Polycell SmoothOver Your Damaged Walls

I was really hoping to give this Polycell Smoothover a glowing review after the negative ones I had read, but I have to say.. it is quite tricky to use and definitely messy, I found it was really quite solid to stir through and hence went on very thick! When I ran out I bought another tub only to discover the consistency was totally different much smoother and easier to use, I’m wondering if like me the negative reviews were down to maybe old stock having dried out somehow.

Do not try to make the finish look flawless when using it is inevitable that you will need to sand and potentially refill a few spots, I found it helped to wipe the smoothing blade with a wet cloth occasionally too, those of you saying the tool will not fit in the tub are using the wrong tool to apply, use the roller to apply and do not overload it too much and then the smoothing blade is what you use to smooth and finish..however, that being said, despite the issues I had I can see that I will end up with a smooth looking ceiling, just a shame it has taken up so much more time than I hoped.

It's basically polyfilla thats designed to spread easier, as another review says, if you think you can apply it, you probably can. Apply, smooth it over, sand it off.

I think this item could use a good youtube guide rather than the awful 40 second polycell one, where someone pretends to use it. Here's a few points:

1. Stir it well. I stirred for a good 5 mins and it was fine to use.

2. You don't have to cover the roller, its not paint. Dip it in and then roll it over the wall

3. The roller isnt even that important, the smoothover tool is the key, use arcs, have a bit of a practice to get the pressure right and you will be doing sections quickly, which is good since its smoother in first few minutes before the drying starts.

4. Its not meant to be a perfect finish, YOU HAVE TO SAND. I was sanding with one sand and using the other to check the surface was smooth enough to move to the next area. I dusted afterwards.

I used an electric sander because I was doing whole walls where the plaster board surface has come off when removing old wallpaper, the worst part is the amount of dust from sanding, I reccomend to seal the door with tape so no dust gets out. I just closed the door and had a lot of dust in the next room which meant more cleaning. Obviously you must use a mask and googles.

I'm just a DIY beginner, so maybe this could be done cheaper, I think the finishing skim stuff thats on the market is similar, but for my purpose it worked pretty much exactly as expected and allowed me to paint what were very bad walls.

Having recently re-skimmed my lounge walls perfectly I decided to do the ceiling but with deteriorating eyesight and aching arms it wasn't the best finish, so I decided to iron out the pits and trowel scrapes and try the Polycell Smoothover paint.

Straight off the bat I knew there would be issues as it's quite thick. I did initially forget to stir it though to make it barely thinner. Nonetheless once done that proved to be no help at all. First of all the application roller is as much use as a pogo stick in a swamp. Considering how much it picks up of the paint it barely spreads it out over an area of about a square foot, again as it's so thick. This was a major problem. I tried a wide paint brush, a small sponge roller to no avail. I spread as much as possible but it dried as quick as I applied it so I couldn't smooth it straight away.

Once down to about a third of the tub left I decided to chance my arm with an idea and added a small amount of water to thin it somewhere between double and single cream consistency. This was extremely easy to apply and much better to manipulate. I did the entire ceiling and thankfully due to thinning it out I was able to smooth it over with plenty of time. It dried well and though I've had to do a fair bit of sanding it finally looks good only through my own improvisation.

As for recommending it I'd say a definite NO, it's basically a large tub of Polyfilla and unless you have arms like Lou Ferrigno it'll take some considerable time to apply and smooth over. Perhaps for small areas it'll work but large areas don't give yourself the stress of seeing it fail unless like me you've got a lot of patience..

I'd give it 0 out of ten but the review doesn't cater for such a low score.

I was very apprehensive having read the reviews here, but I had a wall with quite a bit of damage to the surface in a house I had just moved into. I'm in no way great at DIY, but I'm competent enough to be able to follow instructions and seek advise.

I didn't really have the money or the time to wait for a plasterer to repair the wall. I needed to get the room decorated so it could be moved into. So, without expecting much, I decided to give it a go.

The results were better than I could have possibly imagined. Application takes time and is messy, so be prepared for that and lay sheets! Follow the instructions and work in small areas, use tool kit you buy separately.

Don't take short cuts, use the roller to apply the mixture to the wall and stir it REALLY well, I spent a good 10 minutes of more just stirring. Using the roller isn't easy, and it takes time put it on, but work in roughly 1m squared areas at a time starting from the middle of the wall and work out. Use the smoothover tool in sweeping arcs to remove excess mixture and put the excess back into the tub. Work methodically towards the edges of the wall. You can get a relatively smooth finish if you apply it correctly, but a little sanding to remove small tram lines is very quick. You're better sanding down the rough spots than spending too long with the tool because it sands really easily and gives a lovely finish.

