Plastered on plasterboard moving away from wall

[Rsian]

Hi all,

Hope someone can advise.

I have recently had my living room skimmed, but while the plasterer was 'troweling down'? one half of the wall he noticed a small amount of movement on the entire right side of the wall.
He figured that the plasterboard had not been fixed to anything previously and was probably just stuck to the breezeblock which had now come away.
I drilled and plugged the wall that evening to some effect (some screws pulled straight out of the walls, others seemes to hold).
The next day he re-skimmed over the previous skim and he said that he applied the same force as the other walls and there was no movement, so all seemed good.
Today, where it is starting to dry out, you can notice some damp spots where it had been drilled, but also one spot which has dried has a very fine crack around the where the screw head would be.

If I push the wall (slightly firmly), there is still around one or two mm movement (estimate), in a couple of places.

Should I be concerned about this, should I try and secure a bit better before I seal the wall, will the crack around the screw head forever be making an appearance no matter how much it is painted over...???

BTW, I have every confidence that the plasterer has done everything correctly from his end.

Pictures below, thanks...Happy New Year.

Untitled

• Rsian
• 1 Jan 2012
• 1

Untitled

• Rsian
• 1 Jan 2012
• 1

 

[peaps]

It needs to be either screwed firm or take off and re done.

 

[Rsian]

Thanks for the feedback.

A bit more info before I attempt a repair:

The photo below shows the entire length of wall.

Untitled

• Rsian
• 1 Jan 2012
• 1

The right of the blue line is where the movement was first noticed - mostly within the yellow segment.
Since the repair the movement is now (only slightly), noticeable in the right hand red segment. The red dots indicate where the plaster has ever so slightly sunk back the size of a screwhead & washer - although this is almost certainly as the plaster had not fully set when I drilled it and the weight of the wall pulled out on it slightly, rather than the fixings coming away from the wall).
The red section on the left I hadn't noticed before but also has very slight movement.
All other surrounding areas appear to be pretty solid.
I estimate no more than 2-3 mm movement at its most extreme.

Pulling it all down really isn't an option.

I can attempt to drill again, but am wary that when the screws are almost all the way in, they may push the wall out slighly causing failings to the previous fixings.

If leaving it is not adviseable, what is the best way to drill/repair so as to be as neat as possible?

Are small shallowed out areas where the previous drilling took place likely to crack/fall out?

Thanks again.

 

[darrington]

To be quite honest, it's ridiculous to try and fix a job after it's been completed. Seriously! things such as loose boards etc should be noticed prior to plastering. The more you mess around trying to correct a finished plastered job, the worse it'll look.
Also, if there's any movement at all where the new screws are, then yes, they will pop/show through.

 

[peaps]

To be quite honest, it's ridiculous to try and fix a job after it's been completed. Seriously! things such as loose boards etc should be noticed prior to plastering. The more you mess around trying to correct a finished plastered job, the worse it'll look.
Also, if there's any movement at all where the new screws are, then yes, they will pop/show through.

Ditto

 

[Possel]

I have every confidence that the plasterer has done everything correctly from his end.

If he had done everything correctly, he would have checked that the plasterboard was fit to be plastered over before he did any plastering! Surely the faults he found would have been obvious if he'd checked?

 

[Rsian]

Fair comments, but he showed how solid the left hand side of the wall was (it certainly appeared to be), yet now it has a small amount of movement - is it not possible (no matter how unlikely), that the boards came loose while he was troweling down?

Still, I've drilled it in a couple more places (and as I suspected might happen, drilling has pushed out one of the previous fixings), but have filled the holes and will see what the finish is like, wall now at least appears solid!

 

[roy c]

It wasn't foil-backed plasterboard by any chance was it? In my opinion you have to bite the bullet and get him back to rip it all off and do the job properly, or you will just be chasing your tail.....