Advice Needed - Cowboy Plasterers

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Barnezy318 said:
I’ll get the other company in to fix the finish and will debut that cost from what the original plasterer is owed. He’s offered to fix it but I’ve told him I’m more comfortable with someone else doing it and he understands. I’m not looking to screw anyone over and believe I’m being fair in that approach. The most frustrating thing is they went and plastered over the paper, meaning removing it so a proper job could be done, is no longer an option. I would have happily spent 3 days scraping the paper off myself if I had known I could have avoided this situation I’ve now been put in.

Paint or no paint, if you just look at or run your hand over the surface you can tell it will look terrible, like an 19th century pub ceiling.

I take pride in my work and when I was on the tools, I would do everything as if it was my own house. I can’t stand sloppy work from people that don’t care.
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You are screwing him if you won't let him rectify...it's not even painted I think everyone's mad, can't judge till painted
 
I believe if they skimmed wallpaper they were told too as boarding too expensive, no one in there right mind would take that decision on themselves without the customer....
 
zombie said:
I find myself in a strange place in that i agree with the customer 100%

No time served plasterer would put there name to skimming over a wooodchip ceiling without the home owners consent!

The finish is irrelevent good, bad, or indefferent its the practice that is wrong!

That said i still smell a rat with all this survey malarky over a small plastering job, thats just somebody hes paid to find faults 100% fact imo!
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I paid the plasterer who is part of the Master Craftsman Guild, £40 to assess whether the ceiling was going to fall down and what my option were. At the time it had only been on for 18hours and my hope was it could be stripped off then while semi wet. I’m about the have a £7k floor laid and the last thing I wanted was the ceiling needing doing again in 6 months when it falls off. He suggested giving the original plasterer the opportunity to fix the job and push for a guarantee (a worthless one most likely) but I don’t feel comfortable with that, given the shoddy work already done. I’ve already told him I will get another company to fix it and we can then discuss his fee and he understands this.

Basically he knows he did wrong going over the paper, basically because they couldn’t be bothered to remove it, and is probably happy to get anything out of it.

This isn’t a bad day in the office, it’s either a lack of skill or lack of care, neither of which I have time for in a tradesman.
 
Lodan said:
I believe if they skimmed wallpaper they were told too as boarding too expensive, no one in there right mind would take that decision on themselves without the customer....
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The way i look at it is if its wrong to do it I'm not doing it. If your assumptions are right somebody just learned a valuable lesson.
 
paulf said:
The way i look at it is if its wrong to do it I'm not doing it. If your assumptions are right somebody just learned a valuable lesson.
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Agree didn't say I'd do it (especially not on a ceiling as gravity isn't your friend ) but don't think the plasterer took the decision alone
 
Lodan said:
I believe if they skimmed wallpaper they were told too as boarding too expensive, no one in there right mind would take that decision on themselves without the customer....
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You’re an absolute tool!

I think I’ve made it clear I wasn’t consulted. Boarding too expensive.... I’ve just spent £20k doing the flat up, I don’t think a £6 sheet of plaster board is going to make me tell a plasterer to botch the job.
 
Barnezy318 said:
You’re an absolute tool!

I think I’ve made it clear I wasn’t consulted. Boarding too expensive.... I’ve just spent £20k doing the flat up, I don’t think a £6 sheet of plaster board is going to make me tell a plasterer to botch the job.
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So why don't you just do that now? over board it an re cove?

All your stress will be gone

I can't see the debate
 
Barnezy318 said:
You’re an absolute tool!

I think I’ve made it clear I wasn’t consulted. Boarding too expensive.... I’ve just spent £20k doing the flat up, I don’t think a £6 sheet of plaster board is going to make me tell a plasterer to botch the job.
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Just saying I don't believe you, I reckon they said overboard and you moaned about your original cornice that looks likes bog standard gyproc
 
Barnezy318 said:
Out of interest, is it a specialist skill to fit cornice? Boarding and fitting a new plaster cornice might be the best option.
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With all due respect, if you can afford 7k flooring in a flat then my advice is have the coving ripped off, re-board ceiling properly, skim it properly.

Then get a pro to do the coving, usually older spreads are best. It's not specialist but is tricky
 
lurpak said:
With all due respect, if you can afford 7k flooring in a flat then my advice is have the coving ripped off, re-board ceiling properly, skim it properly.

Then get a pro to do the coving, usually older spreads are best. It's not specialist but is tricky
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My advice is get good home/car/contents/pet/life insurance if you tell the chap your not paying without even painting it
 
I can assure you I’m not a troll. I came on here hoping to find genuine advice.

I did think £640 for two guys for one day was a lot of money, but as he was a recommendation and I wanted a good job done, I didn’t really care.

