To ask builder to replaster ceiling

[LoftyHeightsSurrey]

We're in the middle of a loft conversion. Build quality is good but the builder keeps making design decisions on our behalf - and none of them are good. Things like windows in the wrong place, lights in the wrong place, not asking for position before installing sockets etc. Most things we've caught in time but this time not so. I've just noticed that the bloody plasterer has curved the join between the wall and the ceiling, thus totally ruining the beautiful angles of my sloping ceiling and rendering the bathroom and landing totally impossible to decorate as there's no break between wall and ceiling.

Thing is, the plastering has been done for about a week and I only noticed the problem this evening. I think the builder should have bloody well checked and should put it right. Husband thinks we should have spotted it earlier and should either a) suck it up or b) pay them to put it right.

Am I being unreasonable?

I would suck it up, and just tut at it forever more. Redoing that would probably be a pain in the arse not worth the bother.

@Nopenopenopenopenopenope how would you even begin to decorate those rooms?

Get it re-done, there's no way I could live with curved ceiling/wall edges. Why would they do that? Were there cornices there before? It makes no sense as curving would surely take more time and effort that square edges.

@Badbadbunny nope, brand new loft conversion. I've barely been around in daylight so only just noticed. Why would anyone do this? Just why. It is awful, ugly, dated and impossible to decorate.

Do you want to paint or to paper it? Either can be done. Masking tape can help. They did this in our conservatory conversion (turned it into more like a building than a greenhouse) and it's only reading your post that made me think it's a problem. It's really not.

On the basis that it will drive you nuts every time you look at it, I would get it redone. But you may have to pay, and it will delay completion of the work.
My (thankfully limited!)experience is the same as yours, I.e. builders and the like go ahead and do stuff without asking you, and you end up with stuff like sockets and lights etc. in the wrong place. Looking back, I'd say it's a good idea to show them in writing and on plan before work is done where and how you want stuff - then at least it's definitely on them to alter it when it's done wrong. Frustrating, isn't it?

Put a picture rail up to delineate wall and ceiling. Cyrves are like built in coving.

Although I totally agree that they should have checked and things should be done to your taste, if you can't have it redone, I would just paint the walls and ceilings the same colour. This is really on trend to the point where I think white ceilings look a bit out of fashion (I mean you can paint the wall an off white and paint the ceiling that colour too). Kate Watson Smyth is really into doing this.
Just an alternative to consider, I'm not saying what's happened is right or that you're not justified in being annoyed!

Not sure what to do about builder. But if you decide to live with it (and I do think you’ll get over it in time) I’d just decorate all wall and ceiling in the same white colour, then brighten up the room with furnishings, accessories etc.

Would definitely get it redone. You’ll be glad you did in the long run I reckon.

Reading threads like this, I'm glad I stuck with working from home while our extension was built, noise and dust notwithstanding. Being on site (and perhaps having established a reputation for being a bit fussy early on) the builders would come and ask about things like positions of sockets.

Forgot to answer the actual question! I'm afraid I don't think you can expect the plastering to be redone without extra cost unless you'd specified somewhere that you wanted a sharp angle. A radiused corner isn't wrong. My house was done in the 1920s and it's that way.

Of course, if you're willing to pay you can have any amount of extra work done to your satisfaction, but if you're looking to argue that it should have been done your way in the first place, you'll need evidence that it should have been this way first time round.

Did you specify you wanted an angle ahead of time or did you just assume they’d know what you wanted and do it that way? If A, ask them to re-do. If B, I’d personally just live with it. My partner lives in a new build and their loft rooms are done like this. How it came decorated was the gable end walls and stud walls between rooms/hall are painted a colour, as are the side walls in the window nook thingy, but the sloped part is treated as part of the ceiling and is painted white.

@MrsValentine24 naively, I sort of assumed they would a) actually ask us where any significant design decisions were concerned and b) take notice of our responses. There have been many instance were a) did not happen, sockets fitted in the wrong place, wrong position and number of downlights. B) also occured - fitting a window not in the centre of a wall when we'd asked them specifically to centre it. They also began the bathroom construction as an en suite when that was absolutely never the design (and perfectly clear on the plans). For reference I mostly WFH and husband is retired, so it's not like we are hard to get hold of.

This latest abomination is just too much. I hate it. I don't want to be forced to decorate the ceiling the same as the wall because of their incompetence. I want an actual wall and an actual ceiling.

It's not impossible to decorate. You just paint in a straight line.

As an aside it always looks better when you cut in below the point where the wall joins the ceiling anyway. So a 5-10 mm border of the ceiling colour at the top of the wall. Easier to get a straight crisp line.

@CasperGutman this isn't a 1920's house. It is a modern loft conversion that now looks 100 years old. Who would ever imagine you'd need to specify having an actual ceiling? Surely the walls and ceiling not being the same thing is sort of standard.

I would ask them to redo this and be willing to pay. I live in a very old house and we have some curved areas going on and unless it’s all the same colour it never ever looks right. Ever.

I just don't understand why tradesmen can't follow instructions and don't ask about important things.

It's happened twice to us recently. Both times we were very clear in wanting " like for like " replacements, firstly a rear porch and secondly some decking. Both were old and in need of replacement. We didn't want anything different, hence being very clear we wanted "like for like". What should have been simple jobs turned into nightmares.

With the back porch, they decided to put in a full glass door, instead of half/half, they decided on shiny chrome handle and hinges despite the old one being white, they decided on two larger panes of glass along the main wall instead of 3 smaller ones, they decided on opening windows when the old one didn't have openers. I couldn't believe it when they put it together!

The other time was the decking. Again, made it clear we just wanted exactly the same but with new wood! You'd think it was simple. Apparently not. They put the planks down the other way, i.e. facing away from the house instead of in line with the house, they put the hand rail around it about 2 feet higher, they put the "opening" into the garden in a completely different position and put 2 steps (each too high) instead of the 3 steps that used to be there.

They weren't happy, but luckily we hadn't paid them and we had lots of pictures how they looked before, as they tried to claim we were wrong and that they had done "like for like".

Two different firms!

Now we watch workers like hawks and never leave the house when we have workers in.