New skim patch fell off the wall! Patch up ok?

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beigeM

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Just had a job done and it's not turning out well, so looking for some opinions/advice about what to do.


Plastering job included skimming one of the bedroom walls, as well as boarding & skimming ceiling.


It looked ok, but when I was applying the mist coat the plaster started to come away from the wall. Plasterer came back and (easily) pulled a large circle off. The painted round all the edges with PVA

2014-02-13 08.55.36small.jpg

and came back the next day to plaster in the patch.

2014-02-13 12.46.45small.jpg

Question 1 - Is this satisfactory? Is the quality of finish going to suffer?


Upon his advice I lightly sanded down around the patch and have applied 2 mist coats. It seems like there is a fair amount of exposed PVA on the wall now and the paint is not covering it well. I'm also starting to get uneven patches - some with a solid coat of paint and some still looking dirty.


2014-02-17 17.21.50small.jpg

Question 2 - Any advice? Should I worry about it?


Feel like I've paid a small fortune for this little job and I though I was paying to get an excellent finish. I can hopefully use responses here to argue under the 'guarantee' I was given and get what I've paid for. Thanks in advance.
 
its between you and him if your not happy say so.
your asking plasterers to slag off plasterers and the guy that did that may be a member here.
 
Hi Jesssop,
Point taken - I should have left out the 'satisfactory' bit from my question (but I can't edit).
I'd still like to know if the pro's would expect the finish to suffer from a patch up job like this? and if anyone has tips on preparing or painting a PVA and plaster patch surface for painting?, please.
 
fine fill the area rub it down paint again. if you do this right you wont see it, if you do it wrong it will look worse
 
A joint cement should be applied to the edges of the patch and sanded down once dry and patch will be completely hidden. You paid for and was expecting a good job so don't think your being overly dramatic about it. Give the guy a phone and explain it isn't painting up right and the chances are he will come out and fix and everyone's happy.
 
I think the bare minimum you should expect from a reskim is that it remains bonded to the wall and doesn't peel off as you try and paint it, I dont see why you should be filling anything, give your plasterer a bell and get him back.
 
Might have dust under which may cause the.plaster not being bonded to the wall that why ya need a clean surface so it's done properly
 
It shouldn't fail but mistKes happen the patching looks rough as ****, the Pva around the edges should go away after the second coat of paint and is that damp below your window in the first pic?
 
good observational skills, flynnyman. The neighbour had a leaking gutter and it seems to have gone unfixed for quite a while (fixed now) and allowed water to run down the brickwork. Bricks on front of house are damp, mainly on neighbours side. Area was behind our radiator. This plaster was blown so I pulled it all off. Plasterer came in and plastered the area, but it's a lot thicker than the skim coat on the rest, so taking longer to dry.

the original pic was taken 5 days ago, here is a new one - looks like it's drying ok to me.

I'll definitely be getting the plasterer back - there is actually another with a crack in where you can feel from the movement that the plaster is not bonded behind (but I didn't want to ask too many questions at once, and tI guess the solution is probably going to be the same for there as with this patch).
 
Get a scraper, remove all that comes off, get him to re do it, possibly just one of those things but either way it's not any good to you..
 
A properly done patch should be seamless. If it's not and youre not happy. Ask him to redo the wall
 
Turn your hand so the top of your hand is touching the wall and tap your nails along the wall this will tell if it's bonded or not.
 
rub the pva with sandpaper then give it a coat of undercoat before painting,, i would not be to pleased with the job if i was you
 
If he is a member he should be named, what a shoddy job, same time to replaster whole wall again as to do the patch
 
Its not good, but as Flyyny says, things Happen.Test the wall as Flynny says, then call him back and go through what your not happy with.Wheater its patching, or scrapping it all off and re-doing you should have a wall that looks good when painted.
Also, is it a job yu have payed highly for , or cheaply for.This may have a bearing on whats happened.
 
