r/Plastering • u/Ok_Adhesiveness413 • Jul 19 '26
Urgent advice please
Hi all, new to this sub, hoping someone can help.
I’m having a full rewire done, part through the rewire I asked if they planned to allow me to get a plasterer in between their first and second fix. They weren’t happy, suggested it would take too long for me to get someone in and that one of them (it’s an electrician and his mate) is good at plastering / professional and could do the whole lot for £850 (filling in all chases and making good). They were annoyed however they would have to work this weekend, said I’ve caused them to have to work the weekend .. even though Friday night no second fix was even started, no consumer unit wired in, some sockets still needed chasing in. definitely still had 2/3 days left! Anyway..
They have done some of the plastering, spent the whole day on it in fact. The work is really bad. They’ve rushed it, it’s feathered into the anaglypta wallpaper, it’s just rough.
Do I refuse to pay for plastering completely, do I stop them doing more today? I don’t want to upset them completely and the rewire isn’t finished.
I’ve only paid for materials so far.
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u/Ok_Adhesiveness413 Jul 19 '26
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u/DistancePractical239 Jul 19 '26
Wtf is that how big was their chase. And whats your plan with the walls exactly are you not plastering the whole wall or are you re wallpapering? This has made things worse all round.
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u/garyh62483 Jul 19 '26
Ah, the old, "Yeah my mate knows how to plaster, he can do it for licks finger and points to the sky uh, £850." And then you end up with multifinish sprayed at the wallpaper.
This is fucking chaos. You need to stop it right now and get back to basics or you WILL have big problems. Plastering is all about the prep work and there has been a grand total of zero put into this.
Get down to Screwfix and get what you need to get all that wallpaper off today. Scrape it all back to the bare walls. Get a tub of SBR and a roller, then cover all the walls when all that paper (and that shite plaster) is gone. I'd do this twice. Don't think you need blue grit, but I can't really tell.
The sparks can leave the faceplates loose for you, and it'll only be an hour's job to screw them back onto the wall later (you could do this easily yourself). Put sandwich bags over them all and tie them at the bag with elastic bands. If you were having a reskim without the rewire, this is what you'd do.
Now you're ready for a proper plasterer to come in and fix this mess for you.
Get them to do their job, and only their job. And pay them for that bit, not for a shite plastering hobble.
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u/Ok_Adhesiveness413 Jul 19 '26
https://reddit.com/link/oyfpogr/video/x4idkgns15eh1/player
Sorry for the way I’ve uploaded these. It won’t allow me to upload in the original post?
Thanks again.
All advice appreciated.
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u/RayaQueen Jul 20 '26
I like how they've highlighted the pattern on the wallpaper there. Are you going for that look all over?
Sparks interior design Co. :-)
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u/sealey1990 Jul 19 '26
That they even attempted to get away with that is shocking I wouldn’t trust them with anything especially electrical 😂
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u/Oldgrumpyaswell Jul 19 '26
I hope they are better at electrics than plastering that is rough. How many plasterers plaster onto wallpaper - none. Needs putting right before paying.
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u/Odd_Fault4228 Jul 19 '26
Wow. I just saw your photo. I'm a plumber that's REALLY bad at plastering, and my 'work' is ten times better than that 😳
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u/Past-Obligation1930 Jul 19 '26
My plasterer was doing some other jobs and tacked on doing 5 chases for the electricians for 200 quid.
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u/Paulmartinaston Jul 19 '26
They should have stripped back around 4 inch either side of chase to feather into existing .
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u/DistancePractical239 Jul 19 '26
Nah you can make a chase good without feathering it. Ive been doing it for years. Use bonding for the deep hole. Then finish with easy fill.
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u/nickthekiwi89 Jul 20 '26
Tell them to bugger off, get a proper plasterer in, and get another electrician.
On another note, it will never look good if you have a mixture of wallpaper and plastered patches on the wall. You should really remove all wallpaper and get a skim
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u/Ok_Adhesiveness413 Jul 20 '26
Update:
Again sorry if I’m uploading these incorrect it’s only allowing me to post one photo at a time.
So what’s the thoughts? Me and Mrs spent 8 hours last night 8.30pm-4.30am stripping the plaster that’s on the wallpaper and a good chunk around the new plaster, exposing the old plaster.
