Bad plastering = bumpy wall. :)

[Copplepot]

It looks fine with the neons off but when they're on, every little bump shows up. I tried some plastering skim (Polyfiller) but no luck. I used too much plaster in some places & as you know, it's a b*tch to sand down layers for what i need.

What cheap solution would you say? An electric sander?

Cheers.

[Bobdk]

Hi,

It will be very difficult, if not impossible, to get the wall as flat as you want it to be. Have you considered fitting a sheet of plasterboard and painting that? You could style it like a large wall panel with a wooden surround (a bit like a picture frame). I suppose it depends on how big a screen you want? You could get a plasterer in to skim the wall? That might improve things. Obviously a screen would be the best solution but not the cheapest.

[Copplepot]

Originally Posted by Bobdk

Hi,

It will be very difficult, if not impossible, to get the wall as flat as you want it to be. Have you considered fitting a sheet of plasterboard and painting that? You could style it like a large wall panel with a wooden surround (a bit like a picture frame). I suppose it depends on how big a screen you want? You could get a plasterer in to skim the wall? That might improve things. Obviously a screen would be the best solution but not the cheapest.

Thanks for the reply, don't really want to spend much really.

What about a really thin material that i can put across the lower part of the wall & then paint? What materials are there for that? maybe a cm of less, thick.

[RichardK]

Originally Posted by Copplepot

Thanks for the reply, don't really want to spend much really.

What about a really thin material that i can put across the lower part of the wall & then paint? What materials are there for that? maybe a cm of less, thick.

A couple of layers of heavy grade lining paper may hide the bumps.

[x1nick]

Try smoothover and a electric sander, worked really well on some of our walls round the house.

[wese007]

i dont think heavy grade lining paper will hide,it will just look the same imho,to much there to cover,is it the whole wall,or just that area as in the pic,looks like it protudes quite a bit.

is it no a option to take it of,and just repair the area in question?thats waht i would do if a customer asked me to fix it,but its hard to judge the problem by just looking at that pic

[Copplepot]

Basically i've laid cables behind the wall, so there's a 4" or so width gap going all the way down to put the cables in, i 'tried' to plaster over the gap & paint it but can't seem to get it right & it ends up bumpy like the photo.

I'll probably try Nicks method first with an electric sander & smoothover.

[wese007]

is hard work sanding it down,the paint will clog the sandpaper real quick so get plenty,will take you ages to do it,and will be very dusty,

did you use a long straight edge to make it level with surrounding wall?may of helped you,

also dont play with the plaster to much,should be done in stages,

i think,and im guessing here,you may of applied to much,and troweled over it quite a few times,if so,you will just move the plaster about,in lumps,


dont try and get it perfect straight after applying it,put it on level as you can get,let it go off a bit then work it to get flat,

hard to explain,but with plastering,its technique,so easy for people unsure to make mistakes,see how you get on with the sander,drop us a pm anytime if you get real stuck,

[Copplepot]

Originally Posted by wese007

is hard work sanding it down,the paint will clog the sandpaper real quick so get plenty,will take you ages to do it,and will be very dusty,

did you use a long straight edge to make it level with surrounding wall?may of helped you,

also dont play with the plaster to much,should be done in stages,

i think,and im guessing here,you may of applied to much,and troweled over it quite a few times,if so,you will just move the plaster about,in lumps,


dont try and get it perfect straight after applying it,put it on level as you can get,let it go off a bit then work it to get flat,

hard to explain,but with plastering,its technique,so easy for people unsure to make mistakes,see how you get on with the sander,drop us a pm anytime if you get real stuck,

Hi mate,

All i found when manually sanding down was that it was just smoothing it down, barley taking off layers that i needed. That's exactly what i was doing, trailing too much & then adding more plaster when i saw gaps, when i tried to smooth it down it just fell off so i added more.

Thanks for the help tho, here's a few photos of before it was painted so you get the idea.

[RichardK]

The original picture made the bumpy area look much bigger.

For smoothing small areas I use a pro scraper.
Like this one: http://www.screwfix.com/prods/16530/...y-Duty-Scraper

[wese007]

it looks like the trunking is a bit close to the surface of the wall,

i would have it a bit deeper than that,also nothing really likes sticky to plaster,

if i was you,saving the hassle of sanding,buying other tools,than maybe finding out it wont work,start again bud,alot easier,


step 1 hack of the plaster you put on,

2 put the trunking so it sits around 5mm below wall surface

3 rub the trunking with a rough grade sandpaper,this will help filler to key to it,grade 80 from car accesories shop is good stuff,suff that is used for rubbing car filler down,normal sandpaper/glasspaper does not last long.

3 cover the chased out area and trunking with pva glue, wood glue is the same thing,a small bottle will do you,let the glue compleatly dry.


