Is my plaster dry?

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tubs101

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Hi all

We had our new house skimmed two weeks ago now and were told by the plasterer it will only take 3-4 days to dry. We then had a painter and decorator booked to come in and paint but he said some of the plaster wasn't dry yet.

Two weeks have now passed and the 'wet' patches are still there. I've sent the attached image to the plasterer and he is saying it is dry and that these are stains from the wall previously. While on the other hand the painter and decorator is saying the plaster still isn't dry.

We've had a dehumidifier in the room. When we didn't have dehumidifier we were making sure the room was properly ventilated but stains/damp patches still there.

Would welcome any advice? Not sure if the picture is good enough to work out but do these it look like wet plaster or could it be something else? When you touch it it doesn't feel wet.

We're basically very keen to start painting but have read plenty of advice saying you want to make sure plaster is dry before painting it.

Many thanks in advance

Iain
 

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Just paint it, it’ll be fine. If it is stains bleeding through they’ll come through the mist coat and the decorator can put stain stop on it. It’s been long enough.

If he’s used a backing plaster on there it can take longer to dry depending on depth but really, just paint it.
 
No. Not dry I would say. Air flow will help so open windows ect to get a draft flowing through room
 
Wayners said:
No. Not dry I would say. Air flow will help so open windows ect to get a draft flowing through room
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Thank you. Is it weird that this patch has not changed for about a week now? Hasn’t got worse or better just stayed like this regardless of how much we’ve ventilated the room
 
tubs101 said:
Hi all

We had our new house skimmed two weeks ago now and were told by the plasterer it will only take 3-4 days to dry. We then had a painter and decorator booked to come in and paint but he said some of the plaster wasn't dry yet.

Two weeks have now passed and the 'wet' patches are still there. I've sent the attached image to the plasterer and he is saying it is dry and that these are stains from the wall previously. While on the other hand the painter and decorator is saying the plaster still isn't dry.

We've had a dehumidifier in the room. When we didn't have dehumidifier we were making sure the room was properly ventilated but stains/damp patches still there.

Would welcome any advice? Not sure if the picture is good enough to work out but do these it look like wet plaster or could it be something else? When you touch it it doesn't feel wet.

We're basically very keen to start painting but have read plenty of advice saying you want to make sure plaster is dry before painting it.

Many thanks in advance

Iain
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Hi mate,
What is on the other side of that wall??
 
tubs101 said:
Thanks for replying. We’ve got a timber frame house and that is the external wall. See photo
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The wet (dampness) could be coming through the external side, because after 2 weeks of drying time the plaster should definitely be fully dried out especially with the weather we have been having. My advice would be to just paint it and see how you get on. All the best mate!
 
Would a moisture meter pick up if it's still wet, can get a Stanley one in b and q for £20
 
JessThePlasterer said:
I’m not sure I like the sound of those moisture meters (never used one) but there’s moisture everywhere in a house and ..... just feel like they’d be s**t?
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Was just thinking if you got a reading off the plaster where you know it's dry and a reading of the discoloured bits, if they're the same would mean it's dry
 
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