Plaster on top of artex is coming off the walls help and advice please

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kev241

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Plaster disaster help and advice please,

I have just had my kitchen plastered by a trade plasterer. The ceilings where swirly artex and the walls where stippled artex. The Plasterer boarded the ceiling which is fine no problems at all.

The walls are the problem first some hair line cracks apeared then bigger cracks and now all the plaster on the walls is loose and hasn't stuck to the walls.

The plasterer has had a look and I got the "this has never happened to me before it hasn't bonded with the artex I will go and have a think about it"

He applied PVA to the walls and used thistle board finish.

What do I do I would post a picture but I can't upload it for some reason (I am rubbish with computers) the photo uploader keeps failing.

I can email the pic to someone if they could post it on this thread for me?

I have lifted a small area off the wall but more and more plaster kept coming off it looks like the whole job will need scrapping off
 
plaster 001.jpg

Managed to put a pic on.
 
He should have used a bonding agent, eg WBA. Pva normally works but it can occasionally fail as in this case
 
Personally, on artex, I would normally skim the wall with a tight coat of bonding plaster 1st, and then skimmed the wall with finishing plaster, I was always told never to skim straight over artex, as the backing should be harder than the skim coat,
 
My plasterer is really sincere about this and said that heused pva then a bonding plaster followed by board finish.

He wants to scrape it off and scrape off the artex and start again. Does this mean Iam going to be out off pocket as I cannot afford this (I did pay cash So I maynot have a leg to stand on). What would you professionals do in this case?
 
kev241 said:
My plasterer is really sincere about this and said that heused pva then a bonding plaster followed by board finish.

He wants to scrape it off and scrape off the artex and start again. Does this mean Iam going to be out off pocket as I cannot afford this (I did pay cash So I maynot have a leg to stand on). What would you professionals do in this case?
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Your plasterer sounds as though he knows what he is doing and he has offered to come back and rectify it, and yes you may have to pay some more money out, unfortunately when plastering over decorative finishes such as artex etc it's impossible to guarantee and be risk free as i'm sure your plasterer may have stated (although i have had no issues in this area, but then i wont skim it if i feel there may be issues) so it's unfair to expect him to bear the brunt, provided he has carried out the works to spec and showed due diligince
 
(If), from what I'm looking at in your photo is the bonding plaster on top of your artex I would say its his fault because it looks like there's no mechanical key, if its the bonding coat underneath your artex and the original finishing plaster has "blown" then its not his fault but the bloke before him, the photo's not that clear so its hard to say.
 
rjm said:
Personally, on artex, I would normally skim the wall with a tight coat of bonding plaster 1st, and then skimmed the wall with finishing plaster, I was always told never to skim straight over artex, as the backing should be harder than the skim coat,
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That doesn't make sense?

If the backing should be harder than the skim coat then why would you skim over bonding? finish is much harder than bonding.

And artex is also pretty hard so skimming over it for that reason shouldn't be a problem either!

Confused.
 
Your artex is the problem mate thats what is not bonded. Looking at your walls they are gypsum skimmed not lime.
when we say I need to think about what we are really saying is FECK FECK why me. The guy will put right for you.
I bet your walls are bone dry.
 
has the artex come off too? it looks like it as, if it as its not the plasterers fault to be fair to him

did you get it cheaper by paying cash :RpS_lol:
 
av saw this happen before going over artex.did he scrape the artex before plastering.thats when u can usualy fell any movment.it mite not be the plasterers falt some one may have artexed over wal paper and the wait of the plaster is pulling it of.
 
It doesnt look like the artex has come off to me, if it has, then that was one ******* thin coat of artex, bonding AND finish...
 
Freerider said:
That doesn't make sense?

If the backing should be harder than the skim coat then why would you skim over bonding? finish is much harder than bonding.

And artex is also pretty hard so skimming over it for that reason shouldn't be a problem either!

Confused.
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Did he give plasterboard a tight coat of bonding too lol, sounds like he just wants to add more weight to the wall so it can fall off.....hang on there's a thread somewhere......oh it's here :)
 
From the picture it dont look like it has been bonded and by the looks of it it was plastered onto silk paint and we all know what that is like with a weak coat of pva it just aint happening the job looks tidy enough but it is clear there is a adhesive problem there.
 
Haha I didnt think of that, plasterboard, harder than skim, ******* hell heard it all now! some people really don't think before they speak!
 
