Plaster ruining windows

KAGY

Has anyone ever heard of lime being leached from the plaster render and eating away at the glass? this is happening because my reveals are sloping towards the windows. Picture attached
Is this poor quality plastering or is it a problem with the glass

Thanks Karl

rooferPete

Hi Karl,

How are the window frames taking this bleaching any damage there ?

While I can't recall seeing this it is possible, lime can be a very acidic substance.

The standard practice for reveals is they are either level or sloping away from the window and have a small anti capillary groove usually done by the plasterer running the edge of his trowel across the top.

While the groove is a bit old school the rest should be plain good building practice, when a reveal is sloping back it is often a sign that the reveal went on in two coats causing the build up at the window.

In short bad workmanship.

What may help you is to use a coat of stabilising solution Blue Circle (I think) , a question I have is why is the cement still on the surface ? your house is a little over a year old ?

.

KAGY

rooferPete wrote:

Hi Karl,
How are the window frames taking this bleaching any damage there ?
.

None that I can see, the frames are wood effect PVC

rooferPete wrote:

In short bad workmanship.
.

I guessed that bit myself, the plasterer also plastered over all the cavity vents too! :mad:

rooferPete wrote:

What may help you is to use a coat of stabilising solution Blue Circle (I think) , a question I have is why is the cement still on the surface ? your house is a little over a year old ?
.

If you mean why is the render still unpainted, the usual reason money and time!

rooferPete

Hi Karl,

Apologies for the tone of that last question, more a case of typing out loud, certainly not questioning why it's not painted.

There are houses built for years before they are painted and there are many who like the look of ageing plaster, on older buildings it's a feature to have nap finish and maybe ivy on parts of the wall.

My thoughts were more technical, in why is there such a large amount of cement on the surface of the finish.

I was hoping there would be some more in put from other tradesmen who may have experienced this happening.

Certainly no offence meant.

.

Rusty Knight

WHAT!!!!! You have unpainted areas in your home, and the house has been built over a year?????

Disgraceful!!! Why, I have never heard of such a sloth-like approach to home finishing.......

Do the decent thing man, and get yourself some paint.......for goodness sake, what are your neighbours saying?
How could you........?

(Pete, will I go on........?);)

rooferPete

Hi Rusty,

Ahh if only some of the public ever got to see the half finished jobs done in my home

Extension finished inside (I think) but needs to be plastered outside two pellet fuel appliances that prove how flexible they can be with flue adjustments, I was going to type part finished but I'll tell the truth :
Part Started but working

OK back to the glass problem, there are products available for removing cement stains, my problem is the one's I know about are acid based and may attack the rubber seals in your windows.

An email to a company like Pilkingtons or even Dockrells (Dublin) major glass suppliers may get you the answer you need about cleaning the glass.

I would be careful removing the stains because scratching the glass will leave a damaged area that could prove annoying.

.

KAGY

Well it may not be painted but everything else is finished to perfection (I think not ) I'm starting to think I should have built a 20m2 traditional cottage with mud floors. to answer your question re cement as you meant it, I think you hit on the answer before "in short, bad workmanship". I suspect the mix was wrong, there are also more hairline cracks than I presume are normal (would too much cement or lack of plastersiser cause both problems?)

Thanks for your comments, I'll check up those, I have contacts in Careys glass from a previous job (fado fado) that I completely forgot about. If there's any positive reply, I'll post it here.
But I've been talking to the builder, although the thought of making contact with him again made my skin crawl :mad: . Of course being the professional conman he is, he said he would pay for the replacement (1250 for the worst efffected) if it was his fault, but of course it's not, it has to be faulty glass !!! His words, (and this is coming from a man who said gaps in the insulation prevent condensation!)

Does he have a point though? Would the glass quality cause this

rooferPete

Hi Karl,

The more symptoms help provide possible answers, if the plaster was spread on a dry first coat without damping it down with the hose then the plasterer did not have much time to work the finish coat.

The result is the finish coat was drying out too fast and he was using a lot of water on the finish coat to try and get the "Nap Finish".

By using the water on the surface he was drawing the cement to the surface which may answer my own question as to why the cement should run off the surface.

Also if the first coat wasn't damped down before the finish coat was applied it will dry out too fast and that has been known to cause to hair line cracks because the water helps the plaster to bond.

All guess work of course but if he has 1250.00 to give you then I would use a very good paint on the walls and fairly fast because you don't want water getting behind the plaster and having a night of frost lifting the finish plaster off completely.

.

KAGY

All sounds reasonable, at least I have more ammo to hit him with. The 1250 would be to replace the glass, the window I showed in the start of this thread was was a south facing patio door so you can imagine how annoying it is to look at!
Once again, thanks for your help

hiscan

rooferPete wrote:

Hi Karl,

The more symptoms help provide possible answers, if the plaster was spread on a dry first coat without damping it down with the hose then the plasterer did not have much time to work the finish coat.

The result is the finish coat was drying out too fast and he was using a lot of water on the finish coat to try and get the "Nap Finish".

By using the water on the surface he was drawing the cement to the surface which may answer my own question as to why the cement should run off the surface.

Also if the first coat wasn't damped down before the finish coat was applied it will dry out too fast and that has been known to cause to hair line cracks because the water helps the plaster to bond.

All guess work of course but if he has 1250.00 to give you then I would use a very good paint on the walls and fairly fast because you don't want water getting behind the plaster and having a night of frost lifting the finish plaster off completely.

.

hi
i am a plasterer ,roofer pete is right in what he says but the main cause of hairline cracks in the plaster outside is mixing the finish coat with too much cement,lime or both also applying the finish coat on the wall when the sun is shining on it which causes it to dry out too fast and therefore causing cracks
as for the dirty windows ,lazy plasterers i hate to see this
cleanliness is my motto it doesnt take long to clean a window or a floor