floating a stairwell wall

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right chaps,

got a couple of stairwell walls to float in a house, the owner has cut openings into both floors to fit new staircases in the opposite side of the house, the walls have been patched...BADLY where the floor hit the walls, naturally at that level it has created a high point as the plaster was applied thicker at the skirting level of the floor above, hope that makes sense.

anyhow, i recommended floating it to get it flat rather just skim it, he emailed to accept my price today so will be doing the job soon and wanted to check with you guys the best way to do it.

was thinking about applying long vertical screeds to get a plumb level then filling in, or would any of you just attempt floating as normal making sure you apply thickly enough at the top to get over the high point by the time you've come down to floor level?

thanks as always.

P.S. anyone else find stairwells a bit of a pain? :D
 
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Its a bit hard to picture what your saying but the first thing i would do is try and knock back as much of the high spot as i could and then float it up and skim .Its sometimes worth putting your straightedge across the wall up down across etc and marking the really low spots and then you get an idea of how your going to tackle it
 
It's always easier working off of screeds, especially where a varying thickness is involved,,, as least you know everything's right/plumb once you've set them up, and it's just a matter of filling in between them, and using the long straight edge. It also allows to "see" where the deeper/shallower areas are, rather than guessing and hope you've got it right. You'll manage it TM. ;)
 
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You'll be fine, you want to leave a nice job and are preparing to do just that.

The worst bit in these staircases is often scaffolding it so you can work with ease - is it an awkward one?
 
i wouldn't call it awkward really mate, staircase is straight and think the stairwell platform i've got has the height to reach the top of it so should be as easy for access as stairwells can be, got 2 to do as it's a Victorian townhouse, so plenty of erecting and dismantling going on as they are quite narrow so no walking past the platform once it's up.
 
sorry noseall, don't quite understand how, you mean use the level of the stringer to float out to!? think it's probably too far out for what i need, glad you mentioned the stringer tho as if i wasn't careful checking the level before starting i'd end up on the stairs :LOL:
 
The top of the stair stringer wiil show a margin of anything between 10- 30mm. The margin being what is left visible of the top of the stringer once plaster has been applied.

This can be an excellent guide.

Surely you did not think i meant plaster out to the entire thickness of the stringer did you? :eek: :p
 
If you can leave some of the old plaster along the top of the wall or down the sides( say a 3" or 4" band) when you hack off, this can be a good guide to work to. For example if you are hacking "blown" plaster off an old house wall leave a band of plaster on either top and bottom or side to side and float and set to that . You can either leave that on or hack it off and fill in when you skim ;)
 
If you can leave some of the old plaster along the top of the wall or down the sides( say a 3" or 4" band) when you hack off, this can be a good guide to work to.
For example if you are hacking "blown" plaster off an old house wall leave a band of plaster on either top and bottom or side to side and float and set to that.

Yep,,,, ready made screeds. ;)
 
i was actually planning to leave the existing on the wall Roy mate, it's all sound, just proud where it was patched so was floating a tight coat over the top to flatten it, meaning it would be barely a few mills thick at floor level covering the patched up rubbish, nice idea though Roy! ;) will bank that one
 
if its just proud at the patched part i would chop that out or back, and level it in with the rest of the wall i dont think i would float a whole wall just to level the botched up part out
 

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