Hi all,
First of all my plastering experience to date (just so you know what you're dealing with). 4 day plastering course a few months ago & fitting a new living room ceiling in my home, so it's all been plasterboard and skimming.

I've been asked by a friend of mine if I'd be happy to plaster his kitchen before the new units are to be fitted (it was expected to be a much smaller job at first), he knows that I've limited experience so far but he wanted to ask me first. I'd be doing it as a favour and it would help me gain some much needed experience for future work.

Initially after looking at the kitchen (see pics) I declined and said that I thought he might be better getting a pro in as he/she would have it done in next to no time and would know how best to tackle the existing wall surfaces.

The thing is that I feel quite guilty now and it's been on my mind all day, I know that they're trying to keep the costs down and I'd like to help them out, plus I really could do with the experience of this type of job.

The pics are a bit blurred, the majority of the plaster is sound although it's a bit rough in places and there are some deep cracks here and there which require filling, some of the electrics are to be moved so there will be some channelling to deal with.

I need advice on how to tackle this job, would you fill any large holes and cracks, then pva and skim with multi-finish, or would you do it differently ?
I'm concious that I can't put too much plaster on the walls as I don't want it to become proud of the existing electric points and also the angle beads on the lintel etc. By the way, they're having a stud wall removed so I'll need to do a bit of feathering.





As I said earlier, I've declined bit I'd like to let him know that I'll have a go before he arranges to get a plasterer in, I just need some advice and lots more confidence.

Thanks a lot.

Fill all big holes, cracks and around the sockets with hardwall if the background is render, brick or block, otherwise use bonding.

Scrim cracks, scrape off loose paint, scrape off any tile adhesive and pva everything. Stick beads up around door with a slightly stiff multi mix. 2nd coat of pva.

Dont worry about the sockets mate, do a 5mm overall thickness and the tell the customer they may have to buy longer screws.

Dont panic and do one wall at a time.

Prep is the most important part, so do it right and the skimming will be easy.

Thanks Andy, can I get away without putting new angle bead over the old ones otherwise I'll have problems when it comes to feathering/matching the existing line as it runs across the lintel when the partition is removed ? The door is going to be removed and a low wall built and a window fitted.

I'm not that familiar with the terms yet, when you say Scrim, does that mean use tape over the cracks or fill them ? Do you recommend using multi-finish on the walls ?

Apologies for my lack of understanding.

Scrim tape yes.
Multi is fine.
Not sure what you mean about the beads/lintel mate. Take another pic

Hello andy

it looks worse than it is mate and the apprehension of tackling something that you have never done before is only natural but after all this is your mates house and i know you dont want to let him down but if you say to him that you will do it for the experience if he covers the costs of materials then both of you are gaining something.

if you f*** it up then it hasn't cost you much anyway.

like andy p says fill the sockets/chases and tape the cracks then skim with multi-finish after pvaing it all and you should be fine.

Take your time, do two a two coat skim and i bet you will suprise yourself.

good luck and let us know how it went.

as for the lintel part of it you will have to post a pic cos not sure why a lintel would be where a partition wall has been removed?

I think he's asking if he should just skim up to the existing corners without puting a bead on as there as there's already a bead there, which forms a neat corner.

I think the pro's will agree that you need to put a new bead on the corners as it will be neater and sharper and will require less messing about. Also, if you try to taper into the existing corner without using a new bead, the plaster will be quite thin and liable to be quite weak and possibly flake off leaving an untidy corner.

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I always blame my tools

P.S. Remove the socket faces before skimming, then fit them back on over the top of the new plaster. The existing screws will probably be long enough to use again. I say this because when you say you don't want to be proud of the existing sockets, it sounds like you're intending on leaving them in place. A friend did a favour for me once by plastering the walls in one of my rooms while I was in work. Luckily I paid him a visit during the day to see how he was getting on because he'd left the existing socket and light switch in place and plastered up to it. He's a plasterer and works for his father - did a good job but was messy as hell and I don't know what he was thinking with the sockets. I didn't want to embarrass him by asking if he'd ever done a wall with sockets on before.

To his credit I learnt a bit from him by watching him straighten out the wall with bonding and a straight edge. I also learnt the importance of just getting the plaster onto the wall as quickly as possible and tidying it up afterwards.

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I always blame my tools