Order of work

akh43

I am looking to get my front room decorated/plastered within next couple of months. I had a quote from a plasterer at the weekend and planning to get a couple more quotes. Hard to tell whether just minor patch-up repairs and skimming until paper removed but he seemed to think that would be the case and what he quoted for.

One of the things I wanted doing whilst it was being plastered/skimmed was to remove a boxed in area in the window bay currently covered by mdf shelf to get my bay space back and the plasterer asked what was behind it and whether there were skirting boards and at that time I could not access. Currently there is just one long piece of skirting that goes the whole width of the room so he pointed out I might need someone separately to put right the skirting as he only does plastering/decorating.

I have now accessed the area and found no skirting boards present, just plastered walls and some wallpaper where it was visible above the shelf. Also some gaps around the floorboards in the bay, which might or might not be covered by new skirting boards. The bay seems to have been replastered to approx 2ft high, I suspect connected with previous dampcourse as there are signs of this on the exterior of the bay. Not sure if damp in the bay or just very cold due to bare plaster and gaps in floorboards.

Should I be getting the skirting boards done before the plastering or afterwards? Does it need a specialist to do skirting boards in a bay due to the curve? How can I tell if cold or damp re the plaster?

Any advice appreciated.

Fire_Fox

Plastering first if possible. They will skim say halfway down behind where the new skirting will go.

There are 'bendy' skirting boards and cornice available. So many precision things are made by machines controlled by computers, it amazes me. No idea how easy to use they are, but a carpenter should be familiar with working around bay windows.

Let the warm house air get to the area and see if it warms up over a few days. Check everything outside is in good repair.