Repainting a socket after plaster repair, and repairing a rough patch?

ashe

Hi,

had a really bad skim job done few weeks ago - most of the work was good quality, but around the sockets was really bad quality and whilst under the skirting line is largely rough, as I expected, this extends to above the skirting line in a few parts.

I did get him back over to redo some of the socket work as it was initially horrendous;



His solution was to put some filler in right up to the sockets so if it was removed for decorating it would look horrendous - this is his fix;



After this I pretty much just gave up and crossed him off our supplier list. The guys we had in to do our AV Installation said it was a horrendous job and they took it off, scraped all his filler off them and refilled it around the socket, added another coat, sanded it down and then fit the sockets flush. its much better looking now, but we need to repaint it. I want to make sure i paint it right so that it doesn't look atrocious - do you need to mist coats the part where its been sanded down to bare plaster again before painting it the white colour? Or is that only for the initial skim treatment, as its had that done and been painted already? Happy to do it again if need be.

Photo of how it looks now - any tips on any prep I need to do on this before painting? obviously sand down any loose paint still, but didn't know if there was anything else? want to avoid it looking like a totally different paint job. Is it best to use a roller again, or would we need to roll the entire wall if we do that spot?



Secondary question - this didnt really become as apparent until we painted (rest of room is light grey, this wall is white and it really shows any imperfections!) - the below photo shows where theres a scrape in the wall and its annoyingly going to be about an inch above the skirting line - if you look at where the horizontal line starts on the bottom third of the image and slopes upwards, the skirting line is about where that line starts on the left hand side - so the scrape will slope upwards. I'm not sure I would be able to neatly scrape filler into it due to the shape and texture? any suggestions? The other marks we will just have to live with I think. Rest of the wall is annoyingly smooth other than this part and the sockets.

Grenage

Sockets often look like that unless the plates have been removed prior to a skim - something to bear in mind for the next room. Plasterers won't remove the faceplates.



Mist coat any exposed plaster or filler before painting. The rough areas you mentioned can be sanded flush - borrow or buy an orbital sander for a quick job.

ashe

Grenage wrote: »

Sockets often look like that unless the plates have been removed prior to a skim - something to bear in mind for the next room. Plasterers won't remove the faceplates.



Mist coat any exposed plaster or filler before painting. The rough areas you mentioned can be sanded flush - borrow or buy an orbital sander for a quick job.

Cheers - Yeah i loosened all sockets from the walls prior to his arrival and let him know that, I expected if he wanted power switching off or them taking off fully he could have asked and I would have obliged. I work from home so was around in my office all day and fetching him drinks etc.

I have a random orbital sander - will that be effective or does it need to be a non random variety? any particular grit?

markin

Next time, with the power off, pull them all the way off the wall as far as they will go and tape a bag over them.

Grenage

ashe wrote: »

I have a random orbital sander - will that be effective or does it need to be a non random variety? any particular grit?

Even better; that'll do nicely.

ceredigion

Grenage wrote: »

Sockets often look like that unless the plates have been removed prior to a skim - something to bear in mind for the next room. Plasterers won't remove the faceplates.


Mist coat any exposed plaster or filler before painting. The rough areas you mentioned can be sanded flush - borrow or buy an orbital sander for a quick job.

This one will,

FreeBear

ashe wrote: »

I have a random orbital sander - will that be effective or does it need to be a non random variety? any particular grit?

80 grit to start with, and finish off with 120. Wear a decent dust mask and an extractor hooked up to the sander. Make sure everything is removed from the room, cover large pieces of furniture with dust sheets and vacuum the whole house throughly when finished. The dust will go everywhere !