Replastering interior walls?

O

omnom

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House I bought has disgusting plaster work, it's difficult to see in photos but imagine Freddy Kruger running his fingers down the wall in random inconsistent patches, and then redoing the work in random places:

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I want all the interior walls of the house smooth. Like a normal, sane house. I had a 'guy' in to take a look. He reckons he can use PlasterKey over the paint and replaster. I'm skeptical that approach will last, and I'm guessing it'll look **** near window and door frames. He also said he can chip the existing plaster off and replaster the walls freshly. He said that so long as the walls are brick it'll be fairly straightforward to do, and proposes to do a test room to see if I'm happy.

1. What do I need to know about embarking on such an endeavour? I'm already nervous he proposed PlasterKey - was that indeed a straight-up bad idea or was I just being paranoid?

2. What questions should I ask - alternatively, anybody got somebody they can recommend in the Johannesburg Bramley-area for a job like this? 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, play + living + dining room + reception + bar. Anybody have an idea of indicative labour costs?

3. He's asking R170 per guy on his team per day. I'm worried if I pay per day they could drag things out. But I'm not sure a fixed cost is a wise idea either. Thoughts?
 
omnom said:
3. He's asking R170 per guy on his team per day. I'm worried if I pay per day they could drag things out. But I'm not sure a fixed cost is a wise idea either. Thoughts?
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Does that include material and removing the rubble?
 
Drake2007 said:
Does that include material and removing the rubble?
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Nope that's just labour; materials and cleanup are baseline costs as I figure those are not really a negotiable? I saw a dude on 4x4 forums quoting R288/m^2 all inclusive and that was last year -- for one bedroom (4.21m x 3m with large window + door frame x 2.4m high) that'd run to 7.5k ZAR; that's really the only baseline I have.
 
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I would hit that with a wire brush disk then polly fill mixed with paint and finally an orbital sander .
 
FNfal said:
I would hit that with a wire brush disk then polly fill mixed with paint and finally an orbital sander .
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Maybe get mechanical paint strippers as said then plasterkey and rhinolite will give a smooth finish.
Re-plastering all of that house would be a waste, why not pick on the walls that are bad and where someone has chased new plugs and plumbing etc.
 
If you are going to re-plaster you will have to remove the cornice and skirtings too. It could end up costing a lot more than you bargained for.
There is also the risk of damaging your floors.

Rather go for a product that you can sand smooth like the other posters mentioned. :)
 
omnom said:
House I bought has disgusting plaster work, it's difficult to see in photos but imagine Freddy Kruger running his fingers down the wall in random inconsistent patches, and then redoing the work in random places:

Snip...
Click to expand...

Subscribed!

It's like you are in my house and my head.

I get so jealous of people with smooth walls...lol.

I have similar walls but mine are thicker lines coming down.

PITA of note!

Hope you get sorted but when I priced it, it was going to be expensive and incredibly dusty.
 
Drake2007 said:
Maybe get mechanical paint strippers as said then plasterkey and rhinolite will give a smooth finish.
Re-plastering all of that house would be a waste, why not pick on the walls that are bad and where someone has chased new plugs and plumbing etc.
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That's a lot of the problem, you can see where plumbing was done as the other side of the wall has a real mess.

My concern was that PlasterKey won't last the 10-15 years one would want?
 
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As you can see in the photo, plastering and painting is pretty easy.
 

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You could go with chemical or grit stripping to get all the paint off, but its spendy. Cost wise I would get a couple of slag hammers and scrapers and two or three guys to scrape and chip as much as possible. The more exposed plaster the better the new plaster/rhinolite will bond.

Also along with your skirtings and cornices you also need to make sure that your plugs and any openings aren't affected. 10mm doesn't sound like much. It becomes the world however when you need to move furniture or some such...
 
Saksmeer?

You take a cement\sand slurry and smeer it on with a cement bag.
 
Moved in the an old house a year ago had the builder rhinolite the walls before plastering. Smooth as a baby's bottom no issues so far
 
Also had terrible textured walls in my apartment. Had them all plasterkey'd and Rhinolited on top of the existing paint and no issues at all 18 months later. This was done as part of a complete renovation of my apartment.

Price wise it was quite expensive, approx. R22k for 85m² of floor space (2 bedrooms, lounge, kitchen and passage) for labour, materials and clean-up but honestly, it was worth every cent.
 
I am in the same boat as you. My house is around the same size (1 more bedroom). My walls don't have any vertical lines, but have small holes all over them. I cannot fathom why someone did that. On top of that, I have super high ceilings all over the house, so that pretty much doubles the m2 that I have to smooth out.

Please keep us updated as to how this progresses.

omnom said:
3. He's asking R170 per guy on his team per day. I'm worried if I pay per day they could drag things out. But I'm not sure a fixed cost is a wise idea either. Thoughts?
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Get an all in cost, and stick to that price. It helps from a budgeting perspective and to make sure you don't get messed around. I did the buy my own materials and pay daily approach, and I regretted it halfway through. Also, arrange payment on milestones. For instance, 50% upfront, 40% on completion of work, and final 10% on removal of rubble.
 
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