As for telling them to plaster over the paper, as I’ve said multiple times, the first I knew of it was when they had already gone quarter the way over the ceiling. When I asked them why they were doing that when they took it off in the hallway, they told me they couldn’t get it off and it was fine to do. Not being a plasterer and believing at the time they knew what they were doing, I didn’t question it.

The question is not one of money. Obviously I don’t want to be paying out £1000’s to get rid of a few cracks in the ceiling no one else ever noticed, but I will happily pay what’s reasonable to have a proper job done.

The real issue I have is my only viable option now is the take the cornice off and over-board and then find someone who can do cornice well and all the time and announce that makes, when only a few days ago, a decent plasterer could have stripped and skimmed.
 
Lodan said:
Agree didn't say I'd do it (especially not on a ceiling as gravity isn't your friend ) but don't think the plasterer took the decision alone
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My point still stands, if your doing what you shouldn't no sympathy will be given.
 
Barnezy318 said:
I can assure you I’m not a troll. I came on here hoping to find genuine advice.

I did think £640 for two guys for one day was a lot of money, but as he was a recommendation and I wanted a good job done, I didn’t really care.

As for telling them to plaster over the paper, as I’ve said multiple times, the first I knew of it was when they had already gone quarter the way over the ceiling. When I asked them why they were doing that when they took it off in the hallway, they told me they couldn’t get it off and it was fine to do. Not being a plasterer and believing at the time they knew what they were doing, I didn’t question it.

The question is not one of money. Obviously I don’t want to be paying out £1000’s to get rid of a few cracks in the ceiling no one else ever noticed, but I will happily pay what’s reasonable to have a proper job done.

The real issue I have is my only viable option now is the take the cornice off and over-board and then find someone who can do cornice well and all the time and announce that makes, when only a few days ago, a decent plasterer could have stripped and skimmed.
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@lurpak....the cornice again;);)
 
Lodan said:
Just saying I don't believe you, I reckon they said overboard and you moaned about your original cornice that looks likes bog standard gyproc
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Thats not bg cornice the profile is wrong. Thats an orginal run in situ job.
 
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A year or so ago there was a thread about skimming over paper and it was amazing how many replied and said they'd d
paulf said:
My point still stands, if your doing what you shouldn't no sympathy will be given.
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Look mate I'm not defending anyone just saying I don't think op is giving full story and just wants all you "I never done any not perfect work" to agree that lad don't get paid.....won't paint it, won't let him fix it....what if that fellow plasterer needs that money to feed his kids.....is it to much to ask that he can fix it or are the egos so massive you agree he don't even deserve that....FFS the work don't even look that bad
 
paulf said:
Thats not cornice the profile is wrong. Thats an orginal run in situ job.
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I don’t know what it’s called but it’s the original plaster from when it was built in 1932. According to Lodan though it’s standard stuff you can get at B&Q.

It would be a shame to get rid of an original feature like that, which is why it pisses me off so much that they’ve made it impossible to remove the paper now!!
 
And you lot can disagree with me but FFS you're so quick to crucify your own makes me sad off a couple of fuzzy pics and some blokes nonsense you must realise this is all he wants
 
Barnezy318 said:
I don’t know what it’s called but it’s the original plaster from when it was built in 1932. According to Lodan though it’s standard stuff you can get at B&Q.

It would be a shame to get rid of an original feature like that, which is why it pisses me off so much that they’ve made it impossible to remove the paper now!!
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Didn't say it was just doesn't look much different so wouldn't be the end of the world
 
Barnezy318 said:
I don’t know what it’s called but it’s the original plaster from when it was built in 1932. According to Lodan though it’s standard stuff you can get at B&Q.

It would be a shame to get rid of an original feature like that, which is why it pisses me off so much that they’ve made it impossible to remove the paper now!!
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Surely if your place was built in 1932 and if the cornice was run in situ then your ceiling would be traditional lath and plaster not plasterboard as you stated?
 
Lodan said:
A year or so ago there was a thread about skimming over paper and it was amazing how many replied and said they'd d

Look mate I'm not defending anyone just saying I don't think op is giving full story and just wants all you "I never done any not perfect work" to agree that lad don't get paid.....won't paint it, won't let him fix it....what if that fellow plasterer needs that money to feed his kids.....is it to much to ask that he can fix it or are the egos so massive you agree he don't even deserve that....FFS the work don't even look that bad
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The work aint good, skimming over paper is a stupid move whether your asked or not. I've made some mistakes in my time but never ever been so lame that I'd go against what i know is right.
 
Lodan, I’d appreciate it if you would go and spread you drivel on another thread. All I’ve heard from you is it’s acceptable to expect to sand a ceiling after a fresh skim, I told them to botch the job, I’ve joined a forum to get support from random people not to pay a bill and a piece of 90 year old original plaster work is bog standard Gyps.

Thanks, you’re points are noted and I will consider them carefully.
 
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