Your plasterer should not have used board finish with bonding, he should have used mutli-finish and as freerider said "that was one thin coat of bonding and finish"
 
i think your spread is ok and he will sort it .most times pva and skim works fine but he shud use a true bonding agent such as sovereign plasprime,you d be surprised how many good spreads have never used it.it costs are 4 or 5 times pva
 
Freerider said:
That doesn't make sense?

If the backing should be harder than the skim coat then why would you skim over bonding? finish is much harder than bonding.

And artex is also pretty hard so skimming over it for that reason shouldn't be a problem either!

Confused.
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Hi, it was just what I was told by one of the chaps who initially taught me, his reasoning for bonding over artex was to level out the surface and for the reason I gave earlier, and as he was a plasterer of 20 years I had just took his word as gospel, even though it did seem a bit strange when possibly he didnt know himself and made somthing up, I have been doing plumbing for 11 years, but only been doing plastering and general buikding work for 6, and have just learnt on the job as I went along so I'm probably very inexperienced compared to many on here, but hey, that's what I'm onhere for , to improve my knowledge of the game, so thankyou for the correction
 
rockhardsolidplastering said:
i think your spread is ok and he will sort it .most times pva and skim works fine but he shud use a true bonding agent such as sovereign plasprime,you d be surprised how many good spreads have never used it.it costs are 4 or 5 times pva
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£22 + the dreaded, could be a bit more if it's delivered by taxi :RpS_wink:
 
Looks like this had confused a few people on here. All around the kitched the walls just below the window sill line was covered in tongue and groove panneling. When removed there was no artex here and the plaster has bonded to this no problem. I am removing the loose plaster today as it just falls off with a scraper. I will then have ago at scraping off the artex stipple finish.

I am hoping the plasterer will get in touch but i am going to remove as much as I can this weekend.
I know this is awkward for my plasterer but as a customer I trusted his proffesional opion. I was self employed and on occasion this happened to myself and I had to rectify it at my own cost making a loss and the end of the day. (different trade)

Lets hope he gets back to me and we can sort something out. am I doing the right thing by scraping off the artex any tips on this?
 
wall 1 001.JPG wall 1 002.JPG

As you can see I have scrapped a little of the old artex off which reveals the gloss paint from 1970. I thought that the plaster bonded to the walls below the window sill line as there was no artex here and that just falls off as well. :RpS_crying:
 
not his fault mate that the artex has fallen off, maybe you could pay him half of the jobs value as it is now to put it right?
 
i wud keep that radiator below the window switched off.after plastering.as the heat cud cos it 2 shrink and crack.
 
NPS said:
not his fault mate that the artex has fallen off, maybe you could pay him half of the jobs value as it is now to put it right?
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If you go do a job and skim onto a wall that is not sound then yes it is the fault of the plasterer.
 
rjm said:
Hi, it was just what I was told by one of the chaps who initially taught me, his reasoning for bonding over artex was to level out the surface and for the reason I gave earlier, and as he was a plasterer of 20 years I had just took his word as gospel, even though it did seem a bit strange when possibly he didnt know himself and made somthing up, I have been doing plumbing for 11 years, but only been doing plastering and general buikding work for 6, and have just learnt on the job as I went along so I'm probably very inexperienced compared to many on here, but hey, that's what I'm onhere for , to improve my knowledge of the game, so thankyou for the correction
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That's correct, boding (three coat finish) is common practise in these cases.
 
The artex hasn't come off the wall. I have had a go at scraping the artex off. That artex is stuck on good and proper. The radiator has never been switched on and I left in over a week to fully dry. I guess he has used a weak PVA.
 
I am based just of Junction 23 on the M1 if any wants to come and have a look / diagnosis get in touch
 
kev241 said:
The artex hasn't come off the wall. I have had a go at scraping the artex off. That artex is stuck on good and proper. The radiator has never been switched on and I left in over a week to fully dry. I guess he has used a weak PVA.
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Also mate it is in the kitchen right next to the cooker and the extractor is, where you would off had a build up of grease on the walls prior to bonding agent etc plus the heat/steam etc from cooking, only your plasterer will know the answer to this, but if your not happy get a second opinion from some one locally, otherwise we could be here for weeks making assumptions, but hopefully you have received/gleaned some relative info from all the responses given
 
kev241 said:
The artex hasn't come off the wall. I have had a go at scraping the artex off. That artex is stuck on good and proper. The radiator has never been switched on and I left in over a week to fully dry. I guess he has used a weak PVA.
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Yes we all know that, well with the exception off NPS who doesn't know anything about plastering if what i've heard is true.
 
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