The Lemon Fool

Morning all.

One of our lounge walls used to be the outside wall until a garage extension was added by the previous owners. This wall had an outside window that was blocked up when the garage was built onto it, however, there is a very slight outline that you can see around this old window when the light hits the wall and this is annoying me, and more importantly, Mrs OLTB.

Does anyone know if I will need to re-plaster the whole wall, or is there a way of using some sort of filler to 'feather in' this very slight bulge with the rest of the wall? If there is, what sort of filler would I need?

Many thanks in advance and it shouldn't take too long to do if this is the case (apart from sanding down and painting afterwards).

Cheers, OLTB.

Difficult to say without seeing the wall and the "lip" in question but my guess is that you'd need to skim the whole wall.

John

I’d suggest you get the whole wall skimmed. Unless it has particularly awkward features or wallpaper etc. you’d be surprised just how quickly and cheaply an experienced plasterer can cover a plain wall. Bodging some sort of local patch will always show through.

As above. You might be able to get the wall looking passable if the lighting is coming solely from the right direction (straight ahead), but the first hint of an oblique light would make it show, and you'd kick yourself for ever more that you hadn't done it properly. Try it with a torch or a laser pointer, and you'll see.

I think you're saying that the window is over-flush, rather than under-flush. My plasterer would probably reckon a short morning for a quick job like that - of which an hour would be spent reading the Daily Mirror. He'd still do a better job than I could manage in a month. Nuff said.

But don't skimp on the workman because it's a small job - we've had some frighteningly unconvincing cheap pitches from odd-job men, one of whom appeared to have only one eye. (Not good for the necessary binocular vision. ...)

BJ

bungeejumper wrote:But don't skimp on the workman because it's a small job - we've had some frighteningly unconvincing cheap pitches

Agreed, find a good one and hold onto him/her.

After a few so-so experiences with plasterers, our joiner subbed a job to his tame plasterer who did a great job. Grabbed his number and we've just had him back to skim four walls in two bedrooms. £240 and less than a day's work, can't argue with that.

Scott.

Now youve noticed the imperfection you will be looking for it. Feathering it out is unlikely to remedy the problem if you have a 'sensitive' eye.

If the problem is a recess you could try filling it. Some very fine filler and a very straight stick across the high points could work. Follow wit a light sanding and maybe a second coat could sort it. From your post it does sound like you are dealing with a bulge in which case forget that solution. You could try some heavy gauge lining paper. Only you know how bad the bulge is, if it is only slight the lining paper could be enough to break up the outline.

Personally I'd be tempted to skim it. Depending on the current surface you might need a plastering stabilising primer first. Insist on the plasterer using it if you are going over paint. PVA isn't adequate. A single set over 1 flat wall is an easy mornings work for a plasterer.

The commentby bungeejumper about his plasterer spending an hour reading the paper made me smile. Half the skill in plastering is timing, you have to wait for the first coat to go rubbery before you can apply the 2nd coat and then the second coat needs to go rubbery before you can trowel it up. As a plasterer you would normally spread several walls in one set which takes up enough time to let you go straight on with the second coat. If there's only one wall reading the paper is about as good a way to spend the down time as any other

The big problem at the moment is trying to find a decent plasterer. In this area you might need to wait a couple of months to get the job done. They are booked up with work. If you know a builder who uses a sub contract plasterer he might be able to get you pushed up the queue if he calls in a favour.

Wallpaper......

Or hang a rug over it.

https://jenningsrugs.co.uk/

V8