New Build - Internal skim

Status
Not open for further replies.
S

somofagun

New Member
Guys just looking a bit of advice.
I am in the process of a new build and the house was plastered about 3 months ago. I have got the floors in and it has sat this last 6-7 weeks drying. I have two issues
1. All walls are blockwork and I am getting alot of hair line cracking on just about every wall. Not to concerned about this as the painter will deal with these. I have seen alot of newly plastered walls and have not noticed this before but maybe i wasnt looking out for them.
2. Some walls you can feel the skim raised up with the profile of the scratch lines underneath which is more worrying as i'm sure when this is painted it will show up. I picked of a bit of the skim thinking the plaster didnt put enough on put it is a proper depth. Why would the skim rise up like this.

Any advice would be grateful
 
Welcome to the forum.

The hairline cracks are probably caused by the plaster drying out too quickly.

The raised plaster over the scratch coat is probably caused by air being caught behind the scratch and skim. Normally, if a reaction occurs, the plasterer will wait for it to set and open the trowel to remove the high spots :-)
 
somofagun are the walls sand and cement and then skim? If so I'd guess that the S&C wasn't cured before it was set.
I've also seen the raised profile of the scratch lines showing through, in every case of this I've seen the spread had used a really deep (IMO) scratch and had little suction from the backing when skimming and had left the wall "finished" when it needed further trowlling. This is not acceptable.
 
The walls are all s/c scratch with skim. I did'nt put the heating on untill about 4 weeks ago and it was on light and was only on full there about 2 weeks ago for a full week with windows opened during the day.
When I didnt have the heating in the early days i kept the lights on day and night to have a bit of heat. Maybe this wasnt enough and some parts did freeze.
Mihn it would be more the case that they didnt take there time and finish of the walls.
Would anyone hear be concerned about the hairline cracking. I assume the paint will cover these all up
 
somofagun said:
Mihn it would be more the case that they didnt take there time and finish of the walls.
Click to expand...

I gave you a reason why the plaster was raised above the scratches. You should have complained to the plasterer about this issue after inspecting the work. Do you really think he's going to make good the work he finished 3 months ago? :-)
 
There was a water proofed used in the s/c....is this a problem
This has only come about this last two weeks. It was smooth after he done the work
 
How long was the roof left open and exposed to the elements? sounds like the building might be settleing now the weather is getting warmer. Doing the scratches too deep wont make any odds if anything give it more of a key and less chance of cracking but if you can feel them on the surface it hasn't had the final trowel it needed, did he use a plastic to finish?
 
somofagun said:
There was a water proofed used in the s/c....is this a problem
This has only come about this last two weeks. It was smooth after he done the work
Click to expand...

There is nothing wrong with using a WP it is used in the scratch to even the suction in the top coat, are you sure the salts are not coming out where the scratches are? Lick the wall and see if it tastes of salt (im not joking) then come back then we can go from there.
 
I was asked to look at a house where this happened a few months ago and I couldn't understand what it was. The fella that owned the house said they were perfect when they were done. I asked had waterproofer been used and they had thought not but couldn't be sure. I asked another plasterer about it who said it happened a house he did and put it down to the blocks being too wet when floatted and altho the sand and cement had set ok, the water didn't come out of the blocks until it was skimmed which caused the bother. It was just some of the walls it happened to. Most of the skim was solid on these wall, any loose bits were knocked off thistlebondit and skim.
 
flynnyman said:
There is nothing wrong with using a WP it is used in the scratch to even the suction in the top coat, are you sure the salts are not coming out where the scratches are? Lick the wall and see if it tastes of salt (im not joking) then come back then we can go from there.
Click to expand...

:RpS_laugh: Or you could just rub you finger on it then lick it
!! Hahaha
 
Sounds like the block work saturated with water and now salts etc are pushing through as they dry. Is the plaster softer then normal? There is very little you can do except allow them to dry naturally then once dry sand them back. We have had unusually vast amount of rain so it no ones fault really and just one of them things
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Share this page

Back
Top