I am building a cement house. They put a layer of sand and concrete over the blocks, and now say I need a skim coat over this instead of a primer. Anyone else done this?
Once the layer of sand and concrete is applied (known as finishing) usually painting is next. Perhaps the finishing was done poorly so they want to smooth the surface with a skim coat applied to sand down for effect. Won't hurt, but is more costly. Done a few builds and have never seen nor done that. It's your build so I suggest "you do the saying and they do the listening"
We used skimcoat on our house. It does give a smoother finish and it's actually not expensive. The main part of the cost is the labour time to apply it.
Once again, I thank you. It was a very rough finish, but good experienced people are hard to get here. We are WAY back in the mountains here.
They ordered 30 bags of skim coat, and you are correct, it is very labor intensive. Thinking I wont be doing the exterior of the house. I appreciate your input sir.
Did they use sifted sand or mountain sand (for those people that remember that story). Best of luck and hope it is ready before the rain comes back.
