aAsk a Tradesman

I've a small job to do patching over some penetrating damp in a stone cottage. Its a tricky one as the stone work is like a tramps teeth and requires around 4 coats of render to level it, normally I would batten n foil back plasterboard it but in areas its not deep enough to do so. The only solution I can come up with that doesn't involve making 4 trips build the render up is to do a thin render/ dricoat screed to seal n level a bit then dab a 3/8 board on. My question is whether I should mix some waterproofer in the dotting?? I'm not sure if it will affect the adhesion or not, its only a mtr sq patch. Cheers guys for any advice

Thanks HTH Gareth, im not looking to 'bodge' or cut corners, its customer time restraints that are limiting my options or would simply render as usual. My question is whether anyone knows if waterproofer will affect adhesion? ive had many plasterers ask me the same question before and have been unable to answer them. BG say is not advasable but do not give any reasons why. Im going to stick with slowly rendering this job but would still like to know if anyone has used waterproofer in dotting before and what the outcome was.

Thanks for a great answer John, just what I was wanting to know. Thanks to everyone who's answered, much appreciated

i have a 2 bed mid terraced house built approx 1900. I had the whole house replastered last august and then painted in october. Over the past couple of months hairline cracks are appearing everywhere on most of the walls(tho not all, not yet anyway) the cracks. are not in straight lines spread out haphazardly. Please dont tell me i have to get it all re-done!! Any ideas whats causing it?

Hello.
Ive moved into a rented house and have a large mirror to hang. On the wall it needs to go on i cant find any stud work to fix to. As far as i think its single plaster board with metal stud behind, hence why i cant find stud work. Please advise on best way and fixings to do this with.
Much apprieciated.
Matt

Hi, we've recently had the walls plastered in the kitchen, diner and a bedroom. When coming to fit the kitchen the walls are not straight, on asking the builder we've been told its our walls and they've only skimmed. If we've paid in excess of £1000 for the walls to be plastered and some bits of boxing in should the walls be straight? We're talking about 10-12mm difference where the worktop is being fitted to, a dip in the ceiling and uneven walls. Is that normal? Should we have got a straighter finish?

I was thinking just to plaster over artex ceilings in 4 bedrooms (2 small one and two medium size one) just for the sake of appearance. no damage to it.
I was advised to take off all the Artex and plaster. My house is clean with an oak floor downstairs which make me worry about the messy.
Do I really need to remove all the Artex ?
Thank you for your attention

Hi all - this is my first post...please be nice!

We're in the process of buying a property (1934 mid-terrace) and we want to have at least the lounge/diner walls plastered and the kitchen prior to moving in. The surveyor has noted that asbestos may be present in the ceilings and so we are going to have this tested to know for sure.

The ceilings are artexed throughout the property and I wondered what our options are - is it possible to plaster over artexed ceilings fairly easily?

Also, the kitchen ceiling has been subject to a leak from the bathroom above at some point, so there is a crack/line mark and some bowing - what are our options for this? If asbestos is present, what can be done with it then?

No idea of costs involved with any of the options (assuming there are choices) but as I'm no DIY-er really, it would be great to get some advice about what we could do to sort it out and have it nice for decorating.

Thanks in advance

If money is of no concern which is the best ceiling?

Lath and Plaster
or
Skimmed plasterboard

We recently had our whole house rendered over pebble dash, we had a few problems of crazy cracking on one wall which is south facing, the builder redone this wall again. Now 5 months down the line the rendering has started to crack again, we have tried filling them but more keep appearing. We are now deciding whether to remove the top coat put wire mesh on top of the scratchcoat (which was sound)and render over this. Do you think this will work?????

I want to get my house rendered, but i also need to replace some windows and redo the fascia/guttering. The later needs replacing on both flat roof and pitched roof sections of the house. Should the rendering be performed before or after fascia work and does it depend on the flat/pitch roof which goes first. Also i assume i should have windows done before rendering?
Thanks