plaster skim coat

I know what you mean. It all starts with "Right ..." ! It usually means I will have some work to to too ... Simon.

Its also because with the sunlight you can see how dirty the windows are ! Simon.

On Wednesday 06 March 2013 16:19 sm_jamieson wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Excuse to buy a pressure washer...

Hi Tim.

It sounds to me that your plaster was not fully dried out before the heating went on causing the finishing plaster to blow.

My solution would be:-

Firstly job, get all the loose plaster off and give it a good dusting, even use a hoover to get all the dust out. Then apply a thin coat of (Unibond) PVA adhesive will do just as well, let this dry for an hour or so then apply another coat of PVA give it 15 or 20 minutes to go tacky then apply your plaster. Let the plaster dry for a good few days before sanding down any rough areas, dust off and apply another thin coat of (Unibond) or PVA. Let this dry, then decorate and you are done.

Mike - 45 years in the building/decorating business.

How long is a piece of string? It's dry when it's dry. You can tell it's dry because it changes to a much lighter colour. This may take a day or a number of days, depending on many factors.

In message , Mike Whitty writes

Thanks Mike. Something over a week should be ample then.

I will get the rads off and do the initial preparation but get a professional to do the actual skimming.

We are trying to plan decorations in advance of some expected American visitors.

Current best estimate is up to one week. This will be fine. I'm just trying to leave the job to nearer the end of the heating season in front of some expected visitors.

I wouldn't use PVA. You can if you are going to paper it, but it's better to size it when it's dry, with diluted wallpaper paste, If you intend to paint it, then PVA will make the paint less likely to adhere. The only time when it's recommended to put PVA on plaster is when you intend to apply more plaster to it.

Cheers Richard