how do i skim a wall? (plaster)?

Question

i had a plasterer round last night to quote to plaster my bathroom wall, due to a few bits coming off with the wall paper, and its a bit uneaven.
he said it will only need kimming to even it out.
the room is 3m x 2m and he quoted £250, now i personally think thats a tad high, so iv figured how hard can it really be??! so what do i do? a simple step by step instruction would be ace!!

thanks peeps x x

BUSTER

office worker type my a* * *!!!!

im a joiner my dear, not afraid of getting my hands dirty if thats what you mean!?

Answer 1

i just had my whole walls plastered in my living room and it cost my £200 - look around and get some more quotes...also look in ur local newspaper there usually cheaper than these companies...My plasterer told my its usually £100 per wall so i got a cheap deal. If u got someone to do it there is a new thing whats come out called smotth over and u should be able to get it from B and Q.

hope this helps...

Answer 2

Give it a go, Its not that hard, A 25kg bag of finishing plaster cost around £4. you will need more than you think.
Ive skimmed walls and ceilings, walls are easy compared to ceilings.
make you life easy and use a mixing paddle (fits onto a drill) to mix up the plaster,

instructions, down load a help leaflet from www.wickes.co.uk

Be prepared to spend all day to skim a room of your size, about 10 times the time a pro will take.

If you can get a helping hand, go for it. do one wall at a time, start with the smallest, you will quickly get better.

Its not hard, just tiring. I'm a builder, so I know hard work, if your an office worker type, then you probably wont of worked this hard before. But do go for it, it's fun.

Answer 3

If you want it to look good you really should get a professional plasterer in. Plastering/skimming is very hard to do and takes a long time to learn how to do it well. If it isn't done properly it will look just as bad, or worse, than it does now! If it isn't too bad at the moment maybe you could try to fill the patches with polyfilla(!?!). You could also get a couple of quotes from other plasterers to see what the going rate is in your area. Good Luck!

Answer 4

How To Skim A Wall

Answer 5

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
how do i skim a wall? (plaster)?
i had a plasterer round last night to quote to plaster my bathroom wall, due to a few bits coming off with the wall paper, and its a bit uneaven.
he said it will only need kimming to even it out.
the room is 3m x 2m and he quoted £250, now i personally think thats a tad high, so iv figured how...

Answer 6

Go to B&Q, they sell `SMOOTH OVER` its about £20-25 for a tub, the instructions will be on the container,,,i would guess one tub should do the job if its just a skim...you also need a spreader( not sure if you get one free with the `smooth over` or if youll have to buy it seperate....happy skimming.

add:.you may have to prime the walls first with PVA ( it helps the plaster stick to the walls & is easy to apply,,,costs around £10.

Answer 7

It looks easy when you watch someone who does it for a living, but believe me its not! I can do just about any DIY job & dont let much beat me but plastering is the one thing I wont tackle again. I'm OK on patching bits up cos you've usually already got a level around the 'hole ' to work to but I would definitely leave it alone...................it will look worse than it does now & you will ache in places where you didnt know you had places !!

Answer 8

here's how its done ..but if you've never done it or seen it done id leave well alone ..first you need board finish plaster ..a bucket...clean water ...mixing stick or wheel ..if the walls been painted then you will need uni bond ova ..EVERY BIT of paper off wall apply a coat of pva to wall ..mix plaster ..stiff enough for the stick to stand upright on its own ..with the pva still wet apply first coat of plaster allow time for the first coat to begin to dry in (about ten minutes )then apply the second coat ..after another ten minutes start to trowel up ...do not over trowel or it will bubble ..as it starts to set flick a little water over it to act as lubricant ..from start to finish two and a half to three hours sounds a doddle don't it!

Answer 9

I have tackled all possible DIY jobs BUT no longer would attempt plastering. The answer to your question "How hard can it really be ?" is "F**king hard!" Believe me.

The difference in quality between diy plastering and a professional is too great to justify not getting the job done properly.

Remember "It is the duty of the wealthy man to give employment to the artisan"

Answer 10

Dream on - plastering is highly skilled and its likely that you will make an absolute pigs ear of it. I would recommend getting quotes from several other plasters - £250 does sound quite steep if it is only a small area.