Skim-Coating in garden level?
We are getting ready to renovate the garden floor of our brownstone with a budget. One of the expensive costs is the skim-coating and I am wondering if it is necessary? We plan on using the garden level as a rec room/play room for our kids and a guest bedroom. We have some rotted beams in the cellar, so we will be taking out the floor and moving the walls. Since it is the garden level, it gets decent light but not great light. The contractor is acting like it would be a huge mistake not to skim-coat it, but I was wondering what your thoughts were. Would skipping it be a decision that we regret in the future?
psreno
in Brownstoner Renovation 13 years and 4 months ago
3
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3 replies
callalily | 13 years and 4 months ago
Rotted beams in the cellar don’t necessarily mean you have to remove the floors and walls. Even if you do need to remove the walls, you can put them in the same place. You might consider trying to save the existing trim to hold the value of your house. High quality trim is very important to making a house look good. If your contractor breaks a peice here or there, he can easily make some new matching trim if you get the right router bit cut. (The wood won’t be exactly the same color — easier to paint, but you can match the stain.) In any case, there is no need to skim coat walls unless they are cracked or peeling. Your contractor probably intends to skim coat plaster over the new sheetrock walls to make them match the old plaster walls. This is wise. If you want to save money, are you sure you have to replace the floors? We had a quarter of a rotted beams and sistered several joists but did not replace most of the floors. The floor is rotted out completely (holes) in two areas, and those we are replacing, using salvage aged pine flooring we got at Build It Green.
Rick | 13 years and 4 months ago
Skimcoating is time consuming detailed work. That’s why it’s expensive. Are your walls in bad shape? Can you get away with skimming in the rough areas. If so, try that, use a high quality primer and flat paint and it should be okay. If you want museum quality walls you will have to skim coat.
needmtg | 13 years and 4 months ago
Not sure if you’re serious, and what you might regret. The lack of texture as you stare at the walls obsessively, ignoring the flat-screen TV? Snarky guests who’ll out you as cheapskates in tweets? Surely this is an aesthetic decision only you can make, and should be able to do so given your other decisions?