Plaster lifting UPDATE

[Shaun-UK]

Hello. I have just had a plasterer in to reskim my front room. When he had finished I had a quick look and it all seemed fine to me. I paid up and was happy. A couple of hours later I noticed a few patches had started to lift and sounded hollow when you tap them. Only a couple are even obvious to the eye.

Now I am guessing the plasterer was not too good and must have done a bad job, wether it was down to technique or bad prep (walls were pva'd twice but had gone dry before he skimmed).

What I want to know though is what is the best way to deal with these patches without re plastering the walls? paint over and see if its ok, or scrape hollow bits out and filler? I know I shouldn't have to do this but I do and just want to amend it myself and get on with painting

Its a shame really because he came highly recommended. Weird thing is though its only happened on 2 walls. But on another wall there are loads of small air bubbles which I guess means alot of fiddly bits of fillering.

Many thanks (at least he was cheap)

 

[roughcaster]

Hello. I have just had a plasterer in to reskim my front room. When he had finished I had a quick look and it all seemed fine to me. I paid up and was happy. A couple of hours later I noticed a few patches had started to lift and sounded hollow when you tap them. Only a couple are even obvious to the eye.

Now I am guessing the plasterer was not too good and must have done a bad job, wether it was down to technique or bad prep (walls were pva'd twice but had gone dry before he skimmed).

What I want to know though is what is the best way to deal with these patches without re plastering the walls? paint over and see if its ok, or scrape hollow bits out and filler? I know I shouldn't have to do this but I do and just want to amend it myself and get on with painting

Its a shame really because he came highly recommended. Weird thing is though its only happened on 2 walls. But on another wall there are loads of small air bubbles which I guess means alot of fiddly bits of fillering.

Many thanks

(at least he was cheap)

You can't start taking away loose areas from a skimmed wall without loosening the rest, and apart from that it would look awful with patches all over the "new" wall. No plasterer worth his salt would work onto pva that had dried out, and that is probably the root of the problem. Get him to come back, take off the plaster on the two affected walls and re-skim them. Anything else is just a waste of time, and nothing is ever cheap if it is falling to bits.

Roughcaster.

 

[Shaun-UK]

Looking at it today most of it looks fine. All but one patch you cant see any problems but it just sounds like some air is behind it. He came round today to finish one last bit and he said it would be fine once I painted over these bits.

If the plaster came off while I painted it I would ring him up and say I want it redone. If it looked fine and the plaster didn't come off then I would not be too bothered. I wouldn't even care too much If I had to filler some bits here and there.

If I HAD to get walls redone completely I would not use the same man again and I also can not afford to spend more on it for awhile (first house is running me dry). This is why I would like to know of any other solutions.

The whole thing is getting me down now.

Thanks for your reply

 

[joe-90]

What covering did the original plaster have on the walls before he started? Plaster sticks to plastic buckets so will easily stick to dry PVA. I'm guessing that he plastered over emulsion - which may be where the real problem lies.

 

[roughcaster]

I wouldn't chance plastering onto plastic. I've plastered over emulsion and other painted surfaces many times. With proper preparation there should never be a problem.

Roughcaster.

 

[Shaun-UK]

Well it was wallpapper which I removed. Then I pva'd twice on what I am guessing was paint. It also looked like this has happened to the previous plasterer whenever that was.

Funny thing is he done 1 more wall today which I pva'd about 30 minutes before he plastered it and theres some lift there aswell.

 

[noseall]

are you sure there isn't lining paper below the plaster somewhere?

 

[joe-90]

If you plaster over emulsion then that is the only thing sticking the plaster to the wall. If the emulsion is flaky - the plaster will come off with it. Any experienced plasterer knows the perils of plastering emulsioned walls.
Does it take the underlying paint off when the plaster lifts?

 

[Shaun-UK]

If you plaster over emulsion then that is the only thing sticking the plaster to the wall. If the emulsion is flaky - the plaster will come off with it. Any experienced plasterer knows the perils of plastering emulsioned walls.
Does it take the underlying paint off when the plaster lifts?

I dont know yet as It has only slightly lifted and not broken away. Alot of places you cannot see just hear is you tap you fingers about the wall

 

[roy c]

If you are going to plaster over an old wall, you must make sure there's no old lining or wall paper left on, make sure ther's no flaky paint. Mix some unibond up (strong) 3 or 4 to1, roller it on the wall and when you have finished roller another coat on. Leave it over night and do the same again. leave to dry, when ready to skim do the same again and mix up your skim and lay it on when wall is "tacky".Or you can use a product called "Bond it" but I can't comment on that cause I've never used it... if it sounds "Hollow" when you tap it , it wont matter if you paint it or not, it will stay "Hollow" and will come away from the wall eventually....A good "Filler" to use is one called Easi-fill its used for taping and filling dry-lined boards, very fine and can be trowelled into the hollows and if needed sanded easily.....

 

[Shaun-UK]

OK I had the plasterer back today.

The parts that bubbled up were my fault. When we scraped these bits away there was some kind of paper behind them. Now I stripped the wallpaper but I guess I must have left some backing/lining paper there. Lesson learnt there

The bits that lifted I also scraped out and the new plaster had bonded well to the old plaster. The old plaster had come away from the walls. This is very annoying as it was fine before .

Basicly I am fillering the smaller holes which range from pea size up to palm of my hand size. There are also 2 big bits in which I will Pva and reskim. Does this sound ok? Funny thing is all the bad bits are on 1 small wall so if it doesnt look good when im done I will get the plasterer back to redo that 1 wall.

Not a happy bunny but have learnt a big lesson. Thanks for your help anyway

 

[Shaun-UK]

Hi again. Sorry to keep banging on about this.

Right as I said before I have removed all bubbles and fillered them. The couple of parts of the wall where the plaster had lifted I scraped out and patched them up with plaster. All looks really good so far and I am chuffed with my patchup repairs

However there are still a few bits about the size of the palm of my hand, that sound "hollow" when you tap them. You can not see any difference between these bits and the solid bits and pushing them in doesnt create any movement.

The plasterer is not interested anymore as he said they will be fine. He wont even answer my calls now. I can not afford to get walls replastered as funds are drying up fast. So should I knock out any "hollow" sounding bits and patch up with plaster OR just see what happens in the future?

I am just thinking maybe I am making a big deal over something that might not happen for years to come. Then again I may be wrong.

Thanks again for your help and sorry if its getting boring now. I really do appreciate it.

 

[joe-90]

you are getting paranoid. Look for faults in any house and you'll find them.

 

[noseall]

you are getting paranoid. Look for faults in any house and you'll find them.

what do you mean "getting".

 

[Shaun-UK]

Thanks for confirming that

Yeah I am probably going over the top. Just dont want to be redoing it in 3 months time