Thanks everyone for your advice.

The plasterer seems like a genuine bloke - he's blaming it on some dodgy PVA (not that that explains the patch up job), and is coming back tomorrow afternoon. Says if it takes re-skimming then thats what he will do.

flynnyman said:
Turn your hand so the top of your hand is touching the wall and tap your nails along the wall this will tell if it's bonded or not.
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I did this and there are a few patches which sound a bit more 'hollow' (or a least different to the rest of the wall). I can't detect any movement, but I suspect you wouldn't expect to. Does this mean we should take it all off and start again?
 
kebab king said:
Also, is it a job yu have payed highly for , or cheaply for.This may have a bearing on whats happened.
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No - I don't think we were scrimping on the price - he said he wouldn't be the cheapest quote (I didn't go looking for cheap quotes - I used Ratedpeople hoping to get a decent plasterer at a fair price). Also let him put the quote up so he could bring a labourer along.
 
If thats the case you need to allow him to put this right,and he should really do so. Did he make you aware of any possible issues before he started.Is the skim come away from what he skimmed, or is the wall below attached to the loose skim.
 
kebab king said:
If thats the case you need to allow him to put this right,and he should really do so. Did he make you aware of any possible issues before he started.Is the skim come away from what he skimmed, or is the wall below attached to the loose skim.
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Thats what I'm planning / hoping!

His skim is coming away from the plaster underneath is (at least thats what happened on the peeling patch). There were no issues before he started - the old plaster was just dented/bumpy.
 
Where abouts are u located.

To be honest looking at the size of that wall it aint worth patching, id just reskim the lot.
 
SE London.

Been over all the skimmed surfaces (over-boarded ceiling and several walls) with my fingernails and there are LOTS of hollow sounding areas with sizes varying from palm of a hand to over a foot wide.
 
Regards to hollow sounding areas, When he quoted did he give you the options of knocking it all off, knocking off any shot areas or just a straight forward reskim of whats there? If he offered to knock off any loose then fair enough get him back. If he offered and you said no to save money (im not saying you did) then Its down to you.
 
beddy said:
Regards to hollow sounding areas, When he quoted did he give you the options of knocking it all off, knocking off any shot areas or just a straight forward reskim of whats there? If he offered to knock off any loose then fair enough get him back. If he offered and you said no to save money (im not saying you did) then Its down to you.
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I requested a quote for skim and he didn't suggest anything was wrong with the walls. The skim seems to not have bonded to the old plaster underneath, which is NOT loose. He's going to be here imminently so we'll see what we can do. Have masking tape up to highlight all the hollow patches.
 
Was it definitely not blown before? Did you use a steamer to remove the paper? Although it does seem strange that one patch has already blown.
 
I'm reasonably sure other walls are fine and they felt ok to me (and we KNOW at least some of the new skim was not bonded).
I didn't use a steamer - they were only painted (although room may have been papered and stripped some time in the last 100 years!).
 
He's paid a visit and is going to improve the finish on the patch, and patch another unbonded area.

Issue now is with these hollow sounding areas.
He wasn't convinced they were unbonded and said that any unbonded areas would already have cracked (I have paint rollered the walls).
Said that all walls in old buildings sound different in different patches.
Said that unbonded areas will have a void behind, so should be obvious. (is this right? why can't they be held perfectly flat against the wall by the surrounding plaster)?

I put my (decent) vacuum nozzle up against a hollow sounding patch with a couple of pin-prick sized holes in, and it managed to start to suck the plaster off (caused cracks)

What I'm really worried about now is that there might be several areas which are not bonded and we won't find out until at some point in the distant future when we redecorate, put shelves up or use some sticky picture mounts... is this possible?
 
the wall may have had distemper on that would explain why the plaster peeled when you painted it {or am i missing something}
 
Get a scraper behind it,what comes off is not bonded,what doesn't is, it's that simple. Now,off tithe pub, have a pint
 
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