Now, #2 sounds very suspect to me - surely switch and socket boxes mount on top of the plaster? #1 I've got no idea about; there are some previously painted areas where the edges are peeling slightly. Is this acceptable? If not, what's the best way of getting rid of loose flakes - sanding or wire brushing or both or something different?
Thanks
Is it a cheap plastering job?
Change the plasterer I certainly wouldn't want him to plaster around the sockets/switches.
Paint depends on how bad its flaking? just scrape edges and bond with PVA but normally plasterer will do the bonding anyway.
-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite
But it won't stick to them very well. It is important to PVA the walls before skimming.
!!
Yes, they should, you will get a much neater result if you remove them before plastering. I'd look at contacting other plasterers.
PVA - make up a ~3-1 water-pva solution, and paint your walls with it.
How much is he charging?
sponix
Dumb question: how thick is a skim?
3mm, give or take.
If he is good he may be able to remove the screws from the switches pull them away from the wall and then plaster behind them. I've done that myself, didnt even switch the mains off because I needed it for the drill, I just protected the socket with a carrier bag.
If he is proposing to plaster onto the socket itself I'd say he doesnt have any pride in his work and not to use him.
I took my light switches off and let them hang down when I had my walls skimmed last year so he could plaster around the mounts. When I came to put the switches back on I found he hadn't plastered under where the switches had been hanging. It did make me chuckle, a bit.
What did irritate me though was where he didn't bother to plaster down far enough where the skirting sits. I'll be looking for somebody else for next year's job.
MJ
£350 for two days
Dunno, he's charging £350 for two days
I might do the bonding, just in case...
Thanks Grunff
What do you mean 'Dunno'? Was it the only quote you got? How do you know its not truly over the odds?
Is always worth trying to find a friend or relative who's had some skimming done recently so you can go round and see what kind of job they've done. If you're happy with how it looks and how much they paid, get the number off them.
From my first post: "SWMBO has hired a plasterer..."
Some things ain't worth arguing about! If you disagree, I'll lend you the wife for a week and see if you change your mind :-)
And how many times did she ask you to do it before giving up and doing it herself? Or perhaps past experience has told her not to bother trying... (OK - I'm guessing from my own experience). Any idea how many quotes she got? Whether she had problems getting a plasterer in a reasonable time? Have you asked her whether she thinks the quote was reasonable? If you did, did she say "look - if think you can do better be my guest!"?
Send her over to me for tea & a chat - we can commiserate together and you can deal with the tradesmen :)
I offered to do it...next year though
The plasterer has come recommended.
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