Please help, in the past I've had two ceilings plastered to a smooth finish over artex without any problems, recently I decided to have the same done with my lounge, my original plasterer was too busy so I chose someone else who was city and guilds trained, he had also done some satisfactory work for some neighbours, so I felt confident. The job has been a nightmare, he firstly bonded the ceiling with some thick stuff and painted on two coats of PVA glue, the next day he started plastering and the plaster just bubbled and he couldn't get a smooth surface, he let it day out for a few days and had to then sand the ceiling to try and get it smooth, two coats of paint were put on straight after the other, he assured me that was ok, I paid up and convinced myself that it didn't look too bad in the day light. Not long after he left bad cracks appeared, I called him back and quite a large patch with thick bonding and plaster came down, he re bonded and re plastered the patch, after it all dried it needed sanding and painting which I did as I just wanted my room back to normal BUT then the paint on the new patch blistered, I bought the exact paint that was originally used as it goes straight onto new plaster, for two days all I did was sand and paint until I got to a point where it looked absolutely awful and the new patch didn't blend into the existing plastering at all. My questions are, Can the whole ceiling be re skimmed to a smooth even finish? Should I be worried that other parts of the ceiling might fall down? The weight of what fell down the last time would have seriously hurt someone. I've been left with an uneven patchy ceiling which I'm worried might even be dangerous???
Are you a tradesperson and able to answer this question?
no need for any bonding that's why its fell down the weight,artex should be skimmed with a standard 2 coat multifinish,depending on the thickness of your artex it might need this plus same again seen as skim is only apllied in mm's,you may now need to overboard and replaster,ive never known any one to use bonding on a ceiling.
Answered24 February 2015
16
Anonymous user
He was better to pva it and plaster it again rather than sand it get it right i had it ounce it was like orange peals its never happened again refina plastic trowels good invention
This can be the case with some artex ceilings the ideal is to take them down put up new plaster boards and skim them. Although this is more costly it then becomes more about cost vs doing it the best way
Answered26 February 2015
8
Anonymous user
Hi sue
The ceiling should have been Pva coated first of all , one coat left to dry completely and then a tack coat before plaster applied !
The bonding coat has not adhered to the
Artex and will not stay . If you have coving then over boarding is not really an option
Because you would have to remove and then refit the coving . You will probably find the plaster and bonding coat will let go of the ceiling quite easily if scraped and you should insist that this city and guilds qualified plasterer either re does the job properly or reimburses the money you have paid him ! As for the paint , new plaster requires a mist coat . This is a watered down coat of emulsion that is sucked in and seals the surface ready for further coats !
I hope this helps.good luck
Regards.Nat.
Answered24 February 2015
5
Anonymous user
1) The thickness of the Artex is critical. I did job only last week where Artex on walls was sticking out half an inch, ie. more than 10 mm. It is possible to put 10mm of bonding on a wall, but I didn't, I scraped back. My ceilings were not so 'sticky out' and so a scrape and a coat of bonding did the trick. Not a 10 mm coat...Or even thicker like our "city and guilds" chancer. I used Blue Grit on walls, but PVA was ok for the ceilings. You have to use what is needed. As far as "two coats of multifinish" is concerned, this is ok for Artex which is not too proud but I use bonding 90 percent of the time. One thing your man did wrong was: he failed to realize that the bonding In this case did NOT need PVA. He killed the suction stone dead, thus leading to bubbling..
The job in question is a nightmare. Putting more plaster on is a definite non-starter( Weight). Hacking off has to be a comedy, taking you back to square one. This leaves boarding over as the SAFEST way forward. As far as coving is concerned, biting the bullet is still the safest,
Answered20 December 2025
5
Anonymous user
Your plasterer would have been better using thistle bond it or blue grit instead of pva. Also was the artex underneath still intact when the new plaster came down in some cases the artex itself could have lost its bond.
Answered19 November 2015
3
Anonymous user
Unfortunatley it sounds like you need to have the whole ceiling removed, re boarded and plastered. Just skimming again over the top is going to add more weight and as you say it's dangerous as it is. If the bonding is falling now then it's only going to keep falling. The plasterer should have scraped back the artex first, there wouldn't have been any need for bonding to the extent he has used, and you wouldn't be experiencing this problem. Hope that helps.
