1 week old plaster coming off wall!!!!

[Kellez]

Hello everyone,

To get to the point, I am having someone to plaster the whole house.

My plasterer started plastering my living room first, last Wednesday.
Yesterday while i was in the house, (in the living room) i could hear very loud cracking on one wall (this is the wall that was plastered first).

For your information this wall took about 5 days to completely dry,
On the 6th day i could hear the cracking
And on the seventh day that is today i could hear some cracking again so decided to do a thorough check.

There were no visible cracks so i started knocking on the wall with my finger to check it and there is was..... that hollow sound. I then pushed that spot with my finger to check if it will move. It was actually moving and the first crack appeared.

I then decided to check the whole wall knocking with my finger everywhere. As i was afraid there where a lot more hollow spots. Some very loose and some not that loose but still giving out that hollow sound.

I am having a word with him tomorrow but the bad thing is that by the time i noticed this he has almost plastered all walls upstairs.

I haven't paid him yet and i do not plan to until i am satisfied. I will even wait a week after he finishes when everything dries off to see the results.

Why do you think this happened? Is it the PVA? I noticed that he used B&Q PVA and the container was already opened, it was not brand new.

 

[ree]

What plasters/materials have been used for base coats and skim?

What is the use by date on the PVA container?

Are your walls solid or cavity - are they masonry built?

Is the exterior rendered?

Has any other building work taken place?

Why are you having all the walls knocked off and re-plastered?

 

[Kellez]

What plasters/materials have been used for base coats and skim?

What is the use by date on the PVA container?

Are your walls solid or cavity - are they masonry built?

Is the exterior rendered?

Has any other building work taken place?

Why are you having all the walls knocked off and re-plastered?

1. he used British gypsum thistle multi finish. He first used PVA and then just skimmed the wall over. he didn't take off the old plaster since it was really solid. there were no loose spots and no damp.

the wall was covered with wallpaper which has been removed with a steamer. the colour of the surface below was yellow. When i say yellow i do not mean the glue of the wallpaper.

2. i do not know the use by date of the PVA

3, Walls are cavity constructed from brick, cavity has been filled. the actual wall that the plaster is coming of is the wall joining the neighbours house to mine so it must be solid.

4. only a part of the front wall is rendered

5. No, only work taken place is rewire, plumbing and joinery.

6. The walls are not knocked off. Only the loose bits have been knocked off. This is a total renovation, the house was in a bad condition and needs new plastering to make it look nice.

 

[Kellez]

If the problem is the surface underneath is this the answer to my prob?

Febond Blue Grit????

 

[stevethespreader]

After stripping
Wall paper the walls should be sugar soaped to get rid of wallpaper residue, what was on walls paint or bare plaster? For the record b&q PVA is cr#p I don't mind using it on bare plaster but on painted surfaces something more substantial is needed like a bonding agent or top grade PVA like uninond looks like your plaster has failed in prepping your walls

 

[Kellez]

After stripping
Wall paper the walls should be sugar soaped to get rid of wallpaper residue, what was on walls paint or bare plaster? For the record b&q PVA is cr#p I don't mind using it on bare plaster but on painted surfaces something more substantial is needed like a bonding agent or top grade PVA like uninond looks like your plaster has failed in prepping your walls

It was bare plaster below the wallpaper. The surface was yellow which i think it was the plaster

 

[stevethespreader]

After stripping
Wall paper the walls should be sugar soaped to get rid of wallpaper residue, what was on walls paint or bare plaster? For the record b&q PVA is cr#p I don't mind using it on bare plaster but on painted surfaces something more substantial is needed like a bonding agent or top grade PVA like uninond looks like your plaster has failed in prepping your walls

It was bare plaster below the wallpaper. The surface was yellow which i think it was the plaster

all the same prep wasent done propper did he suger soap wall paper paste pff

 

[noseall]

Over-skimming should always come with a disclaimer, in particular when skimming walls in homes above a certain age.

Skimming existing (plastered, painted, papered, artexed) walls is a poor mans answer to achieving freshly plastered walls and is by no means a magical panacea. As said, if extra care is taken then the risks of failure are reduced.

However no plasterer can guarantee how the surfaces below the newly skimmed walls will behave once they start the process of wetting and drying after so many years.

Cracking and delaminating are a frequent occurrence and should be highlighted more by plastering contractors when discussing proposed over-skimming with customers.

 

[Kellez]

I talked with the plasterer today, he said that he applies PVA 24 hours before, then he does a base coat and then he skims over.

He said he will remove any loose bits and do them again and then skim the whole wall again so i don't get patches, however is there a problem if i get patches? does he really have to skim all over again? The patches will go away once i paint right?

He thinks that the problem is that the plaster dried too quickly because he put the heat on over night (on the forth or fifth day), because it was supposed to freeze during the night.

or he says it could be the glue from the wallpaper.

Once he removes the loose bits we will know if the base coat came off or if the 2nd coat came off.

shall i ask him to use the febond blue grit to repair the loose bits?

 

[noseall]

shall i ask him to use the febond blue grit to repair the loose bits?

Whilst blu-grit IS awesome gear, it also has some volume/thickness to it and will not be best suited to creating invisible patches.

 

[roughcaster]

I talked with the plasterer today, he said that he applies PVA 24 hours before, then he does a base coat and then he skims over.

"He applies PVA "24 hrs before" then he does a base coat and then he skims over".

Did he PVA the wall "on the day" and then put on the base coat/skim on, while the PVA was still wet/tacky? Doesn't look like it.
You can't beat a wall that is skimmed all over, rather than patched in different places. If some areas of plaster are falling off "after one week", i certainly wouldn't trust any of the rest of it to stay on.

 

[stevethespreader]

Sack him if he thinks its the glue from the wallpaper , he should have sugar soaped it off also he's now going to patch and skim whole wall? Like rc says should have a tacky coat and u can't trust the rest of the skim he seems to not be able to get basic prep right

 

[Kellez]

I was actually the one who removed the wallpaper, he didn't know that there was wallpaper before but he didn't ask also.

 

[Eldodgerino]

Over-skimming should always come with a disclaimer, in particular when skimming walls in homes above a certain age.

Skimming existing (plastered, painted, papered, artexed) walls is a poor mans answer to achieving freshly plastered walls and is by no means a magical panacea. As said, if extra care is taken then the risks of failure are reduced.

However no plasterer can guarantee how the surfaces below the newly skimmed walls will behave once they start the process of wetting and drying after so many years.

Cracking and delaminating are a frequent occurrence and should be highlighted more by plastering contractors when discussing proposed over-skimming with customers.

This