View Full Version : polycell smoothover
hi
has anyone used this product? i have a wall that is in need of sorting out but i don't really want to justify the expense of a plasterer as it's not bad enough to warrant it.. i've read some reviews, some say it's good, some bad but they didn't say the context of what they were trying to achieve..
Fizzy Fish
12-04-06, 02:56 PM
I saw an ad for this the other day and was wondering the same. Anything to get out of forking out for some rip-off plasterer's quote!
I saw an ad for this the other day and was wondering the same. Anything to get out of forking out for some rip-off plasterer's quote!
I agree that plasterers do charge a lot.. But it's a skill that takes a while to perfect!
Bish-Bash-Bosh - Loadsamonnnneeyyyhttp://www.theratandmouse.co.uk/weblog/archives/loadsamoney.jpg
(Sorry not answered your question Gnan! :? ) I believe the stuff works very well!
If you're just filling cracks, you can use "normal" filler with a wallpaper scraper. I've seen plenty of plasterers use this themselves.
Can't really comment on this stuff, but did wonder how you would manage to get a flat surface with it?
454697819
12-04-06, 03:20 PM
i have used it and to repair minor damaged walls it works well, however, leave it a while to try otherwise it buggers up :)
timwilky
12-04-06, 04:24 PM
Gnan
i have a pet plasterer down your way. Culchetch to be exact, last time I used him about 3 years ago he charged me £80 a day plus materials. I can get his phone number for you if you are interested.
He does a damm good job. but a bit mucky as in does not clean up splashes etc.
hi tim, yes that would be great!
I iam n exactly the same position, 1 bathroom ceiling thats needs sorted and may try it out.
The other options for me is to go the stippled route (bit too permanent for my liking) or a wooden ceiling.
Will probably try out the smoothover once I get the rest of the house sorted - painting, tiling, kitchen etc. Bound to be fine, its all in the mix and the right tools and a wee bit of savvy of course.
kwak zzr
12-04-06, 05:08 PM
my cousin is a plasterer and he charges £130 a day :shock:
i used polycell base coat it covers minor cracks.
My living room ceiling looks like the icing on a Christmas cake....upside-down. What were the previous owners thinking?
lol discussing this at work today... advert must have had an impact on men of a certain age!
blokes in my office came to the conclusion that a plasterer would probably be better... or if you're smoothing artex maybe try and flatten it as much as possible first then it might be ok.
kwak zzr
12-04-06, 09:29 PM
steam artex off.
Sid Squid
12-04-06, 09:38 PM
Anything to get out of forking out for some rip-off plasterer's quote!
This is just plain unfair, why do people seem to begrudge paying a manual worker the sort of money that a 'professional person' would earn, if something takes skill it takes skill and a skilled person to do it. Why should that only be worth pennies?
A few years ago I quoted for a rewire on a house near where I live, the chap told me he felt it was expensive and asked for a breakdown of the costs, when it came to the labour charges and my daily rate he blurted out "but that's what I earn". Because I do a manual job and he's an accountant, he felt an hour of his time more worthy than an hour of mine.
I don't know if he wanted me to do the job or not, but I told him I didn't want it.
kwak zzr
12-04-06, 09:42 PM
anyone ever try'd plastering? i have and its bl@@dy hard! i cant do it, the stuff spends more time on the floor than the wall. :wink:
Sid Squid
12-04-06, 09:48 PM
Yes, I'm good at it.
But far too expensive of course.
Anything to get out of forking out for some rip-off plasterer's quote!
This is just plain unfair, why do people seem to begrudge paying a manual worker the sort of money that a 'professional person' would earn, if something takes skill it takes skill and a skilled person to do it. Why should that only be worth pennies?
It's because companies useally pay stupid ammounts for professional's time. i.e. im guessing 70 - 100 quid to count in the case of an accountant, and they get lax. turn up, collect pay cheque, go home.
Now if i need 3 days re-wireing work £100 a day would be fair if you have a good electrician. You will get a lot more work out of a good hardworking craftsman than you will out of a company lacky. Because they can get away with it.
Dan
anyone ever try'd plastering? i have and its bl@@dy hard! i cant do it, the stuff spends more time on the floor than the wall. :wink:
I had a mates mate do it for me.. (Plaster that is)! :)
He charged £300 CIH. (Don't tel Mr. Taxboy)!
He plastered all the stair wall and head wall.
He sand/cement scratch coated it Sat. Morning, 4 hours
And skimmed it Sunday 3 hours.
He done a bloody good job and made it look easy, but it's not! :o
I thought 300 notes for what he done was superb.
....And that was me mixing up the sand and 'dust' for him! :? (Mixer not by hand)!
