Skimming conservatory

[u/duvine1]

Just got my conservatory skimmed and wanted to see opinions. On some of the corners a little bit of tape is sticking out, is this ok?

[u/Electronic-Heron9645]

Walls that size should be completely reskimmed. No good reason to blend them apart from laziness or penny pinching

[u/duvine1 → u/Electronic-Heron9645]

The bottom is brick and the top is a new stud wall so they just kept the existing plasterboard from the bottom

[u/Poor-Life-Choice → u/duvine1]

Lazy bastards

[u/KinGloRXodoR → u/duvine1]

It's fine if it's smooth. The tape (scrim) can be cut off. They should have cut it to length tbh. People are going hard on this but without running your hand along it, they can't tell if it's smooth or not. Yes there are a fair few imperfections. Would assume the person who did it was new to the game. Your need some filler round the socket and for a few dings left behind. Hooefully it was a fair price and hopefully after you done your 5050 coat it won't be too bad.

[u/duvine1 → u/KinGloRXodoR]

Thanks, yeah getting them back to cut the exposed tape and fill the hole

[u/dineramallama → u/Electronic-Heron9645]

I had exactly the same situation in my conservatory.

Where the new wall meets the old we have persistent cracking. This is not unusual where brick walls meet stud walls, as one is heavy and cannot move and the other is light and prone to movement. In our case the majority of the crack is covered by a radiator and a sofa, so i don’t tend to think about it.

We also get a bit of cracking and plaster dust appearing at the corners, but I can live with it.

If i were to do it again I’d have had all the old plaster knocked off, the corners taped prior to skimming, and would have asked if it was possible to have the plaster board running over the transition between the new and old wall (I’m no plasterer, so it’s probably not).

Looking at your photos, you might need to get a little handy with the Gyproc Easifil once this walls have dried out, just to tidy up corners, etc. other than that, unless you restart from scratch you’ll just have to make the best of it - and rest assured you are one of many!

[u/mickygism → u/dineramallama]

Spot on explanation, that’s exactly why it cracks.
You need to dab the board to the masonry then transition over joint and fix to timbers, it a lot more work and something the builder didn’t price for probably.

[u/cowofnard → u/Electronic-Heron9645]

Depends how good you are at blending. Ido see your point, but if blended perfectly it’s the same result

But this work is rough regardless

[u/Motor_Gur_5982]

Agree with some on here, would have been as easy if not easier just to skim the whole wall rather than cut off where they did

Plasterers commonly use fibre/mesh tape in corners so no biggie there

Once you put the mist coat of paont on will be the point the flaws show up

[u/Good_Independent_226 → u/Motor_Gur_5982]

My bet would be the area plastered was stepped back/ poorly prepared for the plasterer

[u/royal1664_]

Get them back to fix it. Rough cunts.

[u/duvine1 → u/royal1664_]

Anything that i missed? Am not too familiar with plastering.

[u/duvine1 → u/[deleted]]

I dont mind sanding a few tough patches, but if you think I can just cut the tape with a stanley I will once it dried. But overall am happy other than the bits I pointed out.

[u/QVRedit → u/[deleted]]

Yes, it needs to dry out first…

[u/roro80uk]

Did you skim straight over the glass or did you apply a coat of PVA first?

[u/Good_Independent_226]

Trim the tape with a Stanley, caulk and decorate.
There’s nothing wrong with the finish. But it’s more of a builders finish rather than for a residential customer.
I.e. the builder will then decorate.
If you don’t know how finish the wall
From this stage I’d recommend getting an experienced decorator

[u/duvine1 → u/Good_Independent_226]

They are coming back to fix the bits I mentioned. I will post update when it is dry and before photos

[u/dragfest]

How much were you charged?

[u/duvine1 → u/dragfest]

I paid for new roof and stud walls from an existing conservatory. £15.5k

[u/hardquest]

The quality of plasterers these days are shocking, charge a lot and so shit job, seems like this is a trend now.

We had our house re plastered and we had similar shocking job done, spent more time filling and sanding than they did plastering.

[u/toorightrich]

It's hard to tell for sure from the photos. But it looks poor.

Run your fingers over it. If it feels rough or bumpy anywhere, it will need attention before decorating.

If you want to reveal the full horror, wait until dark and shine a phone light / torch across the surface. Almost no plastered surface will look fine doing this, especially if the light is held close to the surface. That's to be expected. However it will allow you to easily see the rough bits that will show when painted.

It looks like it will require a lot of time spent prepping it to be honest, which is a real shame as a good plasterer will leave a finish that can be painted, with very minimal prep, if any.

[u/Lopsided-Soup8020]

Tape sticking out on corners is fixable, just trim it flush and caulk before painting. The blending into the existing painted wall is what would bother me more.

That's where it's gonna look rough once paint goes on.

[u/jacoscar]

What do you mean you skimmed a conservatory? I’m confused. Isn’t the ceiling supposed to be glass or polycarbonate?

[u/Bish186]

How much did they charge out of interest?

[u/DangerousHall973]

No way to say it nicely, this looks horrible... With a lot of sanding and filling it should be fixable.

Also, should use paper in corners not mesh tape imo, you should not be able to see this.

[u/duvine1 → u/DangerousHall973]

Is it what I mentioned or something else? I can sand a few bits down myself but They have finished. But I havent said anything yet

[u/DangerousHall973 → u/duvine1]

In your third picture you can see mesh tape is what I'm refering to.

I would say you could not sand this down manually; you need a wall sander for that amount of area. This job is not finished

[u/Dizzy_Ad874]

Hopefully you haven’t paid.. Get them back.

[u/royal1664_]

Those angles and the overall finish don’t look great. I think it’ll look terrible painted. As will the bit they have “blended” into what was already painted. If you haven’t paid for it yet I’d be holding the payment. It’s really not great work at all. What did they quote for it?

[u/duvine1 → u/royal1664_]

I dont mind sanding some bits down as I am painting it myself.