Anyone know what could cause this?

[Worried8263839]

We had our kitchen plastered on Saturday morning. Painted first coat of bare plaster paint today and by this evening this has appeared. We've also got several cracks in it. Gutted as needed this done for kitchen install next week!

Anyone know why? Waiting to hear back from plasterer but I know he's booked up for weeks now!

Was it completely plastered? I can see what looks like an outline of something?

Was the plaster fully dry? And had you applied a mist coat? No idea if that would actually make a difference, sorry for not being much help. I was just intrigued.

I don’t but helpful bump

New plaster can take up to 4 weeks to dry completely, is it possible the ceiling is still too wet to be painted?

It's part of a bigger project so the ceiling was taken down for electrics and then boarded so I think the cracked outline is the boarding underneath.

It was fully dry and we've used bare plaster paint which can directly on, and have used elsewhere in the house with no issues.

The whole project is becoming such a nightmare, wish we'd just moved!

The plasterer told us it would be a few days. There are parts of the wall that are still wet but we were sure (as we can be I guess) that it was dry on the ceiling. Maybe we were wrong!

Well they did a really shitty job and I would be calling them and texting them non stop to come back immediately and finish the job correctly. Frankly, I have never seen a poorer job than that. I hope you haven't paid them in full yet?

That's shocking plasterwork!! I've never heard of boarding a ceiling, but that could be just me. I don't know how you'd ever get a smooth painted surface with boards so apparent...

As to your original question, sorry to say it but that looks like water damage to me. Water seeping around the end of, and around, a board. It bobbles up like that, typically. Did the electric work go near any pipes? Anything else being done in the house?

We have had most of our house replastered over the years, and the advice to leave it at least 4 weeks (longer if it's cold and the heating isn't on) before painting hasn't changed between different plasterers.

Although looking again at your pic, the pp that mentioned a water leak might have a point....

Having googled it this is what I was concerned about as well. Really hope not!

@SparkleMonster how strange, we've not left it anywhere near 4 weeks in the rest of the house but maybe we were lucky in those rooms! I'm blaming our builder co-ordinating it all as everyone has to work last minute and up against it to manage his shoddy organisational skills (or lack thereof!) so something was bound to go wrong sooner or later

They mean boarding with plasterboard and then skimming over. Standard way of doing a ceiling. I wouldn't expect to be able to see the outline of the boards though, that certainly shouldn't happen.

@Worried8263839 I agree that it looks like water damage. What is the room above? Water can travel, so it may be coming from somewhere not immediately above. Has it rained excessively since it was plastered? It might be leaking in from outside as opposed to being from a bathroom above.

If you stick a small screwdriver into the bubble, you'll know if it is a leak as it will drip on you.

Plasterboard + skimming is what I'd expect - but when you look at the photo, this is a series of parallel floorboards! 9", by the looks of things?

I think the outline looks like an 8 x 4 sheet to be honest, but with a really crappy skim. I have done better myself, and I'm no plasterer.

Maybe we've been given over cautious advice. I hope you/your building team get to the bottom of it soon! 🤞