Cracking in Finish

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dlacheson

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Hi there, I do hope somebody can help. I've just applied multi finish to a wall in a bathroom and it's begun to dry up and crack! The background was render (which has been there for many years) The walls would have been still warm, as the heating was only turned off shortly before I began plastering. I did PVA the wall beforehand too, but it became unworkable due to it drying up.
The clients are an elderly couple, and I said I'd return on Monday to redo the job at no extra charge. What can I do this time to get it right??
 
Take along a plasterer with you to sort it out ?

Keep the heat off if poss
More PVA
Apply a better coat of finish

check what you have done is all sound prior to doing all of the above
 
1st off have you read suction control in the faq? not just sayin that, church is bang on..
ratio wise its down to what brand of pva your usin, id say on a high suction background your first coat wants to be like spray paint, 2nd coat wants to be like thin cheap emulsion or thin gravy.. if this goes tacky (almost dry) in about 10-15 minutes your about right..
technically your supposed to get on it at the tacky/almost dry stage to create a bond, but if youve got it right youllo be ok leaving it a bit longer.. whatever you do dont put plaster on it while its still wet..
what your lookin for is a surface that just doesnt reflect light, but almost.. hard to describe i know... maybe like a cross between matt and satin paint..
dont overdo it though or youll seal it completely and in most cases youll be ok but sometimes if youve guaged the background wrong youll be in trouble cos it just wont suck in and dry from the back, what it will do is grin at you for an hour (the plaster i mean) and then go off all at once and youll have a nightmare gettin a finish on it..
 
p.s. you might wanna take a 4" heavy duty scraper and have that old plaster off the wall.. youll find it'll fall off dead easy..
 
OK then, it looks like I'll have to try using more PVA. Thanx to all who replied, your comments are most appreciated.
 
hi there mate, segs and church know what there talking about pal..... read the suction section very very useful..... putting on a primer coat before you left today would have worked a treat........... 1st coat it 5:1 ... wants to be very watery........ when thats dry leave as long as poss before a 3:1 wants to look like a runny egg in your bucket then bang that on...... its high suction so i'd say tacky in about 20 minutes..... when its touch tacky bang your finish in there (i assume your using multi and hope your not using board finish!) make your mix quite wet too.... give you more working time. .... good luck ;D ;D
 
mix youre plaster as normal if its wet youll put it on tight .......use 2/1 mixes for the pva 2 should be alright mate ........personally the lowest ill go is 3/1 and thats for sealing
 
heres a funny thing.. ;D
if you mix your plaster like p'ss, itll go on real thin..
funnily enuff it dries quicker too..
 
Thanks for the advise guys. Re-plastered that wall, scraped off where it had cracked, cleaned it up and used a different PVA (Travis Perkins brand is crap!) I put 2 coats on as advised, the last one thicker than the first, left it to go tacky and away I went! After trowelling up, I have a beautiful finish. Thanks again.
 
i use tp pva all the time never had probs ;D.......sorry mate
 
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