Gotelé
The most common case, and the only one that sometimes allows two routes: removing it first, or skimming straight over it. What decides is the relief and how well it is bonded, not the budget.
Wall skimming
Skimming walls and ceilings
The textured gotelé finish is the most common reason, but not the only one: we skim just the same over old paint, over newly fitted plasterboard or over a wall that has just had its wallpaper stripped. Here you will find what can be skimmed, the difference between skimming and re-plastering — which are not the same thing and cost very different amounts — and how smooth you really need it, which depends on the light that falls on that wall. We go anywhere in the province of Málaga.
Five starting points
What can be skimmed
The coat of filler is the same in every case. What changes — and what decides whether it lasts — is how the surface underneath is prepared.
Old paint on plaster
A wall that was smooth to begin with but has built up layers, brush marks, drips and touch-ups in different paints. It is sanded to break the sheen and remove anything loose, and skimmed over. It is usually the cleanest job of all.
Newly fitted plasterboard
The board comes smooth, but the joints and the screws do not. Skimming evens it all out: if you paint straight over the jointing, you see duller bands exactly where each joint is, and when the light hits from the side they all show.
Wall with the wallpaper stripped off
Old paste is left behind, scraps of the backing paper that will not come off and sometimes plaster lifted away in strips. Before skimming, the paste has to be removed completely: filler on top of adhesive residue does not bond, and it ends up coming away in sheets.
Tiles
You can skim over tiles without chipping them off, using a bonding primer and a filler made for the job. It is the quick route for a dated kitchen or bathroom, but it needs tiles that are firmly stuck: if any sound hollow when tapped, those have to come off first.
If yours is the first case and what you want is for the gotelé to disappear completely, here is the whole job step by step, with the stages and what sets the timescale.
The most expensive mix-up
Skimming is not re-plastering
They are three different answers to “my wall looks awful”, with very different prices. Asking for the cheap one for a problem that needs the expensive one is the most common way of throwing money away in this trade.
Skimming
Fixes the texture
A thin coat of filler applied by trowel, a couple of millimetres, that covers the relief and leaves a continuous surface. It is what people order 90% of the time, and what deals with gotelé, plasterboard and old paint. What it does not do is straighten a wall: if the wall bulges, it will still bulge, just smoothly.
Re-plastering
Fixes the flatness
When the wall is not flat — a bulge, a corner out of square, a wall that is out of level — what it needs is a thick coat of plaster ruled off with straightedges, not a thin coat of filler. It is a different trade, it takes longer and it makes a lot more mess, and the result is a wall that is genuinely straight.
Dry-lining
Fixes the whole wall
Plasterboard on a metal frame, starting from scratch. It is what is called for when there is something underneath that no filler will fix: structural cracks, plaster that is falling apart, a wall that has been through damp. The most expensive of the three and the one that involves the most building work, but also the only one where it no longer matters what was there before.
Telling them apart is easy with a long straightedge or a straight batten held against the wall: if light shows underneath it, the problem is flatness, and skimming will not solve it.
The level of finish
How smooth you really need it
“Smooth” is not one single thing. What is needed depends on two factors that hardly anyone looks at before asking for a price: how the light falls on that wall, and which paint it is going to be finished in.
For matt paint on an ordinary wall
Matt paint softens and forgives: one well-sanded pass of filler gives a result that looks flawless, and in most rooms it is exactly what is needed. Asking for more than this is paying for something nobody will notice.
For a wall in raking light
A wall next to a large window, a hallway with a wall light close to the wall, the stretch that catches the afternoon sun. Light arriving almost parallel picks out every undulation, and there the skimming has to be finer and done in crossing passes. It is the surface to point out during the visit, because it changes the job.
For satin or gloss
Sheen acts like a mirror and magnifies everything that matt hides. If the plan is a satin paint, a faux-tile finish, or a thin wallpaper that lets the wall show through, the surface has to be better than usual. It is worth saying so beforehand, not once the first coat is on.
That is why, on the visit, we ask where the light comes in and which paint you have in mind. It is not small talk: two identical walls in different light are not the same job, and saying so beforehand avoids the argument afterwards.
Questions
Questions that come up on every visit
Can you skim without removing the gotelé?
Can you skim without removing the gotelé?
Yes, and it is often the best option: it produces much less debris and less dust, which counts in a lived-in home. The condition is that the gotelé is well bonded and has a fine relief. If it sounds hollow when tapped or is very peaked, the filler ends up showing the texture from underneath and the result is worse than if it had been removed.
How much thicker does the wall get when it is skimmed?
How much thicker does the wall get when it is skimmed?
A couple of millimetres, which in practice makes no difference anywhere except one place: where the wall meets door frames, windows and skirting boards. There the edge has to be worked carefully, because otherwise you are left with a small step where the new wall swallows the edge of the woodwork.
Does skimming cover up cracks?
Does skimming cover up cracks?
It hides them from view, and that is exactly the problem if it is not done properly. A live crack keeps moving underneath and traces itself back through the paint a few months later. Cracks have to be opened up, cleaned out and stitched before skimming; only then does the coat of filler hide them for good.
Can just the ceiling be skimmed?
Can just the ceiling be skimmed?
Yes, and it is a very common request in kitchens and bathrooms, where the gotelé on the ceiling has picked up grease or damp marks. Bear in mind that if the walls stay as they are, the change shows where the smooth ceiling meets the textured wall: it is a line worth looking at together before deciding.
Does it come out as well on a ceiling as on a wall?
Does it come out as well on a ceiling as on a wall?
The finish does, the work does not. On a ceiling the filler is applied overhead, it is heavy and tends to sag, and sanding means looking upwards with everything falling down on you. It takes considerably longer per square metre than on a wall, which is why, in a quote, ceiling metres and wall metres are not worth the same.
Still not sure what is on your wall? Start here: telling distemper gotelé from plastic gotelé changes the method and the price, and you can check it in a minute with a sponge.
Tell us what is underneath and we will tell you what it needs
With a couple of photos of the wall, the square metres and where the light comes in, we can tell whether your case is skimming, re-plastering or something more. We send it to you in writing, with no small print, within 24 working hours.