I'll do anything DIY, but plastering
All manual jobs have an element of high skill in them and I concur with Sid Squid. If you can do a job and do it well, someone should pay!
If 'you' were the plasterer, you'd be asking the same ........ :wink:
Fizzy Fish
13-04-06, 12:12 PM
Anything to get out of forking out for some rip-off plasterer's quote!
This is just plain unfair, why do people seem to begrudge paying a manual worker the sort of money that a 'professional person' would earn, if something takes skill it takes skill and a skilled person to do it. Why should that only be worth pennies?
A few years ago I quoted for a rewire on a house near where I live, the chap told me he felt it was expensive and asked for a breakdown of the costs, when it came to the labour charges and my daily rate he blurted out "but that's what I earn". Because I do a manual job and he's an accountant, he felt an hour of his time more worthy than an hour of mine.
I don't know if he wanted me to do the job or not, but I told him I didn't want it.
If it's any consolation I begrudge paying 'professionals' such as solicitors too!
Seriously, I don't mind paying someone a fair rate but you haven't seen the amounts that some people have tried to quote us for various bits of work on the house.
Like £3500 to rewire a 3 bed house with us supplying everything required :shock: he was suggesting it being 4 days work for him + 1 other = c.£440 each per day! If that wasn't him trying to rip us off, how come other people have quoted more like £2500 for the same job?
timwilky
13-04-06, 01:06 PM
A fair wage, for a fair days work.
A few years ago, my father was appearing as a professional witness. However, the case was settled out of court and the two sides only needed to appear before the court to agree costs.
The other sides Barristers objected to my fathers professional fees on the basis of "Thats more than I earn". When my father was asked to justify his costs he said. "Perhaps the learned gentleman is in the wrong profession".
However, he then brought to the courts attention that he had spent over 40 hours on research prior to appearing, provided 4 reports, spent 4 hours waiting to appear and in addition to his own salary, he had to also pay the salary of 3 staff, plus office costs etc. Whereas the barrister who raised the objection had simply picked up the brief, read it, and agreed an out of court settlement as the least cost option. So please when talking about professional fees remember that whilst you may think you are simply paying for 1 man, remember that there may be a back office labouring away that requires this one man to earn sufficient to pay all of them
I only employ two tradesman. Plasterers and Gas Technicians, anything else I can do myself. I plaster so infrequently that it takes me longer to get back into the swing of things that I can get one of a few mates in to do the work quicker, neater, and better than I can do for the price of a day. Gas. I won't touch full stop.
I once had call to request a quotation from a roof tiler. after the first intake of breath I went out, bought a couple of battens, roll of felt and 4 tiles to replaced the damaged ones, and 4 hour later I had done the £500 job for less than tenner.
Red ones
13-04-06, 01:49 PM
steam artex off.
So long as you are sure it doesn't contain Asbestos!
Jelster
13-04-06, 02:22 PM
Tradesman or professional, if you can't do it, and need it done, then you have to pay the going rate....
I'm unlucky enough to be absolutely useless with anything DIY related, but I'm also luck enogh to be surrounded by friends & family who are not :lol:
My DIY generally results in GSI.
(GSI - Get Someone In)
.
kwak zzr
13-04-06, 05:40 PM
steam artex off.
So long as you are sure it doesn't contain Asbestos!
thats why you steam it off, the wet stops the dust.
Fizzy Fish
13-04-06, 09:48 PM
Tradesman or professional, if you can't do it, and need it done, then you have to pay the going rate....
.
Exactly, and I'm the first to admit that. I pay a damn good mechanic to take care of my bike, and we had some decent plumbers in who were worth the higher price in terms of professionalism and the job done.
However despite the many good apples, there are also tradesmen around who try and take advantage of people who don't always know enough to know if they're being charged a fair price. Maybe it doesn't happen to you because you know what you're doing. And I've had 5 people in the last year mess me around when I've taken time off work by not turning up when they say they will. So please forgive me if I'm a bit wary! I don't mean any personal offence to anyone here
Sid Squid
14-04-06, 11:19 AM
However despite the many good apples, there are also tradesmen around who try and take advantage of people who don't always know enough to know if they're being charged a fair price.
No offence taken, but why single out the building industry? This is as true of any industry as it is of builders/trades. There are far far more cowboy customers than there have ever been cowboy builders. I think that society in general has a downer on the building industry because it's manual work - however skilled - as such it's always been seen as in some way 'lesser' than those jobs considered 'professional', which is an offensive distinction at best.
'Professional' people do far better rip offs than the trades do, perhaps they're not so easy to spot though.
Fizzy Fish
14-04-06, 05:07 PM
However despite the many good apples, there are also tradesmen around who try and take advantage of people who don't always know enough to know if they're being charged a fair price.
