & another skim coat should sort it out. I suspect if your spread is as good as you say, he will be horrified by how it’s ended up & won’t make the same mistake again; don’t pay any extra for it to be sorted though.

 

[ifatfirst]

Thanks for that. He's a very nice chap and had a terrible time with the Dri Coat and said he'd avoid it like the plague in future.

 

[dano1779]

Thanks for that. He's a very nice chap and had a terrible time with the Dri Coat and said he'd avoid it like the plague in future.

dry coat is a cement based plaster coat used to plaster after a dpc is introduced, used it a fair few times best idea is to leave it for about 3, 4 days if pos because of the shrinkage time. option now is to just skrim cracks and skim over