Polycell Smoothover........Opinions

[alfiembra]

Anyone used Polycell's Smoothover and what's your opinion of it?

I have two lath and plaster walls in an old flat which have a very rough and unveven finish to them, so was thinking of trying smoothover on it. Just wanted to know any good or bad opinions of the stuff or is there something better I should use, bearing in mind I've never plastered anything before.

Eventually I will be papering these walls so would you seal the new/old plaster first.

Alan

 

[kingandy2nd]

I tried Smoothover a couple of years back before I’d ever attempted any plastering. My experience isn’t very good I’m afraid.

I wished to “smooth over” an area about 2 meters square so bought a tub of Smoothover (about £25) and the Smoothover tool (another £5). The very first trowel of the application was great, but then as soon as I took a second trowel my problems started. I just couldn’t get rid of the lines between each trowel because I lacked basic plastering skills/knowledge. Every trowel to get rid of one trowel mark resulted in two more!

I noticed later that even on the adverts they never apply more than one swipe of the Smoothover to the wall!! Coincident perhaps?!?

The wall ended up looking worse than when I started so I bought a plastering DVD and eventually re-plastered it all.

In my opinion you’re just paying for some very expensive pre-mixed plaster and unless you’ve got the skills (or patience) you won’t get a great finish on a large area.

If the walls going to be papered anyway – why not use polyfiller to fill and/or sand the wall, then paint it with a thinned white paint (50% water, 50% paint)? The painting will show up the major imperfections, so you can fill and/or sand the wall again where necessary. If needed, repeat the paint, fill/sand, steps again until the wall is smooth enough to take the paper.

This method probably wouldn’t be more expensive or time consuming than using Smoothover unless your existing plaster is really bad or are unstable. If the plaster is really bad or are unstable then Smoothover wouldn’t be appropriate anyway.

 

[Richard C]

Anyone used Polycell's Smoothover and what's your opinion of it?

Absolute CARP; either have a go at fixing it properly yourself or pay someone to do it for you. You'd be better off using one coat plaster; I think thats truly awfull stuff as well but at least it should stay workable long enough for you to make a reasonable job of it.

 

[alfiembra]

Thanks for the replies guys, had my doubts about smoothover, so you've confirmed my thoughts. Will go down the filler and paint route I think. Thanks again

Alan

 

[Coniferman]

I just couldn’t get rid of the lines between each trowel because I lacked basic plastering skills/knowledge. Every trowel to get rid of one trowel mark resulted in two more!

I think the trick there is that when you have got down to small lines, to let it dry off a bit. You can then trowel harder to remove the lines without causing new ones. Finally you sprinkle a little water and give a final trowel to get a nice smooth finish.

I have only done a couple of window surrounds and a small wall and the results are excellent. I have no doubt though that there are better ways and I would not have liked to have done it on a larger area.

 

[JeSuisSpartacus]

I have just used this on two walls in my bathroom previously half tiled/half painted. It goes on and seems to smooth well but it soon starts to pull and becomes impossible to get a good finish. I ended up having to sand the walls top to bottom, ok they say you may have to to remove the trowel lines, but I mean heavy sanding. Then had to go over with filler to bring up lines and low points.
Wasted money and wasted time - and to cap it - I fed that back to Polycell and they haven't even had the decency to say sorry or or thanks for the feedback - so customer service as smooth as the finish.

 

[Richard C]

I have just used this on two walls in my bathroom previously half tiled/half painted. It goes on and seems to smooth well but it soon starts to pull and becomes impossible to get a good finish. I ended up having to sand the walls top to bottom, ok they say you may have to to remove the trowel lines, but I mean heavy sanding. Then had to go over with filler to bring up lines and low points.
Wasted money and wasted time - and to cap it - I fed that back to Polycell and they haven't even had the decency to say sorry or or thanks for the feedback - so customer service as smooth as the finish.

Good feedback but take another look at that last post date Coniferman last posted this topic in April ------ 2008.

As I said back then, it's carp