messy and uneven plasterer...help!

rachelf3361

We recently paid a friend to bond and skim some walls of our new house as he was cheap and we're on a very tight budget and he was willing to work evenings and weekends between his normal plastering jobs.

The main area of the walls are ok but...

1) the skirting boards weren't removed so I need to know how to remove plaster to get an even line at the bottom (also need to fill a couple of bits where the plaster isn't up to the edge of the skirting board). I started wiping with warm water and it seems to be doing the job but i want to make sure i'm not damaging the wall.

2) the corners are not sharp inverted angles anymore, they're uneven and blobby...what can i do?

3) tops of the wall and under window sills...again, what's the best way to get rid of a bit of overspill to get a straight line?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

rachelf3361

yeah i was afraid of that! lol i don't know why he didn't remove the skirting boards, surely that's common sense! the house is full of dust anyway as we've ripped everthing out completely so a bit more won't be a problem. it's just annoying that it's going to take so long to correct when i thought once it was done i'd be paining! oh well... like you said i'll put it down to experience!

phill99

2 things spring to mind:

1) That's why you should never employ friends and family
2) Pay cheap and pay twice

Plasterer

Its not all bad news Rachel, a good plasterer would be able to (if its only a few walls as you say) put this right in a day for less than £200

meercatsunited

sounds like you had the same plasterer as us but we paid the going rate, did not pay final payment because the job needs redoing and wish we had not paid a penny.
all the walls were uneven top and side especially near sockets, door frames etc plaster had drag marks in the middle of some walls.

we sanded where we could and bought a powder filler to fix all the missing corners and it looks reasonable but not the same as a good plasterer would do

SailorSam

Plasters make it look so easy, but it's one of the few jobs i want do myself.
Getting anyone in is hit-and-miss, friend or not you can't do better than getting recommend a good 'un.
But we all try for a bargain, hope you can sort it.

rachelf3361

I've spent a lot of time doing some sanding, some filling, and some chipping away and it's starting to look a bit better. Hopefully with some paint and some furniture in the room no one will notice!