Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

Ive been gutting one of the rooms in the house, the plaster doesn`t look the best. Apparently when these house were originally plastered it was approx 40-50 years ago where they used a mix that was 5 parts sand so the original plaster is like powder in places. Its been skimmed over in the past which was a fair while ago but their are plenty of cracks and loose plaster in places.

The room size is approx 4m x 4m with a chimney breast thats central, i`m going to get a few quotes so what i`m after is a ball part figure to do a full re-plaster of a room this size, i`ll knock the old stuff of myself. Its just so i have a figure to use against the quotes as i wouldn`t have a clue of the cost myself.

MotoCare Ltd

If your strpping the whole room your self it will knock the cost down a bit, however it will be roughly around£300 from what i can remember as a skim is very easy and cheap to do for a plasterer but bare walls are a different story.
i think they can do it a couple of ways, either dot and dab, where they dollup bits of bonding all over the walls and then put the boarding to that or apply a scratch and then board finish on top.
i may be wrong if anyone wants correct me but i think thats what they do..
hope this helps
if your in the blackpool area i know quite a few builders

cheers

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

Thanks motorcare

Ive just had a plasterer round whose a member of the family, he has recommended exactly what you have described above which seems to be the dot and dab method.

He said the bottom 4ft of plaster seems solid, a damp course has been done in the past and they re-plastered the bottom 4ft in the grey coloured plaster which seems to be bonded to the wall like concrete.

Its everything above thats loose, has cracks and is like a powder. I stripped the wallpaper off recently and it hid a lot of things like the poor plaster, someone had bought this house in the past as a house to do up and they have really cut corners by hiding things with thick wallpaper.

He`s quoted £500 to do the job, its plasterboard all the way round above the 4ft of decent looking plaster and then it will be plastered after.

MotoCare Ltd

Glad you got it sorted, although £500 seems a bit on the heavy side, Make sure he skims the whole wall though and not just from where the old plaster finishes as when you come to paint or paper it you will see the joint. Even the best of platerers would have trouble blending the 2 together

cheers

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

£500 is quite expenive for such a small room but if your prepared to pay it

LeeMac

iTrader: (1)

what is the house built of

the powdery texture may be from lime plaster

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

Apparently the houses are approx 50 years old and when they were built they used a plaster mix that was 5 part sand and i take it the other 1 part is cement, thats why its so crumbly and powdery underneath. All the houses in this area were done the same as the plastere said he had done work on a few round here.

The last owner bought it to do up and make a few quid, apparently he totally renovated it. They have certainly done it on the cheap as they hid the poor plaster with a skim and then some thick wallpaper over the top in every room.

I agree that £500 sounds a lot, its just we have had a poor skim job done in another room and tying to find an honest plasterer that does quality work is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. The guy thats doing the work is my cousins wifes dad, it was my cousin that recommended him as he said his work is top drawer.

The £500 includes the plaster board to do all the walls from approx 3.5ft upwards then to plaster the whole room and to skim the ceiling.

Its one of them, time will tell.

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

Whats peoples opinions on dot and dab especially when your being charged £500 for a room thats approx 4m x 4m.

The plasterer wants to leave the bottom 3.5ft of plaster on which looks like solid plaster as that was done when the damp proof was done then plaster board above it.

I'm no expert here but wouldn`t it be easier just to plaster to the bare walls above the 3.5ft of good area of plaster which is at the bottom and then skim over the bottom part to blend it in ?

I`m just not comfortable with the thought of having plaster board floating half way up the wall, the bottom will feel solid to the touch but i`m presuming the plaster board area will feel a bit hollow.

Aaron1978

iTrader: (12)

How many m2 is there in total?

fast bloke

I wouldn't do dot and dab. They will be sticking the plasterboard to an unsound surface. It'll look good for a few years and then it will start cracking on the plasterboard joins. No amount of scrim cloth will stop this. You could stud the whole thing out, but the room will shrink. If it was me, I would hack off all the loose stuff, give it a couple of coats of stabilising solution, then get the plasterer to give the entire room a coat of bonding to level it out and a skim. Still shouldn't be more than a day and a bit for a plasterer, so £500 seems a bit stiff. (£500.00 for dot and dab is probably fair enough.... it is hard to get all the boards in just the right place, and if you get it wrong, you end up trying to get 8mm of finish not to sag)

alanbell

iTrader: (6)

£500 £50 in board , thisle board finish, skrim , thinwall beads, adhesive, ect, then one hard (ishh) day to do it or a easy day and a 1/2;
or if the bottom of the room has been damp coursed it will have sand and cement render on it , >> sounds like you have solid 9" walls Then dryline is a no no , render the rest of the room (sand&cement, pva all areas skim full room
then £500 is OK

Dingdongler

Alan, whats a thisle/thistle board finish?