No offence taken, but why single out the building industry? This is as true of any industry as it is of builders/trades. There are far far more cowboy customers than there have ever been cowboy builders. I think that society in general has a downer on the building industry because it's manual work - however skilled - as such it's always been seen as in some way 'lesser' than those jobs considered 'professional', which is an offensive distinction at best.
'Professional' people do far better rip offs than the trades do, perhaps they're not so easy to spot though.
Actually I totally agree with you about the fact that there are other areas where you can get stung, but the building industry is top of mind for me at the moment as we've a lot of work to do on our house, and that was the theme of the thread.
At the end of the day I'm happy to pay for a job well done and respect the skill of others to do stuff that I can't. I personally don't consider skilled trades to be any less than any other skilled/qualified occupation (although I realise some people might do), and TBH from some of the quotes they certainly seem to earn a damn sight more that I do, so I guess the laugh's on me!!
fizzwheel
14-04-06, 06:27 PM
However despite the many good apples, there are also tradesmen around who try and take advantage of people who don't always know enough to know if they're being charged a fair price.
No offence taken, but why single out the building industry? This is as true of any industry as it is of builders/trades. There are far far more cowboy customers than there have ever been cowboy builders. I think that society in general has a downer on the building industry because it's manual work - however skilled - as such it's always been seen as in some way 'lesser' than those jobs considered 'professional', which is an offensive distinction at best.
'Professional' people do far better rip offs than the trades do, perhaps they're not so easy to spot though.
I totally agree with you Mr Squid. My dad is a builder and a damn good one. Trouble is that theres lots of programmes on TV that highlight builders who do rubbish work and then rip off customers. Therefore everybody know thinks that all builders are the same.
I've watched my dad lay bricks and do plastering. He makes it look both effortless and easy. But its not. I'm lucky he does the odd thing for me and doesnt charge me. However I've seen what he does charge and its a fair wage for a fair days work. Often he'll quote on a job and then gets beaten by another firm on price. Then the customer will phone him up and complain that the other building firm have made a right lash up of it and then he goes and puts it right. So they end up paying twice for the same piece of work.
Dad says that theres no youngsters coming along to learn the trade properly as he did when he started. The cant even build a corner wall and cant do the basic stuff. He says he thinks in a few years time the building industry will go through a complete skills shortage and a good bricklayer who has skills will be able to earn a premium wage.
He doesnt advertise and gets all his work by word of mouth recommendation. He just before christmas had 6 months work of work waiting on his books. He is 65 today and is trying to wind down the business to retire but the phone still rings and he's now turning away work.
The moral of this story. Find a good builder and pay him what he asks you.
As for Artex containing asbestos. I doubt it very much. I would have thought steaming it off is going to leave you with a wet mucky mess. But I dont know what to suggest. Probably get a good plasterer to skim it over for you would be best. Depends what you are doing with it afterwards ? are you papering it or painting it ?
The moral of this story. Find a good builder and pay him what he asks you.
the problem is, you think you've found a good one and they turn out to be ****
i spent 18,000 quid with one guy doing a variety of major jobs, he came highly recommended by a few people, turned out to be a shoddy, cut-corners idiot who i had to get back in several times because he hadn't done the work (like for example i wanted all new copper piping, he simply replaced the pipes i could see and hoped i wouldn't look at the others, this was one of many problems which he wasn't interested in once he had the money)
it is no wonder people think they're all the same.. i am trying to find another one to do another job for me at the moment (some ground work) and to be honest half the people i have phoned i don't trust just from their phone manner! as yet i have phoned 8 people and not a single one has called back (since monday last)
kwak zzr
14-04-06, 09:14 PM
half the problem is just to get a tradesman through you front door! let alone do the job! half the time they dont seem intrested.
timwilky
15-04-06, 06:52 AM
The moral of this story. Find a good builder and pay him what he asks you.
the problem is, you think you've found a good one and they turn out to be sh*t
i spent 18,000 quid with one guy doing a variety of major jobs, he came highly recommended by a few people, turned out to be a shoddy, cut-corners idiot who i had to get back in several times because he hadn't done the work (like for example i wanted all new copper piping, he simply replaced the pipes i could see and hoped i wouldn't look at the others, this was one of many problems which he wasn't interested in once he had the money)
it is no wonder people think they're all the same.. i am trying to find another one to do another job for me at the moment (some ground work) and to be honest half the people i have phoned i don't trust just from their phone manner! as yet i have phoned 8 people and not a single one has called back (since monday last)
gnan
Should see my mate over the road this morning who had got Phil the plasterers number. I will PM it as soon as I get it.
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