Is my plasterer doing a good job?

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sw25481

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Hello from a new poster,

I have a guy in plastering my whole house and he isn't doing a bad job, it just isn't what I was expecting. Can anyone help me understand if I am being too picky and getting a great job or if this guys is rushing perhaps because he is on a price. I don't want to insult his work un-necessarily or get done over by someone taking advantage.

When you walk into the rooms they initially look good. There is a little crazed cracking in one room he says he will fix but there is nothing else visible from a couple of meters other than some walls are more mottled in colour than others, the darker colours feeling courser, but nothing that would show after even a light sand.

What worries me is that when you run your hand along the wall you can feel them waving in and out. Place a straight edge against the wall and you can see it as well, (over any 1.5m you will see the walls touch about 4 times and the three hollows will be perhaps 3 mm). Most walls will have places where the straight edge rocks what I would call significantly, (the protrusion perhaps 1/2 cm), you can usually tell what he was struggling with as it will be a transition between old and new build or getting over a conduit for wire. I must stress, in the most part, you can't see any of this without a straight edge. Each room will have two or three small areas that you can see and are clearly going to need significant sanding or filling. An unexplained ridge or dip, perhaps near some complex transition. Ironically these bits look the easiest to fix before paint as they are so localised.

I had pretty much expected to be able to spray the walls after a light sand. Was that always unrealistic or if I can't see it and only feel it now, will it be the same after paint? Was I always going to need to do much more work to get a high class paint finish? Is the reason I don't feel this rippling in other houses that they have been sanded and painted several times over the years knocking down the ridges or are they always there and you just don't notice them once painted?

Thanks for any thoughts

Scott
 
painters do need to do a bit of sanding but a plasterers job is to do flat smooth work!if its float and set on new block work or the walls have been hacked off back to the brick work it should be flat as a pancake but if his skimming over old walls he can only follow the shap of the old walls but his skimming should still be smooth! plus with new work you get shrinkage crakes
 
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The Walls should be left flat & smooth ready to paint that is our job.
You should not need to sand & fill new plaster, ok maybe a few little bits at the most!
Where it feels rough it hasn't been trowelled up on that area properly.
And were the Walls wavy before?
 
if you ever need to sand mine please dont post on the web about it just tell me and ill go work for ASDA
are the walls old or new?
 
Tbh mate if you want the walls flat you HAVE too dot and dab them. Plaster is only 4 too 8mm thick.
 
Tbh mate if you want the walls flat you HAVE too dot and dab them. Plaster is only 4 too 8mm thick.

I've seen D & D jobs being miles out of plumb so that aint true.............A good plasterer will get any wall flat without resorting to dot and dab - the only ones who always recommend D & D are SKIMMERS, not Plasterers.:RpS_thumbup:
 
if he was skimming over existing walls he will only be really following whats there,but you should still be able to paint straight away.if its new block work and its flat then so should the plastering no excuses.he does sound a bit rough to be honest
 
the only filer u shud need is 4 skirting boards.if plastered correctly the walls should be bang on.and the finish gives off a shine.like an ice skating ring.u should not need 2 sand newly plastered walls.
 
sound to me like he has skimmed before the bonding agent has properley gone into background and has had some sliding,this will explain the wavy walls.
no sanding shud be needed
when dry a nice uniformed colour shud be achieved,the same colour as the powder
 
the only filer u shud need is 4 skirting boards.if plastered correctly the walls should be bang on.and the finish gives off a shine.like an ice skating ring.u should not need 2 sand newly plastered walls.

Jamie, I think you need to be careful about how much you trowel your work. An over polished finish is a complete nightmare for a decorator.It will provide no key for the paint,and a will require a light sand to over come this.The skim should be matt to very light sheen in appearance. A glass finish is a No No.
 
the walls should b to a good standard when he.s finished ...thats what you paid for,yes he might be in a rush to get to next job ,that is not your problem he should give each job 110% as word of mouth is better than anything else,,you should not have to sand any thing on the wall when he has plastered walls,,and when you start to paint you will see a lot more ,if the wall has not been done properly,,he may have to level the wall out again then ,re skimm, as for the cracking that could be down to age of walls or not enough p.v.a ,:)
 
ross never had a decorator.come tell me of any problem.infact oppisite they want my number.it wis ment as an example.
 
painters do need to do a bit of sanding but a plasterers job is to do flat smooth work!if its float and set on new block work or the walls have been hacked off back to the brick work it should be flat as a pancake but if his skimming over old walls he can only follow the shap of the old walls but his skimming should still be smooth! plus with new work you get shrinkage crakes
good advice
 
i polish mine till its like an ice rink !!! but i do put the required colour in my mix so no painting needed ;-)

all jokes welcome
 
Depends on the state of the wlls before he started, and what you agreed on for your money.Sometimes bad walls wont be flat after skimming, but should still have a good finnish.If they were bad before he started he should of picked this up, and suggested leveling them out.If they look worse now then before, sounds like your getting a bad deal
 
Depends on what the back ground was, sometimes people/builders say "yea il hack that wall off for yer" get in and they've taken 5mm of it off an left the poor old spread a crap rocky background then the spark clips that shite conduit over for the new sockets and throw in some new block work running off at a different degree! Yea make that straight!

What's the guy been given to work with? Was he the cheapest price?

An no it wernt me!!!! Haha
 
I've seen D & D jobs being miles out of plumb so that aint true.............A good plasterer will get any wall flat without resorting to dot and dab - the only ones who always recommend D & D are SKIMMERS, not Plasterers.:RpS_thumbup:


an early candidate for post of the week.
 
Thanks for all the advice, the majority of which seems to suggest I need to look into this some more.

Answers to your questions

  • There are lots of different types of walls and surfaces. Some new plasterboard, some all new block and some where he has had to deal with a transition from new block to old brick.
  • I am based in Epsom in Surrey
  • I will take photos this weekend and post
  • He was not the cheapest price, (in fact they were all pretty much the same), he was the one with the best rating on Check-A-Trade
  • The walls were not wavey before as best I could tell, but then I was never tempted to run my hand over them in the way that new plaster work makes you want to do and you can't see they are wavey now unless you use a straight edge
  • Probably worth saying that another week gone by and the dark areas are not getting any lighter or shrinking so I don't think they were just not dry. Where as the best, smoothest wall is a uniform colour as you described. He has injured his back, (not here I hasten to add), so will not be back on site for a while which gives me time to check this out.
 
the dark areas are prob from the mix he shat in after reading what you put on here :)
 
you ain't happy chief ! get it over and done with and give the spread the bad news. Pick a wall you are perfectly happy with and insist you want them all like that. He may be a nice bloke and will help you solve these issues.
Maybe get a decorator on standby with a price to make good
 
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