Sorting previous owner's plasterwork after fireplace removal

[JoeA]

Hello,

I live in a 1930s terrace where at some point the front room fireplace was removed (and also removed in the bedroom above, and the chimney stack was put on a concrete lintel in the attic).

As you can see from these pics, the previous owner did a pretty shocking job on the plasterwork on the now flush wall.

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• JoeA
• 15 Apr 2014
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• JoeA
• 15 Apr 2014
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• JoeA
• 15 Apr 2014
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• JoeA
• 15 Apr 2014
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What is the best way to approach sorting out this mess?

What exactly have they done here? Should I be hacking the whole lot off the wall and starting again?

Also I'm going to need to plug the gap left in the skirting board. Does anyone know how easy it will be to get hold of skirting which matches the one shown here? It seems to be a 1930s style, but not sure. I'm going to be putting a new stud wall in at the other end of the room, so will need skirting for that as well.

Also is it normal for the skirting to sit right on top of the floorboards like this? I thought the whole point of it was to have a gap at the bottom so there was room for the carpet/floor to go underneath and hide the edge?

Many thanks.

 

[clive12345]

Hello
I would chop it off,taking care not to disturb the good plaster.
The skirting sits on the floor .The carpet is pushed down in the space , between the gripper and the skirting .My house used to have the same skirting,it was built in the late thirties .

 

[alan333]

I had a wall like that once. I used an angle grinder to grind the "proud" plaster off, and then had the wall skimmed. It made an abundance of dust but it worked. If you're good with your hands you could "plaster" the area with something easy to sand, like Fastset, and then sand it back to level, overlapping onto the original bits of wall. A lot cheaper than a plasterer, but maybe not as good.

For the skirting IMHO you'll always see the two joints. Consider renewing all the skirting in the room, since you need new pieces anyway.

 

[roy c]

We call that skirting"lambs tongue" and it is quite common You can get Taurus skirting on one side and the lambs tongue mould on the other side usually it's 7"..Best to renew the whole length.. I would just knock off the "bad" area over the fire place and knock the plaster off about 4 inches past the join in the brick infill and put some expanding metal over the joint then a scratch coat over the area then a float coat ( you can use a straight edge to bring the float coat level with your existing plaster) When it has "picked up a bit you can scrape a couple of mill off the float coat (so it finishes 2mm below your original plaster) then devil it up with your float with a couple of nails in and leave it to go off then skim it level with your old plaster. If you understand all this then crack on if you don't then either get a good tradesman in to do it or ask a few more questions, If everything is straight forward I would probably hack that off and throw some bonding on with a dab of cement in it and skim it all to a finish in a morning and I would think the lads would do the same , But as we cant see the job then you have to either do what I said or get a good man in.. Good Luck.

 

[JoeA]

Thanks for all the advice.

Yes, well roy c, I admit I understood very little of what you said!

I am a DIYer not a pro, and I guess that would be my next question - is it possible for an amateur like me to tackle something like this and actually make a half decent job of it? Or is it just too big an area and best left to a pro?

To be honest it is quite likely that this bit of wall will be mostly covered by furniture, so its not like I'm going to be staring directly at it every day, but having said that I cant live with it in its current state!

How much would it cost to get a plasterer in to do the job?
And how likely is it that someone with no prior plastering experience like me (other than the odd bit of filler in a hole!) could make a half decent job of it?

Good to hear the skirting is common, and I'm happy to replace the whole length, that makes sense.

 

[Lower]

I would take off the two lengths of skirting either side of the old fireplace and hack off the bodged plaster. When you remove the old skirting you may well find that bits of the plaster come with it so it can be made good when what you've hacked off is made good.

Then replace the skirting with a new single length. If its not a perfect match its less noticeable as the joins will be at the corners, not in the middle of a run.

I'd expect it to cost around £100-£150 to replaster that area.

 

[roy c]

Forgot to say it might be worth knocking a brick out just above skirting level and put a plastic vent over to give a bit of an air-flow., The thing that will make it a bit easier for you is when you knock that area off you can put a straight edge across it and that is what you have to build back. As for you doing it I would have a trawl thru the forum and see if you come across something similar to give you an idea of what you are up against..

 

[JoeA]

Cheers guys, that gives me some food for thought.

 

[phatboy]

Replace all the skirting in the room, and keep the bits you remove for replacements / repairs in other rooms.

 

[JoeA]

No idea why I'm posting an update almost a year after the event, but I did it myself, and it doesn't look terrible!

Got a new length of skirting to match as well.

Thanks for the advice.

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• JoeA
• 22 Feb 2015
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• JoeA
• 22 Feb 2015
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• JoeA
• 22 Feb 2015
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• JoeA
• 22 Feb 2015
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[ree]

Good job, well done.

Did you have the flue swept?

You need a vent in the c/breast face.

The ends of the floor boards were looking fungal damaged and the nail heads were rusty in the floor - both indications that you should inspect the condition of the joists below the floor for damp, and the sub-area thro ventilation.