12/11/2022 0 Comments Skim wallsAnd no doubt one of the things you fell in love with when you bought your house were those beautiful plaster walls that you probably thought just needed a little TLC. But skim coating walls will not cost the owner more than removing the plaster and putting up drywall, and skim coating preserves the existing woodwork and other details. If ceilings or re-creating fancy plaster details are part of the project, it can run into the tens of thousands of dollars. It can start at about the cost of an expensive paint job and go up from there. Because of that it is indeed an expensive job. It’s time consuming, messy, and requires a lot of skill. Original plaster walls over brick and repaired plaster moldings The result will be a wall that is smooth and new looking but with the underlying structural integrity so that the pesky cracks don’t just return in a matter of months. It is definitely a skill that is acquired from years of practice. The best plaster experts will do the layers with minimal to no sanding, to cut down on dust. Once the wall is prepared in this way so that the integrity of the plaster is strengthened, then the skim coat can go on in layers. Fiberglass mesh is applied and often something to glue it all together such as a layer of Plaster Weld. Loose plaster needs to be removed and cracks are opened. It’s not wrong and still requires skill, it just isn’t what was required for the walls we were repairing.įor cracking plaster that needs integrity restored, it’s a much more involved process. We found that the cheaper quotes used this technique. If your walls are cracking and pieces of plaster are coming off, putting another layer over them will very quickly suffer the same fate. It works great if your walls just need to be refreshed and the small dings covered. This can be done in multiple layers, preferably with as little sanding as possible, until the dings and holes are smoothed out and the wall is renewed. If the walls haven’t been repaired since they went up more than 100 years ago chances are they are due.įreshly skim coated walls and original plaster moldingĪ common way to skim coat walls is to cover them in a thin layer of joint compound or plaster and smooth out with a trowel. An experienced plaster worker can get a feel for the integrity of the wall with a simple tap, looking for the right bounce back of his finger and listening for a hollow sound. Or you might also see cracks forming or even plaster pieces cracking and flaking off. If you have plaster walls and ceilings you might have dings and holes after years of things bumping into them. Let’s start with why it might be necessary. How could one person quote $7,000 when someone else quotes $40,000 for the same line item that simply reads: “Skim coat walls”? It’s one of the items we have noticed varies widely in cost from different contractors and professionals. It’s important to understand the basics of the process when getting quotes. Seeing the eye popping cost of the process made us look into it further. We love how the walls look now after being skim coated
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |