Bumpy plaster

[Porthole]

Hello

Our solid walls have Thistle Hardwall and Finishing plaster skim on them. They are however quite bumpy and I would be grateful for any tips on how to smooth these out. Our decorator isn't part of the contractor's team and blames the plastering for poor quality work. 

 

In our old house, our builders did the decorating and I do remember them sanding furiously for a day with masks on, after the first coat of white paint. The end result was quite good and the sanding compensated for poor plaster work. I need to suggest that our current painter does this but not sure what type of sanding, grit rating etc to use. Please can you advise. He won't be happy me asking him to do this though. 

 

Is this the best approach? Also before bring up the poor plasterwork with the contractor can someone please tell me if it is common to have more uneven plasterwork when hardwall is used as opposed to plasterboard. 

 

Thank you!! 

[markc]

Sounds like you need to get it skimmed by a decent plasterer.

you could sand with a big drywall sander but it’s a horrible job even with good dust extraction

[Onoff]

Depends how big an area but the (handraulic ?) Mirka sander with dust extraction attachment is a joy to use:

 

https://www.toolstation.com/mirka-dust-extraction-handy-sander-kit/p86220

Edited February 22, 2022 by Onoff

[nod]

They will need a coat of carlite bonding Then re skimmed 

Anything else will be a waste of time 

[Porthole]

40 minutes ago, Onoff said:

Depends how big an area but the (handraulic ?) Mirka sander with dust extraction attachment is a joy to use:

 

https://www.toolstation.com/mirka-dust-extraction-handy-sander-kit/p86220

Thank you - the decorator has got this sander but I think he may need something more industrial. I remember previous decorators using a circular type of sander

[Onoff]

1 minute ago, Porthole said:

Thank you - the decorator has got this sander but I think he may need something more industrial. I remember previous decorators using a circular type of sander

 

Mirka do a powered one but it's £££.

 

 

[nod]

31 minutes ago, Porthole said:

Thank you - the decorator has got this sander but I think he may need something more industrial. I remember previous decorators using a circular type of sander

You will do all that 

Then either live with it or end up Bonding and skimming it all

Speaking from experience 

 

It’s like the old poly cell add which showed a lady covering artex with a tub of filler then sanding 

It doesn’t work 

Filling and sanding will cover infections in skimming But not backing plaster 

Plus cost a fortune 

Edited February 22, 2022 by nod

[Porthole]

On 22/02/2022 at 07:32, nod said:

You will do all that 

Then either live with it or end up Bonding and skimming it all

Speaking from experience 

 

It’s like the old poly cell add which showed a lady covering artex with a tub of filler then sanding 

It doesn’t work 

Filling and sanding will cover infections in skimming But not backing plaster 

Plus cost a fortune 

ok thanks - coming round to fact that we might need to get it skimmed afterwards. Upstairs - too late as painter as painted and tried to sand mist coat.

Downstairs is in process of being plastered by builders. What is the rough cost of a plaster - is it £200 a day? How much might they do in a day? Thanks

[JohnMo]

If the contractor has done it, tell him he needs to do it again, as it's rubbish.  Why should you pay twice?  If you contracted it yourself tell the company to come back.  Looks like everyone is wiping up the mess left by a shoddy plasterer.

[Jenki]

As @nod Said, it will need undercoat plaster to flatten the wall first using a Darby or screed beams  (if these are big undulations) then skim. otherwise the skim coat will follow the base and still be bumpy - better but bumpy.

11 minutes ago, Porthole said:

What is the rough cost of a plaster - is it £200 a day?

I thought you had rough plaster?

[nod]

We where ask to put eight poorly skinned apartments right 

I did advise replastering But they decided we should fill and sand to save money 

We finished up re skimming after it had been painted AGAIN 

This was just bumpy 3-5 mil finish 

Very difficult to get it looking right with filler 

Edited February 23, 2022 by nod

[Porthole]

Thanks all for your comments. We've had a difficult relationship with the contractor and he has us over a barrel a bit as we need to move back in as no where to live and we need to rely on him finishing the overall job. Any form of criticism has not gone down well and resulted in a fictitious charge for something out of spite - which has made it all rather stressful. We've asked him to do things properly all the way through but now, it's become even more difficult. We've had a word with the plasterer but he just said it was a hand finish so not going to be perfect. 

 

They builders have put a scratch coat on the walls, and are about to put hardwall on before plaster skim. Do you think that it would be a sensible option to suggest putting plasterboard onto the walls as that might lead to a better finish? The builders seem to be fixed on using hardwall - not sure why - they said something about it give you less build up off the wall compared with dot and dab plasterboard where you need at least 30mm off the wall. I assume that it will be harder to get a good finish when using hardwall undercoat as opposed to plasterboard which can be skimmed.

 

Your comments gratefully received.

Thank you.

[bassanclan]

That sounds a bit usual. Scratch coat then hardwall then skim?

Maybe you could agree that you arrange your own plasterer and he carries on with the things you know he is good at doing.