Photos attached…
Hoping you can all help me get out of this expensive mess!
Had some builders come who suggested a new ceiling for our lounge entrance and kitchen (bungalow) due to us wanting all spotlights and the loft being fully boarded up for storage. Also, existing ceiling had straight line cracks here and there following line of existing plasterboards (long edge), bungalow was built in 70s and timber in good condition from visual inspection in loft.
Anyways, we agreed and they installed a metal framework and generally did a good job levelling the ceiling and screwing plasterboards on, luckily I have some photos to show so you can see how it’s been constructed.
They then put all the scrim tape on and put this kind of ‘bedding’ plaster all over the joints.
They then left it while we got a skimmer in to reskim our WALLS only. We didn’t want to skim the new ceilings because we liked the way the emulsion looked on our new bathroom drywall ceiling, which these builders completed nicely (no cracks so far and nice and smooth and flat, as opposed to a skimmer who always says they are perfect but usually far from it).
Anyways, it took a while to get the skimmer in and we ended up having a dispute with our builders and they left us with the unfinished ceiling in lounge entrance kitchen, if you have a look at the photos you can see they did the bedding in of mesh tape with that white plaster stuff, I’ve taken a photo of the tub, it’s got foreign language all over it!
I thought I’d finish the jointing and then get painter in to paint the whole house.
So I watched some videos and bought big jointing knives etc to deal with tapered edges etc,
HOWEVER, the builders had left me a full tub of that white plaster stuff and I assumed that was to go onto the joints again as a 2nd and 3rd coat, the foreign writing on it didn’t help me either!!!
I felt as though I did a good job, no cracks appeared at all anywhere, not even from the builders first jointing round, which was left to cure for WEEKS, the fluctuations in weather caused no cracks at all. I can vouch for this because I did the jointing on every single seam and would have spotted the hairline cracks.
So then I got a painter in who said he would also kindly sand the drywall ceilings for us and then paint. So he sanded the ceilings (possibly over sanding, which he claims he didn’t do) and still no apparent signs of cracks.
But once he put the first mist coat on (10% water he said) lots of long hairline cracks have appeared around both long edge and butt edge of the big plaster boards. He then even scoured the cracks and filled with filler (easifill, also tried plasterboard adhesive) but painting again would bring the cracks back.
Painter has left now after finishing the whole house, and we managed to get those original builders back in to inspect for a refund. They said a proper jointing ADHESIVE needed to be used on the white plaster stuff they used, which was apparently just for soaking the mesh tape into boards?
They also said that the metal frame work is not designed to be rock solid, it is attached to the existing joists with metal ribbons that have a bit of ‘give’, which would help if the existing ceiling moved a bit. They said the painter may have put too much pressure on the roller causing plaster boards to flex upwards, which may also explain cracks appearing after painting? So its a combination of things…
So I’m desperately asking for advice on what ‘I’ can do as cheaply as possible to fix these cracks? I’ve read loads on possible options, e.g. scouring and retaping and then filling again, but my concern with that is that I have limited depth left to smooth out afterwards as not much tapered depth left? So it may mean i have to feather out quite a bit?
Skimming is last option because of the risk of quality of finish and also, no guarantees cracks will not come back?
Really sorry for the long post but I had to explain how this all happened so you have a clear picture going forward…
Would really appreciate advice…
The original builders are now saying they may come back to retape, joint/plaster, sand and paint the whole ceiling for around £750-£1000?
Hoping you can all help me get out of this expensive mess!
Had some builders come who suggested a new ceiling for our lounge entrance and kitchen (bungalow) due to us wanting all spotlights and the loft being fully boarded up for storage. Also, existing ceiling had straight line cracks here and there following line of existing plasterboards (long edge), bungalow was built in 70s and timber in good condition from visual inspection in loft.
Anyways, we agreed and they installed a metal framework and generally did a good job levelling the ceiling and screwing plasterboards on, luckily I have some photos to show so you can see how it’s been constructed.
They then put all the scrim tape on and put this kind of ‘bedding’ plaster all over the joints.
They then left it while we got a skimmer in to reskim our WALLS only. We didn’t want to skim the new ceilings because we liked the way the emulsion looked on our new bathroom drywall ceiling, which these builders completed nicely (no cracks so far and nice and smooth and flat, as opposed to a skimmer who always says they are perfect but usually far from it).
Anyways, it took a while to get the skimmer in and we ended up having a dispute with our builders and they left us with the unfinished ceiling in lounge entrance kitchen, if you have a look at the photos you can see they did the bedding in of mesh tape with that white plaster stuff, I’ve taken a photo of the tub, it’s got foreign language all over it!
I thought I’d finish the jointing and then get painter in to paint the whole house.
So I watched some videos and bought big jointing knives etc to deal with tapered edges etc,
HOWEVER, the builders had left me a full tub of that white plaster stuff and I assumed that was to go onto the joints again as a 2nd and 3rd coat, the foreign writing on it didn’t help me either!!!
I felt as though I did a good job, no cracks appeared at all anywhere, not even from the builders first jointing round, which was left to cure for WEEKS, the fluctuations in weather caused no cracks at all. I can vouch for this because I did the jointing on every single seam and would have spotted the hairline cracks.
So then I got a painter in who said he would also kindly sand the drywall ceilings for us and then paint. So he sanded the ceilings (possibly over sanding, which he claims he didn’t do) and still no apparent signs of cracks.
But once he put the first mist coat on (10% water he said) lots of long hairline cracks have appeared around both long edge and butt edge of the big plaster boards. He then even scoured the cracks and filled with filler (easifill, also tried plasterboard adhesive) but painting again would bring the cracks back.
Painter has left now after finishing the whole house, and we managed to get those original builders back in to inspect for a refund. They said a proper jointing ADHESIVE needed to be used on the white plaster stuff they used, which was apparently just for soaking the mesh tape into boards?
They also said that the metal frame work is not designed to be rock solid, it is attached to the existing joists with metal ribbons that have a bit of ‘give’, which would help if the existing ceiling moved a bit. They said the painter may have put too much pressure on the roller causing plaster boards to flex upwards, which may also explain cracks appearing after painting? So its a combination of things…
So I’m desperately asking for advice on what ‘I’ can do as cheaply as possible to fix these cracks? I’ve read loads on possible options, e.g. scouring and retaping and then filling again, but my concern with that is that I have limited depth left to smooth out afterwards as not much tapered depth left? So it may mean i have to feather out quite a bit?
Skimming is last option because of the risk of quality of finish and also, no guarantees cracks will not come back?
Really sorry for the long post but I had to explain how this all happened so you have a clear picture going forward…
Would really appreciate advice…
The original builders are now saying they may come back to retape, joint/plaster, sand and paint the whole ceiling for around £750-£1000?
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