New Plasterer - Ceiling Question

Status
Not open for further replies.

gitznshiggles

New Member
Hi Chaps,

Am new to the forum and new to plastering, however I can and do plaster to a pretty good standard for a non-pro. Anyway Ive been asked to look at a ceiling in a victorian house, although the original 2 rooms have been knocked through into one, the ceilings are obviously still separated by rsj etc.

In one half there is a bloody awful old ornamental coving, in the other half of the room there isnt. The punter wants to keep the coving in the first room and would just like the ceilling skimmed, but given the molding of the old coving i just cant get my head round how i could get a good finish up to it.

Customer will not take down/replace coving, so do i run a mile from it or do as best as I can in terms of troweling up to the coving profile.

Any ideas appreciated.
 
Im fairly certain that the customer is not going to want to take the old ceiling down, this is a tarting up job as opposed to tearing the place apart and starting over. So a good coating of pva and a 2 coat skim of multifinish I would guess, thing is I dont have a lot of margin for thickness on this if I want a good finish up to the coving, but like i said Im not a tradesman so feel free to shoot me down and tell me what i should be doing.
 
personally.... I would get a pro in to help you it sounds like its something that can be done... I have had to often go up to coving. But for someone thats fairly new I would just charge what you can and get a local spread in to help even if its just to keep your reputation.

Welcome to the forum by the way :RpS_laugh:

Danny
 
Hi thanks for the comments
lctanner - no its skimmed, fairly flat but old
danny - thanks for the welcome and your advice, that might be the way to go, however its not a big area and i really wanna give it a go.. I may just see how i get on with the bigger 2nd ceiling thats straight forward and take a really good look at the first with the coving... as you rightly say, it may not be worth trying as a noob spread in case i turn it into a dogs dinner, however if i dont have a pop i wont have learnt... catch 22.... fortunately i dont have a rep to ruin as yet cos my work has either been on a course or stuff ive done at home, plus the punter is a friend from work who wont report me to cowboy builders if things go a little wobbly :o)
 
i cant imagine this cornice / coving having ornate edges so Ill assume its just a flat straight edge in which case just lay the ceiling on and when you flatten it off just cut it back slightly using the corner of your trowel...
by the time youve done all therell be is a perfectly designed edge to your cove/ceiling, the ceiling may well be at the same level as the cove edge but it wont look like it at all, youll never know its been skimmed until the cracks start to appear because the lath and plaster ceiling is moving around all over the place, but a tart up is a tart up.. just make sure you explain its highly likely to hairline within a few weeks...

plastering up to coving is standard stuff for a domestic spread and ive even seen people cove a room first, then skim up to it...
I dont personally, but others do occasionally..

tip for not covering the cove in plaster as youre laying on....
lay on 1-2" away from the cove, then soon as youve laid on, wash your tools and flatten it off (well, if its only a small area, let it hazel off a bit first), and trowel it into the edge, therell be plenty of plaster on the ceiling to shove it towards the cove, only difference is you wont have a full trowelful just waiting to deposit itself all over the cove...
get into the habit, it'll make you a tidier spread all round...
 
yep very important to keep the coving clean from start to finish... dont let it go hard

when I use to quote for dom jobs I always use to tell them it could crack and in an ideal world the cieling would be removed and re tacked and then re coved.....

Good luck

Danny
 
every time i go to get some masking tape its three f**k**g years old and set in one big lump on the roll.... you couldnt mask off a bleedin matchbox!
 
Thanks again for the replies..
Chris W - have you been and looked at this job too, thats a perfect description of what i meant. I got my friend to take a couple of snaps of the ceiling to aid my memory and there is a good 5mm edge to finish up to. Ive explained about the cracking and they are happy with that risk, Ive said that assuming the whole lot gets painted in the same colour we may even be able to run a small bead of caulk or some other flexible filler along the edge to mask any hairlining that might happen where the skim meets the cove.
I'll be sure to masking tape it too, cos being a heavy handed b@stard at the best of times and being a new spread - i aint the cleanest and tend to drop a bit :o)
 
lol 5mm edge should be ok mate... if it looks rough when your finished just sell it to your mate as a victorian feature :RpS_wink:
 
5mm that's plenty to still leave you a lip & I can't see it cracking where it meets the cornice if you are pva'ing.
Shouldn't need caulking!
Masking tape hmm shouldnt need this either just tidy up edges with a trowel & use a small paint brush to run around the ceiling line when the plaster has firmed up.
Use a sponge if you have to on cornice before it sets.
 
Last edited:
yeh the hairline cracking will be across the ceiling proper, assuming its lath and plaster, if theres any there now, chances are theyll come back again..
no i havent been to the job btw, :RpS_laugh: its just a very common job for a domestic spread, same old same old, seen one youve seen em all...
thats what makes this place so good, even if its not a common job, pound to a penny theres someone whos done it before...
these kind of jobs weve all done, lots of em..
 
yeah i must admit i looked at it a while ago (they dont have the spare green to get me in as yet) and from memory i thought it was literally 1-2mm in places feathering to nahfink in others... but looking at the pic this morning there looks to be up to 5mm so a lot of fuss for nothing im affraid.

will be alright for a first private job, s**t or bust i guess, next fecking problem will be getting up to the ceiling... im 6'2 but reckon ill need to get higher than your average hop up... this is the trouble when youre not in the trade full time - it takes a while to get the kit together.

cheers for help though
 
yup it takes time to get kit when your in the trade aswell... unless your oasis that gets everything comped or he buys it... he just bought a new store room he nicknamed it Screwfix

lol

Danny
 
I always bang a bit of fibatape over any cracks, but still warn the punter that they could show through later.:RpS_thumbup:
 
Thing is though mate,ur stil gonna be putting more weight on a ceiling which is old and damaged.
The chances are it wont last long before it cracking like mad.Ive done them in the past becuse customer says just skim it and as im giving it a hard final polish part of ceiling startred cracking and 5 mins later 2 m2 ended up on the floor.If the ceiling is in bad shape a quick skim is no good for the long term fix.
 
Thing is though mate,ur stil gonna be putting more weight on a ceiling which is old and damaged.
The chances are it wont last long before it cracking like mad.Ive done them in the past becuse customer says just skim it and as im giving it a hard final polish part of ceiling startred cracking and 5 mins later 2 m2 ended up on the floor.If the ceiling is in bad shape a quick skim is no good for the long term fix.

Yeah, good call. Always point this out to the punter and get them to accept that it mightfail.........
 
Yeah thanks mate - i should have mentioned about this, the ceiling with the coving feels firm and solid, the ceiling in the joining room is sagging and when i gave it a prod my finger almost went through it... Ive said that one needs to be reboarded. Assuming I can find the joists I should be able to use longer drywall screws and fix on top of the old board...

It looks like old given the sagging, but for the age of the house it must be lath and plaster... the whole shooting match is covered in lining paper so its hard to know for sure.

They wont want to get involved with taking the old lath and plaster down, but sometimes you create more problems trying to find work arounds... the last thing i want is to have found that ive reboarded it fixing into fking laths, then dumped the weight of another 2 skim coats onto it.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top