4 fill the area with filler,just pround of the wall surface,sand down once its gone hard,

5 if you paint the filler it will show any inperfections,just fill em in again with filler,and sand down with fine grade sand paper,

plaster is hard to sand down,and i personally think you will do a better job using a filler,


is the trunking fixed to the wall,you dont want to disturb it if you ever move it, maybe when you play around with the cables,you may disturb the filler and be left with cracks,use something like forget nails to hold it good to the wall,again,rub it down to help the forget nails to stick to it

hope thats some help to you,

[Copplepot]

Originally Posted by wese007

it looks like the trunking is a bit close to the surface of the wall,

i would have it a bit deeper than that,also nothing really likes sticky to plaster,

if i was you,saving the hassle of sanding,buying other tools,than maybe finding out it wont work,start again bud,alot easier,


step 1 hack of the plaster you put on,

2 put the trunking so it sits around 5mm below wall surface

3 rub the trunking with a rough grade sandpaper,this will help filler to key to it,grade 80 from car accesories shop is good stuff,suff that is used for rubbing car filler down,normal sandpaper/glasspaper does not last long.

3 cover the chased out area and trunking with pva glue, wood glue is the same thing,a small bottle will do you,let the glue compleatly dry.


4 fill the area with filler,just pround of the wall surface,sand down once its gone hard,

5 if you paint the filler it will show any inperfections,just fill em in again with filler,and sand down with fine grade sand paper,

plaster is hard to sand down,and i personally think you will do a better job using a filler,


is the trunking fixed to the wall,you dont want to disturb it if you ever move it, maybe when you play around with the cables,you may disturb the filler and be left with cracks,use something like forget nails to hold it good to the wall,again,rub it down to help the forget nails to stick to it

hope thats some help to you,

Brilliant! I'll use this method & now i think of it, why didn't i just use filler for a small job like this.

What is the best filler to use, are you talking about stuff like smoothover/plastering skim or is filler something completely different?
& what do you use to add the filler in the wall as usually you get only a little spachelor or your told to use a paint brush.

The trunking sits tightly in the wall so that's not a problem but i can't make it go any further back as it's a brick wall directly behind.

Really not looking forward to removing the excess plaster from the wall tho.

[wese007]

theres loads of filler on the market,had a quick search,this one would do the job im sure

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/na...&isSearch=true

these kinda fillers can take a while to go hard,compared to plaster,i would do it in say 2-3 layers,these are air drying products,so alot of filler would take a bit cure,

just get a cheap wall paper scaper to apply it on,just get one that is wider than the channel you have chased out the wall.

your last coat wants to be just slighty pround of your wall,once its gone hard and ready for sanding,then just sand level with the excisting wall,

wrap the sanpaper in a sanding block,so you are sanding with a flat surface,instead of using your hands,you can get some cheap sanding cork blocks from various diy stores,


like most things that invole a good finish,preparation is the key,best not to put not to much filler on rather than a small quantity,easy to apply more after rather than sanding more off

[Bacus]

To be honest with you i would PVA and skim the full wall. For 1 i would say it will be quicker and it will look good and uniformed all over. I know you said you dont want to spend much money but all your doing is throwing more and more money at it right now i.e. sandpaper, power tools hiring/buying, filler and not forgetting time !!

If you got some PVA and sealed the wall with that then got a plasterer in i am sure it would not cost the earth mate !!

As a plasterer myself i normally price a days work at between £200/£240 + materials, but thats for a full day.

A wall like yours would be be almost done by the time you have asked the plasterer if he wants another cup of tea to wash the cake down

Regards Bacus

[wese007]

Bacus i see what you are saying bud,but if the whole wall is sound then why do the whole wall,i mean a tenner would cover,scarper,filler and sandpaper+ block,

compared to the price of paying to skim the whole wall,then he will have to paint the whole wall with watered downed paint ,or new plaster paint,then paint the whole wall with the colour of choice,

then theres the worry of getting a good plasterer,not these one week course guys lol,and he wont know hes got a good finish till its painted,so more money down the drain,money on plasterer,paint,time, if its a rubbish finish

i know a plaster who's done it for more than 20 years,ive seen his work and can tell you its not that good,his finish is not flat,so even a guy who has done it for a long time may mean nothing

if you do get it re skimmed Copplepot,try and get someone recomened to you,and even better if you can see the work they did at say a friends house,

and im sure if he does not get it 100 per cent perfect,the tele will cover half the repaired area, and im sure you will get a better finish the second time round

i would rather try do it myself for a tenner before paying a plasterer,i mean what are sundays for,diy and cutting grass lol

Copplepot if youwhere near to me,i would be more than happy to help a fellow member,thats what half the forumn is about,alot of guys on here help us all a great deal,i know hardly nothing about the stuff on here,but can plaster lol

either way you do it bud,hope you sort it,hopefully the cheap way,then the money saved could go on more av stuff