# Repair to level 5



## Mr. Mud Man (Oct 9, 2009)

We’re working on a commercial remodel where a lot of the rooms have 1’x1’-2’x2’ holes cut in the walls to pull new wire/run new pipe/ventilation/etc. The client wants the end product to be level 5 baby butt smooth, so after the patch we skim the whole wall and sand/light check everything. The man hours needed per room is killing me and I’d like to speed things up a bit. I have an extensive background in plaster and feel that a 2 coat veneer over the existing walls will give a much better product in less time. (Even a 1 coat system would look good) 
 Any thoughts on getting level 5 quality faster by using a veneer plaster over the existing wall? And if so how would you present that to a client since it will should cost more but save you time… feels a little strange to tell them to pay more so we can get out faster. 

(We tried spraying to get the level 5 but they didn't like it so we're back to skimming.)


----------



## R.E. Plaster (Jun 27, 2009)

How big is the wall, because if you think plaster would be easier thats what I would do. First appply a bonder on the walls and if you have several walls that need to be done I would first brown, or apply your base coat make sure that it is smooth no trowel lines. Then the next day apply your smooth finish , either us a lime and gauging plaster or what I like to use is Gold Bond plaster called Kal-Smooth which all you have to do is add water. This product sets up a little slower so it will give you time to get it on the wall without setting up to fast, the big question is how much experience do you have with smooth plaster?


----------



## Mr. Mud Man (Oct 9, 2009)

The walls average around 200 sq foot per, the ceiling around 300 (I know, the place is cut up). I've done a lot of veneer plaster before. I like using lime and gauging but I've also used kal-smooth/X-kal/Diamond. Of those I think lime and gauging gives the best result but the kal-smooth is very close. I don't like that the diamond dries kind of grey and has a tendency to blister before you can get it glassy and I don't like how x-kal finishes. (easy to 'rag' if you hard trowel too soon) (If you mix x-kal and kal-smooth 50:50 you get a really nice end result)

I guess the real question is how would you present that to a client... and get em to pay for it.


----------



## silverstilts (Oct 15, 2008)

Mr. Mud Man said:


> The walls average around 200 sq foot per, the ceiling around 300 (I know, the place is cut up). I've done a lot of veneer plaster before. I like using lime and gauging but I've also used kal-smooth/X-kal/Diamond. Of those I think lime and gauging gives the best result but the kal-smooth is very close. I don't like that the diamond dries kind of grey and has a tendency to blister before you can get it glassy and I don't like how x-kal finishes. (easy to 'rag' if you hard trowel too soon) (If you mix x-kal and kal-smooth 50:50 you get a really nice end result)
> 
> I guess the real question is how would you present that to a client... and get em to pay for it.


 Did you not know it up front that they were going to cut into the walls ?? If it was an after thought or the homeowners or the electrician decided on there own to butcher up the walls then charge more if you knew it going into the project but not the extent of it it is your fault for not making sure of what you were to patch can't expect someone to pay for our screw up on estimating so just bite the bullet and get er done and move on , sounds like a small job and myself i wouldn't make a big deal of it , on the other hand i know how some electricians are and don't give a hoot what kind of a mess they leave , bill out the extra to the homeowners and tell them to back charge the sparky or deduct it from what he has coming . but don't expect the check to come directly from the electrician it will never happen.... good luck that is why small jobs and remodels i bid high you just never know what you are getting into bid with a little extra buffer to cover your a$$....and if you feel that you are not going to get what you think you should walk away after explaining why .


----------



## silverstilts (Oct 15, 2008)

we just did one last summer water damage in the lower level of an office building , the clean up crew drilled about a thousand holes 2 inch in diameter to get the insulation dried out .... two full days of just cutting centers with a hole saw ( circle hole saw on a drill ) then mudding them in and finish really sucked and was time consuming and they were all just above the 4" base tedious work but charge going in time and material and then some extra , came out good and was a good fill in job.... whenever you get into a repair job such as this sometime it is best to do time & material...


----------



## Mr. Mud Man (Oct 9, 2009)

Thanks for the feedback, kind of looks like it's up to me to suck it up. :wallbash:


----------



## silverstilts (Oct 15, 2008)

one good thing i learned is don't make the same mistake twice and move on to bigger and better jobs one seems to always be just down the road to make up for our mistakes.


----------



## R.E. Plaster (Jun 27, 2009)

sorry Mud Man I wasn't much help, but one thing you could present to them is that you are using a better product that will give better results. 
Tuff situiation hope things go well.


----------

