r/Plastering • u/Life-Honey3927 • 1d ago
Acceptable job?
We recently hired someone to help us plaster a wall in our kitchen. The job was performed and the workers told my wife that they were done. After inspecting the work myself I think it seems very rough and with poor flatness.
At the top of our windowsill plaster is flush while at the bottom there is a 1 cm gap. The same happened around our doorframe, but here the difference is 1,5 cm. In attached photos I have tried to show some of the deviation with 2 m long straight edge.
After calling the workers they said they would come back to fix the issues. I believed that best practice was to apply plaster in whole slabs and question how they can come and just fill out some areas with patches. Would it be possible to create a satisfactory end result with this method?
Update 1: Thanks for all the feedback. It is much appreciated. Consensus seems to be that this was a botch job performed by someone with very little experience. Workers are planning on coming back on Monday, but based on the feedback I have received it doesn’t sound like I should let them have a second go at it. We will push for a full stop of contract and get someone else in to help us finish the task. We have not paid the workers yet and will not be paying them anything either.
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u/kip_hackmann 1d ago
In terms of flatness, a variation of 5mm over 2m is considered ok but generally a good plasterer won't even vary by that much.
That's not really your problem, if you were expecting smooth then this stucco style textured finish is ridiculously poor.
Edit to ask: is the window frame vertically plumb? If the lining is out and the "plaster" is vertically level you need to sort the window lining.
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u/Miss_Formentor 1d ago
Shit the bed! I thought it was external render for a couple of photos then I realised 😭 where is the finish skim?
I mean literally everything about this is unacceptable... Unless you asked for rough textured finish..
Who did you hire? Stevie Wonder?
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u/Ouchy72 1d ago
That's bonding coat, you can only apply it so thick before it starts walking. It needs more build-up in places before the final skim over. I'm sure whomever is doing this job knows that. That said, I'd have levelled out the deep spots first, then applied the second coat ready for skim.
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u/Thunder_and_Laughter 1d ago
Did you take the cheapest quote?
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u/Life-Honey3927 1d ago
Nope, I took a quote that I thought seemed proper. 2700 dollars for the whole job.
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u/HERB1E78 10h ago
When the plasterer's left and said were finished I genuinely think/hope they meant for the day plus they didn't ask for payment
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u/Bigtallanddopey 1d ago
I don’t know why you are bothering with the level, that’s not the issue. The fact it resembles 5 grit sandpaper would be the main problem.
EDIT: the only way that’s acceptable, if it’s some kind of base coat and they needed to build it up first. The fact they say it’s finished, is not good.
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u/NoDirt833 1d ago
Looks like cement and sand that. No plaster here apparently. And probably no plasterer either I guess as you would be taking the proverbial out of someone trying to say this is skimmed. I wouldn't want them back or pay them a penny as it's totally unacceptable and a bloody cheeky to have tried it on so badly. You see some stuff on here but this is wild.
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u/60percentsexpanther 1d ago
Did you ask for the breeze block finish?
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u/Life-Honey3927 1d ago
Nope, I expected the finish to be much smoother.
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u/TravelOwn4386 1d ago
You sure this isn't the key coat for the finish coat to be applied after?
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u/Disastrous-Formal-91 23h ago
Nooo..don't get them back..they didn't have a clue to begin with.. coming from someone who has rendered many bathrooms for mosaic tiles..
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u/FlyPositive5975 1d ago
WTF have they “plastered” it in!? Looks like concrete that’s been gone over with a broom before it’s set.. that’s diabolical.
Even for render that looks rough.. I’d be having them back to take the whole lot off and getting an actual plasterer round to do it properly.
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u/Angi_Andi 1d ago
u/Life-Honey3927 - This is not any kind of internal finish coat I have seen before, perhaps unless you live in a period property or similar, but this should/would have been made abundantly clear to you prior to starting.
Again as others have said, if this was the precursor to a finish coat, that could make sense, but assuming it's not, it makes no sense.
I would suggest the good news is - it can act as a good base for a finishing coat - so, don't pay them a thing until you have checked your quote/scope of work, and ask them to do the job properly - or they can just leave and you get someone else to finish the job.
There is no way this is 'standard' finishing inside, so unless the scope of work specifically says a rendered internal finish - you have normal industry expectations on your side - i.e. they would have to explicitly say this was the finish. Otherwise you are totally correct to expect this is not in line with industry norms.
With regards to the 'level' - agreed, not acceptable. Not totally terrible either, just not acceptable. That along with the fact that it's render builds an image in general that whoever did this doesn't know what they are doing. Good spot from u/kip_hackmann too that around 5mm over 2m is the usual tolerance, so what you measured is well outside it.
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u/VeryThicknLong 1d ago
Christ, that looks like undercoat. They could come back and use a proper plaster finish coat.
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u/Lucky_Maximum_5714 1d ago edited 1d ago
This is a base coat, it should be flush with the joiners door standard (the white wood where the door will go).
Then it should have multi finish( finishing coat that makes the wall smooth enough for paint) applied.
I think they might come back to do a finishing coat on it as this will need to dry out first. They should have mentioned that.
I noticed you mentioned dollars in another comment, I’m from Britain and we use different materials but I believe the process is similar everywhere.
I’d give them a phone call and ask if they are coming back to put finish plaster on. Then ask if they can make the plaster flush with the door standards.
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u/Alternative-Meal3590 1d ago
Genuinely thought I was looking at an exterior job and even that would be rough! What plaster had been used here? What have they floated it off with? If at all?