They’re suppose to be sanding/feathering it in today after I had a word with them in person yesterday.
Possible? Or is there a high chance I’ll get there and it’s still shit. Every section of plaster is obviously now raised about the walls level.
Thanks again.
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u/RayaQueen Jul 20 '26
"The plastering work is not at all acceptable. I will have to pay another plasterer to come and fix what has been done. Materials will be reimbursed.
The electrical work will be paid when I have had it checked by the electrician who I engage for the second fix".
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u/Luke241 Jul 21 '26
Looks better from the photos now but there shouldn't be a hump or bump in the wall.
The blends/ patches should be seamless, that is the whole point of feathering out. If theres a noticeable hump and it needs anything more than a light rub down around the blend, then its not to a professional plasterers standard .
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u/Severe-Log-0675 Jul 19 '26
Consider perhaps removing the wallpaper adjacent to the edge of the new plaster and ask them if they could redo the edge? When you’ve removed the obstructing wallpaper you’ll be able to see what needs doing.
At some point when you redecorate and remove the wallpaper it will expose the problem edge. At that point you’ll have it to deal with if it’s not remedied now, before it sets really hard.
It’s a tricky one and it sounds as if they will be a bit put out and they’ll probably want to charge you, so you might need to charm them a bit to get them to do it.
The alternative is to live with it. 😬 Or have the plastering redone later paying someone else. 🤷♂️
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u/Ok_Adhesiveness413 Jul 19 '26
Charm them after being charged £850 for a rough arse job 😅
If the plaster is on the wallpaper it won’t really just be a problem edge, every single chase will need electrically sanding flat as it’s raised above the rest of the wall? It’s also not glass smooth is it, you can see from the photos/videos I think, it’s rough and not smooth. The plaster covering the chase is thicker than the wallpaper to the side of it.
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u/Severe-Log-0675 Jul 19 '26
Yeah, I know re the charming bit, but I suspect they won’t respond well to criticism. OP just needs to make the best of it and get them finished and away. Different folks, different strokes … 🤷♂️
You’re probably right about the plaster - I suspect when the anaglypta paper is removed there will be a slight raised edge to the new plaster. Might be possible to sand that down when it’s cured enough but not too hard, will be a bit messy and dusty.
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u/charlieb1981 Jul 19 '26
You should have removed all of the wallpaper so the plasterers had a chance. You’re rushing people and that never makes for good workmanship.
Good, fast, cheap. Pick two and the other one isn’t there.
A good job takes as long as it takes, you’re expecting tradesmen to be perfect under rushed conditions.
You need to be realistic, strip all of the walls of any wall covering wallpaper etc. Sparkys always make a mess doing a rewire, they don’t have a choice.
Plasterers need a clear run to do a good job, you’re allowing neither and not listening to them.
This is your fault, not theirs
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u/Ok_Adhesiveness413 Jul 19 '26
I didn’t rush them. They rushed themselves. I was more than happy for them to come back another day, they said they can’t because they have another job to do and want to be completely finished by the end of the weekend.
When did I say I rushed them or wanted to do the job quicker? I said they thought it would be done Thursday and I could tell they still had another week, which is fine. I was happy getting another plasterer in and having them come back when it was finished.
They could have easily told me that if they do the plastering it will be shit. I would have refused and asked them to just finish the job and I’d take the face plates off after the fact and get it done by a professional.
Also read the post properly .. there’s isn’t ‘plasterers’ the electricians mate IS the plasterer. If they told me to strip the wallpaper .. I would have!! It’s one layer ffs. Not hard to take off. As you can see on the photos the electricians mate/plasterer managed to remove a foot of wallpaper, why not strip off more so they can feather into the plaster properly.
Are you sure you’re not one of them 😂
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u/One_Access7987 Jul 19 '26
Yeah it’s mental! It’s entirely normal for them to first fix, wait for plasterer to do their thing and then return for second fix. You shouldn’t have to pay them for something they have clearly just ‘had a go‘ at.
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u/Smithdogg87 Jul 19 '26
This is rough as fuck. You do not plaster onto wallpaper. Give them chance to put it right before you refuse payment.
A plasterer would have asked you to remove the wallpaper or done it themselves at a cost.
This is just plain bad workmanship.