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

Sorry can't help with the o.p.'s question but glad this type of thread has popped up. I wanna get 3 walls in a painted room skimmed (pending the plaster underneath isn't shot) and the same on my stair way where patches are coming loose from the brick.

Seems the prices may not be as bad as originally thought.

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

I`ll take some pics in a bit when the dust has settled as i`m half way through knocking the plaster off at the min, in my own mind a couple of reasons i wanted to knock the plaster off is firstly because the plaster in areas is very poor, its basically dust and grit and secondly while i was at the bare wall stage i wanted a solid plaster finish to the wallsto give it a more solid feel rather than having plaster board underneath.

Ive read up a little bit about dot and dab on the net, their seems to be a lot of opinions that eventually the join lines of the plaster will show through or you will start getting cracks. Thats the last thing i want really which is why i`m going back to bare walls to try and get it done properly.

Will

More or less like multi finish (Pink). Some spreads prefer it to multi finish as it goes off quicker. http://www.british-gypsum.com/produc...rd_finish.aspx

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

Dot and dab will be fine, I done my house up a good few years ago and its a 30's house I re boarded all the ceilings and partition walls and just patched up and skimmed over the original brick walls. All the stuff I boarded over is perfect but the original wall are just a mass of cracks. I have tried repairing the cracks and it then crack next to where I repaired I'm now considering just boarding over all the brick walls as I know it will look better and they will be warmer to the touch where as a solid wall is cold.

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

Here are some pics, the cream coloured plaster with the blue band at the top is the rotten plaster. The plasterer said to leave the grey coloured plaster on at the bottom as that seems to be solid and bonded to the wall, he is going to dot and dab above the grey plaster all round. The room is only about 4m x 4m, maybe a fraction less.

Lofty91

save more money and do the dot and dab yourself

Lofty91

are you going to open up the fire place?

i have just done the same thing with my front room and it feels much bigger now

alanbell

iTrader: (6)

sand and cement render all brickwork, pva all old plaster, and skim the lot, job done right.

cookstar

iTrader: (6)

This is the route I'd go down as well.

Got to be at a guess 1 1/2 days labour and £100 in materials, - £325-350

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

This is the route i`m taking, i contacted the plasterer earlier just to let him know that my preference is for the walls to be rendered in cement as i wasn`t comfortable with dot and dab and having plasterboard underneath.

I`ll have the piece of mind that the walls will feel and be more solid, i appreciate all the replies and the advice on the thread.

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

I think thats a terrible idea. I would dab the whole room not just the top half. It would be the far superior job. I plaster say 50 houses a year and I make an effort to see how many customer complaints I get from my work and basically its none Solid plastering is good if you want to say drill a hole to fix something but board and plaster is the better long term job! If its soo bad how many people have houses say 40 years old that are full of cracks?? as thats about how long people have been boarding houses. Thats not a 4x4m room, you could easily dab that and skim it in one day and thats one man

alanbell

iTrader: (6)

Hello Steve only 50 Yes I could dab and skim this room in one day, But I would not dab a room were there is damp or has been damp,
Dry lineing (dot & dab ) is good in the right property
cheers

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

Now that has left me even more confused, whats the main reason why i shouldn`t get the walls rendered in cement and then skimmed after ?

I have to decide tonight one way or the other really as he starts work on tuesday and needs to get the materials on monday

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

If you want the solid plaster I would go with Renovating plaster for the top half even though its over the top as the bottom half has already been sorted and then skim. Or you could just plaster the top with bonding and skim but either way I think your starting to push a £500 price as it can't be done in one day unless its a long day but this is all based on a one man day How many vcracks are in the bottom half? as it looks like there is a few and if there is they will all show through once its skimmed but if its boarded properly it won't happen. I board and plaster a house a week so if you want me to take some pics on my phone of how it should be done properly I have no problem If your so worried about how a boarded room should be just look at your ceilings

WRXBOB

Go with what Alan has said and you won't regret it. Far better/stronger and less likely to have future damp problems. Dot and dab is for quickness of the job / benefit to the plasterer as its easier.

If you want it doing right? Then forget dot n dab!


Think of it this way . . .
You had a dented wing on your car and were offered either a new wing fitted/painted or the original filled in with body filler then painted.

If you prefer the solid metal option then you don't want dot n dab on your solid brick walls!

WRXBOB

Just looked at your photo's, looks like you have solid walls and have had previous damp problems . . . . in which case DO NOT have dot n dab plasterboard!

And open up the fireplace and then you can get rid of that horrid vent!


Or you could turn the firplace into your media centre area? Did this for Bro' in law and it looks cool!

neil1980

iTrader: (2)

dot n dab is the way forward how many new builds do ya see with solid walls? 0

cookstar

iTrader: (6)

Do you think the reason for this is a lasting quality build, or cost?