DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

please help (sorry for the length of this one)! I had new plasterboard in lounge skimmed and cracks appeared down the lines where boards met. Plasterer returned and filled cracks but the basecoat (applied as instructed) gave a different (patchy) finish over the filler to the rest of the plaster. He returned and went over the filler with artex (why??) and this is still giving a very uneven finish - the artex stays flat while the plaster has the usual textured rollered finish. I've now tried a paintbrush and paint pad - total of 7 coats of paint - and surface still looks uneven and very patchy. He is now saying it's the way we are painting but how come it's only over the patches that he has used different material that this is happening? I am at the end of my tether as this has taken 3 months so far - should I cut my losses and get lining paper put up?

one possible reason for cracks down plasterboard joints is the plasterer didn't use scrim tape on the joints. scrim holds the plaster in the joint making it invisable. as for the use of artex they used this as a filler because it hardly ever cracks. i'd start by asking how he covered the joints prior to plastering no scrim and he didn't do it correctly. hope this helps.

with regard to the different textured surfaces of the paint - nothing to do with the way its painted its because paint behaves differently on different substrates its as simple as that. on some surfaces the paint will soak in more, giving a flatter appearance. on others it will tend to float on the surface more, giving the textured look. check that your plasterer taped the joints. another possibility is that he didnt fix the edges to the joists properly, not enough fixing points or even that the joins are not sitting over joists at all - ive seen that done before. if you are not happy, get him back - tape over the cracks and skim it all again if necessary.