I had my bedroom plastered the other day. When I went up after work to see how the plasterer did, I noticed lots of areas where the mesh tape I used is showing through the skim finish. I can see the mesh design through the plaster and also where the mesh tape has frayed and the frayed bits are sticking out quite obviously, it looks like patchwork. I really don't know how he expected me to paint this wall to make it look nice. To me, if he had problems with certain mesh taped areas, why not just pull it off when the plaster was wet and skim over the area, why leave it like that?
Also in the corners of the ceiling the edges seem very rough where there is 1mm/2mm of excess plaster. The plasterer said to me he would come back to sand down. In some areas I am sure I can see the actual plasterboard so there seems to be a very thin coat of skim. I wanted some advice on how to fix these areas where I can see the tape and the frayed bits. The plasterer also left leaving great dollops of plaster which had fallen of his trowel and hit the new skimmed wall. I managed to scrap this off using a scraper, after he left.
The plasterer told me not to put mesh tape over the screw heads as it make it hard to skim over but I did the same in the other bedroom, and a different plasterer didn't seem to have an issue with it and that room is spot on; I could not get hold of the original plasterer, wish I could. I think the problem comes from not leaving the first coat on long enough then scraping too much off when he was polishing the wall.
I have spent allot of time preparing this room and really want a good finish. I can't help but feel let down and that the finish I hope for has gone. I don't know whether to have him back to sort out for fear of making it worse, nor do I want to fall out with anybody.
I think maybe, I pull off the mesh tape where I can see it and mix up some filler and slightly sand back, as for the frayed edges, use a sharpe knife, cut the tails off and fill the cut mark using filler. I don't want to use standard sand paper as it will leave grain marks in the skim, this is what the plasterer said he would use. I know plaster is very easy to mark, so what grade paper should I use.
Is it recommended to put the mesh tape over screws? I did it because I wanted to real good finish and I have spent allot of time making sure the plasterboarding is perfect. The top plasterer in my area said to do so, unfortunatley I could not afford his quote. I cut little bits for each screw and stuck them firmly to the wall. If skim is to a depth of 2mm, you should not be able to see any tape??
