Hi all, As I'm new to the Forum I'll ask you to be gentle with me please! We've just had a big plastering job done in our house, walls and ceilings - a mixture of boarding and skimming, and some dotting and dabbing. The plasterers have finished now and said that any imperfections would be taken care of by the decorators but I am concerned about the following issues still being present. Overall the work is good and there are no cracks. - the wall that has been dotted and dabbed, has several circle-shaped patches that are visible still. - around the doorways where metal has been used on corners, some metal is still visible. - around the area where the tops of the walls meet the ceilings, there is some visible tape. Should I be worried about any of this or insist on them coming back to tidy things up? Thanks very much for your thoughts.
Hi mate, nothing to worry about, they are quite right (without copping out), your decorator will make sure none of these snags are shown in the finish, it's not worth getting them back for such minor issues, especially if the rest of their efforts are good, don't sour the experience. Once everything's completely dry and the walls are painted you won't see snag one and two, and if they can't cut the excess tape off at the junction, they'll filler over it before they paint. Hang on to good plasterers mate as they're becoming rarer than hens teeth.
I Personally don't see why a decorator should make good the plasterers work. You paid for a job so should expect it to be a good finish. If you need to start sanding, filling obviously it was not finished properly. On one of my walls recently i was not happy, but the chap came back and sorted it. Not a lover of dot and dab either prefer hard wall and finish coat. I have a good plasterer, not the quickest but the best I have used.
''Overall the work is good and there are no cracks.'' OP's words. With all respects gents what the fella described is minimal, plastering is not the easiest trade to perfect, and not all minor imperfections come to light(literally) until everything is dry and clean. Any experienced decorator should be used to a touch up here and there once they mist coat, it's nothing out of the ordinary. I'm personally a fan of dot and dab, quick, pretty easy to do, easier to get over bad walls and obstructions, drying out time compared to float and set significantly quicker, easier for plasterers to skim on a relatively flat board and it's that little bit warmer than solid plaster. But that's me.
Pro plasterer will make sure the job is almost perfect. Said issues are not 'almost' perfect. Far from it. I have experienced a couple of plasters. Difference between them was like night and day! One was meticulous other was carefree!
I didn't use the word perfect in regards to the job mate, and what the fella described isn't a real issue, I too have experienced several plasterers finishes over the years, and having seen examples of their work from both ends of the spectrum, and what surfaces they sometimes have to work with, I don't believe that this situation is any more than a touch up with a filling knife. But if a pic proves me wrong, ill happily admit it.
Well, if a painter painted a room for you you wouldn't expect to go touching things up etc! Or if a plumber put a new rad in, you wouldn't expect to go and stop a leak on it. etc etc. Either do a good job at what your trade is (plastering) or go find another job! Why should decorators have to rectify 'bad' / 'sloppy' plastering?
Not quite the same, any of those examples are they? I didn't mention they should rectify bad or sloppy plastering, read the original post ''overall the work is good with no cracks'', the homeowner seems happy, he was just asking what others thought, and I gave my opinion, same as you. As I stated, it doesn't sound like a bad job, just a touch up with the scrim tape, big deal, if he's having coving fitted it won't matter at all then, if not then it will need a bit of filling. Its really not worth worrying about in this instance.
To be honest, tape on show is far from perfect, its even far from good. The other things are not really a problem.
I think your right, no plasterer will get every imperfection,unless he spent hours polishing the skim and then that's even worse for a decorator. you wouldn't even see that many snags until it's mist coated and then the decorator will make a decision any decorator worth his salt will be expecting reasonable amount of filling and will sand between coats, and if there are trowel marks or excessive filling then ask the spread to come back and caulk out with easy fill or knock it off the bill and pay the Dec to sort it
Tape on show isn't good you're quite right, but it's at the ceiling/wall junction, which may indicate the homeowner is having coving fitted(I'm assuming), as the rest of the work is supposedly good, so why would they let themselves down in this area? Either ways, as Scott says, if it's that questionable the decorator will raise an issue and take it from there.
Hi you really shouldn't see beading only the thin edges a Miss coat will soon show all ! You always get a bit of shrinking