We remove the textured gotelé finish and skim walls and ceilings throughout the province of Málaga. There is no single method: there are four, and the one your wall needs depends on what is on it and on the state of what lies underneath. It is all explained here, so you know what you are going to be offered before anyone offers it.
It is the difference that changes the job and the price the most, and you can find out in a minute with a sponge. Check it yourself before asking anyone for a quote: you will know whether you are being told the right story.
Typical of buildings from the 70s and 80s
The norm from the 90s onwards
None of them is better than the others in the abstract. What there is is a particular wall, and a method that suits it.
The wall is soaked and scraped, and the clean surface then gets one or two coats of skim compound, a fine sanding, primer and paint. It is what gives the best finish when the gotelé allows it.
The filler goes on top with a trowel, without removing anything, filling in the texture. It produces much less debris and much less dust, and in a lived-in home that matters. It will not work if the gotelé is hollow or very peaked: the relief would end up showing through.
A wall sander connected to a vacuum extractor, followed by the same sequence of filler and sanding. It is the noisiest route, but on hard plastic it is the only one there is.
When there are large cracks underneath, plaster that is falling apart or a wall that has had damp, skimming is a sticking plaster. Plasterboard is screwed onto a metal frame and you start from a brand-new surface. It takes two or three centimetres off the room, and in return the problem does not come back.
In practice, they are combined within the same home: the hallway is scraped, the living room is skimmed over and the bathroom ceiling ends up in plasterboard. That is decided by looking at the photos, not over the phone.
It is the first thing everyone asks us about, and fairly so: removing gotelé is messy. It is kept under control with a sander connected to a vacuum extractor, plastic sheeting over floors and furniture, and the rooms that are not being worked on closed off and sealed. Zero dust does not exist; dust all over the house does not have to either.
You can, and most people do. The work is done in stages: one area is cleared, finished, and then we move on to the next. What you have to accept is that the room being worked on is out of use for those days and that heavy furniture is moved to the middle.
Gotelé was often put on precisely to hide something. When it comes off, cracks, patches and sometimes damp come to light. If there is active damp, the source has to be fixed before skimming: putting filler over it is throwing money away, because it comes back through.
Our core job: we remove gotelé with the method your wall needs, not the one that pays best.
Read moreSmooth walls and ceilings over gotelé, plaster or plasterboard, with the dust kept under control.
Read moreWhat the price per m² is made of, how many metres of wall your flat really has and how to compare quotes.
Read moreWith a damp sponge on a corner where it will not show. Distemper absorbs the water, softens within a minute and stains the sponge white; plastic gotelé repels the water and does not soften. That difference changes the method and, with it, the price.
It depends on what is there. If it is distemper, it comes off whole and is worth removing: the finish starts from scratch. If it is plastic, with a fine relief and well bonded, skimming over it gives the same result to the eye with far less debris. What you cannot do is skim over gotelé that is hollow or very peaked, because the relief ends up showing through.
Yes, and it is common to start with the living room or a bedroom. Bear in mind where it meets the areas that are staying as they are: at a door frame or a corner the change in texture will show, so it is worth deciding where the line goes before starting.
Yes. The ceiling is the slowest and messiest part of the job, because the sanding is done overhead and the dust falls. Quite often only the ceiling is done, especially in kitchens and bathrooms where the gotelé has picked up grease or damp stains.
Smooth and painted, ready to live with: filler, fine sanding, sealing primer and two coats of emulsion. The primer is not optional even though you cannot see it: skim compound is extremely absorbent, and without sealing it the first coat of colour soaks in and the finish comes out uneven.
It depends on the method the wall needs, the square metres, the height and whether the surface needs repairing. That is why we do not give a price per m² blind: with two or three photos of the wall and the approximate square metres, we give you a fixed price in writing, and that price is honoured.
With a couple of photos and the approximate square metres, we can tell which gotelé you have and which method it needs. We give you a fixed price in writing within 24 working hours.
