Plaster Skimming in Co. Tipperary
1 business offering plaster skimming across Co. Tipperary.
Skimming is a thin finish coat, usually two passes of finish plaster trowelled up ready for paint. It is a finish, not a repair, and that distinction explains most disappointment with it. A skim follows whatever is underneath: a wall that is out of plumb stays out of plumb, and a bulge in the background is still a bulge afterwards, just a smoother one. Making a wall genuinely flat means dubbing out or floating it with a backing coat first, or dry lining over it, and that is a different job.
The background decides the method. Fresh plasterboard is skimmed directly once the joints are scrimmed. Bare blockwork needs a backing coat before any finish goes near it. Old plaster that is sound but tired can be skimmed over, but only after it has been tapped for hollowness, since skimming over plaster that has lost its key just adds weight to something already letting go. Suction is the other variable: a dry, thirsty background pulls water out of the plaster before it can be worked, so it is sealed or damped down first.
Then it has to dry, and in an Irish winter that takes longer than people expect. Fresh plaster goes from dark brown to an even pale pink as it dries out, and painting before that change is complete traps moisture behind the film and lifts it off later. The first coat should be a thinned mist coat so it soaks in rather than sitting on the surface. Ventilation helps and direct heat does not, because forcing it dry too fast causes cracking. Cost follows the area, whether ceilings are included, the state of the background, and how much protection and making good the room needs.
Plaster Skimming in Co. Tipperary
Common questions
Will skimming make my uneven wall flat?
Not on its own. A skim is a thin finish coat that follows the shape of what is behind it, so a wall that leans or bulges will still lean or bulge, with a better surface. Genuinely straightening a wall means dubbing out and floating with a backing coat, or dry lining over it on battens or adhesive. Ask which of the three is being quoted, because they are not interchangeable.
How long before I can paint new plaster?
Until it has dried right through, which is judged by colour rather than by the calendar: fresh plaster goes from dark to an even pale shade with no darker patches left, including in corners and behind where furniture will sit. Cold, damp weather and poor ventilation stretch it out considerably. Painting too early seals moisture in and the paint peels, so this is the one part of the job worth waiting on.
Do I need a mist coat first?
Yes. New plaster is porous and pulls the water straight out of ordinary emulsion, which then sits on the surface without bonding and can be peeled off in sheets later. A mist coat is emulsion thinned with water so it soaks in and gives the following coats something to grip. Skipping it is one of the most common causes of paint failing on a newly plastered wall.
My walls keep cracking after plastering. Why?
Fine hairline cracking often comes from the plaster drying too quickly, typically where heat was put on the room straight away. Cracks that reappear in the same place along a line, especially at a board joint or where an old opening was closed up, are movement in the background rather than a plastering fault, and reskimming will only hide them briefly. Where damp is involved, the damp has to be dealt with first or the new plaster will fail the same way the old one did.
Looking more broadly? Browse all plasterers in Co. Tipperary.