Plastering help...

[nappyzonehasastroppytoddler]

Dh took it on board to plaster the hall and stairs and landing as its took a few buggy knocks inits time and someoen along the line has had wallpaper on it and we just want nice plain boring walls - its taking forever and is a tadge bumpy in places - he is turning into a stress head. Has anyone had anything plastered and are we talking mega bucks if i get someone in? Considering wallpapering it all to hide it but at the cost of wallpaper i am thinking it would be cheaper to get a plasterer in to fin the job. Its a new build type of property so perhaps more of a re-skim job iyswim.

uh oh....... we recently had a normal ish double bedroom done about 3m x 5m and the labour was £100 and the parts was about £250 i think- its not cheap, half was dot and dab, half was pure plaster on the wall.

I would NEVER let my dp attempt plastering and he is a Corgi engineer and very good at DIY what where you thinking??

Def get plasterers in for a quote x

plastering is really expensive but if you get a really good finish you never have to paper the walls just paint them, for hall stairs and landing ? that will cost quite a lot, i think its about £20 per square metre

Lol at not letting dh plaster!!! I tried it once - thought it couldn't be any harder than icing a cake!!!! At the moment I reckon you would get quite a deal as there isn't much work around for plasterers (around here anyway) Can you not sand down the bumpy bits to make it smooth and fill in the other bits with polyskim stuff. Amazing what you can do to be honest!!!

He is normally good at diy lily! First wall he did and looked really good so he cracked on with another then it all just went to shit lol! He says im not being supportive so i have suggested he perhaps wallpapers over it as hes good at wallpapaering even though the whole point of the excersise was to get rid of traces of last wallpaper! Were actually thinking of moving inthe next couple of yrs btu thnk this could be sooner if plastering is too much ! I just want an end to it now as its been all half term - dust and plaster and more dust and oh yes my carpet is ruined too (though thats not an issue as i wanted a new one anyway!)

WE paid between 6 and 800 for lounge and stairs and landing.
That was 4 years ago.

It alos took a long time ot find someoen to do it as they all seemed to be booked up in advance.

It took 3 days I htink.

• looks to me like i could wel be spending the rest of my life wallpapering then! It really is a tiny stairs, hall and landing! Will get a quote and go from there........ thanks

Wallpapers not so bad and at least it hides any imperfections, I could cry everytime the DC's ride their wheeliebugs into my newly plastered walls.

It sounds like his mix was wrong or drying out. You can get him to go over it tomorrow if he wants to, get the mix right (dont ask me im just a builders wife!) and to not try and do too much at once as once the stuff goes off thats when the lumps appear. Then just as its starting to dry off, ping water at it with a fine paintbrush and skim it over delicately. It will be much easier to plaster over the new plaster tomorrow as it wont suck out the moisture as quickly as the old walls. Good on him for trying - my DP is a carpenter and now does plastering too. He started here and when i look at his walls and ceilings here i cringe and think shit, i hope thats not what he does in other peoples houses and thankfully practice really does make perfect - hes very good with is hands my DP!!

Also, if you don't pay top dollar for a plasterer, it IS expensive and you are paying mostly for labour - my DP would charge you a grand to do your stairs and hall, you run the risk of the finish being no better than what your DH can do anyway - i say give it another shot - but do what i do when my DP wallpapers (he just cant do this for some reason) Take the kids out and get him to text you when hes finished

lucyellens - does your dp do 2 coats half an hr apart as he did one wall then did a 2nd coat and this was ok - i suspect he has tried to get away with one onthe other - darent interfere now.

half an hour is not enough time between coats really (i dont think). You can get away with one coat but its better to have two thin coats rather than one thick one as the single coat will be harder to get even and more likely to crack. DP leaves an hour or so or often overnight if its at the end of the day.

Husband is builder and I think he would say 2 coats with at least 1/2 a day between them, best to leave overnight. I really feel for you, as when they are working on our house plastering mess could make me cry (or very angry with husband!)

i think hes thinking of giving it another go following price costages - the one coat is quite flat but i thinks another should make it better - am suggesting he does a small area each night so as not to lose the will to live! I am evening offering to sand here and there to move it on. The dust is unreal! Do they have to leave an age before they can painti t then? Thinking if i return with paint testers he will be ermmm displeased at this stage!

Remember that your first coat of paint has to be what is called a mist coat - a watered down undercoat should be sufficient, this just gets sucked up into the plaster. You can do this within a couple of days. I wouldn't recommend him only doing small areas at a time, it will be really difficult to get smooth joints. Hope it went ok and you haven't throttled each other

he has been sanding a bit and trying to sort out some blips with some filler - on the whole it has been a plaster free day. We are still both alive - i am taking my mind of it by looking for a new house with smooth walls!

ok towel threw in - plasterer starts sat - 2 days - job done - stress free

Question - will it be dust overload? How can i keep it out of the bedrooms more successfully or will there be no dust as wet? advise or wise ones....