i have just had my lounge skimmed,i was not very happy with the finish and asked the plasterers to come ack and see,they agreed and as they investigated the skim layer came off in sheets,and the whole room is now back as it was b4 it was started,they pva'd as mormal,and the wall surface prior to skimming was dulux matt emulsion.Can anyone suggest as to why this skim coat did not stick??

was it pva'd before they skimmd it. if not i might need a bonding agent to asure the plaster has a good key to the substrate (wickes bonding agent or blue grit).
also perhaps they have let the pva dry compleatly before they skimmed it and really pva shold be tacky when you skim so that the skim and pva bond together properly. there could be many reasons and these are just a few

As JR said above really, but if your wondering if anyone else is having this problem then I have to say no myself.

A couple of things I'm wondering about though, do you know if that emulsion has been painted over the top of a silk paint? and what did the plasterer say after he came around to check out the problem?

has the paint pulled off with the plaster or the plaster on its own ??

thanks for your reply.
the paint was over previously papered wall,which had been stripped and sugar soaped b4 the emulsion was applied.

can you tell us what the plasterer said when he came to inspect and what he thought it was, did he say what he did to prep the wall this might give us an insight as to what has caused the problems

the plasterer was at a loss as to why it had happened,suggesting the paint surface was eggshell,it is not,possibly distemper,but the property is not old enough to have this problem,1958.
Any ways they cleard off all the skim,re applied a double strength of pva and are back to saturday to try again??is it worth it?

well yeah but thier gonna have to give it anouther layer of pva other wise they will be skiming onto dry pva.
if you have a look at the walls they have pvad youll see its shiney and very smooth to the touch so if they dnt give it abouther layer the new plaster wont have anything to bond with.
i think to have been safe they should have given it a coat of wickes bonding agent thei would have killed the suction and assured a good key for the new plaster. its no late now though cos the bonding agent has to be dry before the skimming.
the problems as i can see it so far is.........they have given it 2 coats of pva which is good but the second coat HAS to be tacky otherwise the skim wnt bond with it, now if they give it a third coat of pva to make it tacky they would have killed 2 much of the suction and they might find the plaster slideing rather than flattening down nicley and again you wnt get a nice bond.
balls in your court im afraid.
try to ring them and tell them what you have found out and see if they will give it a coat of WBA the day before they skim this is the only thing that i can think of possibly working given the prep they have already done to the wall