Honestly, if you think you can do this, then you probably can and now the wall is painted you would never spot the difference between my wall and the plastered walls. I'm not sure why there is so much negativity on here, unless people just don't apply it correctly, which is frankly their own fault and not the products!

Like others, I just wish I had read the reviews before buying this expensive product which claims to be "Polycell SmoothOver your damaged walls". I have many years of d.i.y. experience and have never regretted using any product as much as this one. The walls in question were not particularly highly textured and I hoped this product would do what it claimed and smooth them out prior to painting. Oh no, it just made the problem worse. I persevered with the useless roller and ended up trying to trowel on the mixture, much of which ended up on the floor, just to get some on the walls. It would perhaps have been slightly easier to work with if I had wet the walls beforehand but this was advised by the manufacturers only if the walls were porous which mine weren't. I managed with the Smoother reasonably well but the results are not good. In fact worse than before. The manufacturer claims a smooth finish - actually it feels and looks more like the wall has been cemented with a rough, grainy feel. I now have to sand down the walls to try to get a reasonably smooth finish, which was what I hoped to avoid when I bought the product in the first place!!I shall be writing to the manufacturer - hope others follow suit.

This is expensive, and you need to buy a separate set of tools, and the result isn't impressive. It may be if you were skilled in plastering - but then you wouldn't be buying this! It brought off the (carefully prepared, sanded and cleaned)paint on the wall. Not good. Second coat needed, even then I couldn't get it smooth enough to look good - and I'm not a DIY novice. My tip - either buy Polycell finishing skim (cheaper, no special tools needed,easier to apply, gives just as good a result and can be used on painted walls) or employ a plasterer. I read all the bad reviews but still thought I'd give it a go. Big mistake.

I bought this without reading the reviews (silly me)

Viewed the video and looked fairly easy.I agree with many reviews however:

My wall was not bad, but I wanted to emulsion it so needed to get out minor indents and smooth minor rough areas.

Expensive product and even worse value roller and spreader kit.

Product falls off roller. It dries much too quickly when using the spreader and the spreader picks up any bits of grit and puts a deep scratch in the finish. small sections did not stick to wall, so left holes. Other areas left furrows. I found it almost impossible to get a satisfactory flat finish. I tried damping and sponging which improved things, but not a lot.

I am not going to make it worse, so will employ a plasterer, which I was trying to avoid. Skimming with plaster myself could not be any harder or give a worse finish

I bought Polycell because of their DiY reputation. Money wasted.

Having recently moved into a 1930s house, I inherited a hall and landing with heavily textured wallpaper which had been painted over so many times it felt as if it had been covered with artex. Not wanting to either strip down the lot (which would have involved a lot of chiseling & besides, who knows what may have lain underneath? Asbestos etc?) or pay a plasterer, I decided to initially try the polycell for textured paper smoothover at first. Not easy to put on the roller and very messy. Also requires a second coat. I then decided to buy the smoothover for textured walls. This product is less like paint and more like filler and will NOT go on using the roller (despite what they say on the tin). I had to use a combination of a plasterers tool and the smoothover blade, which made using this product a lot easier. Having said that it does leave a fair bit of mess and the finish isn't brilliant but has improved my walls. One tub does not go very far though. I have used up 4 tubs to far and am just over halfway. Feeling very tired and dejected having had another recent session with the stuff and wondering if hiring a plasterer would have been more cost effective and less hassle. This product is probably OK to use on a small area, but in retrospect I would have gone down a different route as far as my hall is concerned and I strongly feel the advert is very misleading as to ease of use.........

After reading reviews on Polycell smoothover for damaged walls, i wasnt sure weather it would be worth the hassle, however whilst we are gutting our house and the majority of the walls have been skimmed, it is very immportant to try and save money wherever we could. There was one large wall which followed the stairs, which we didnt want to knock off, so we thought instead of spending £200 on skimming, we would give it a go. Im, not going to say it was really easy, but as long as you spend time on mixing the product properly there was no issue of it not sticking to the roller. It stayed workable for a few attempts whilst you get used to it which is a possitive. I managed to do the whole wall, it didnt leave a perfect finish, however i just went over a few areas with the product and a spatula to fill any small gaps. Finally i went over the whole wall with an orbital and a fine grade sandpaper, this may seem a bit excessive to some people, but i wanted a really good finish. Overall it works well and does what it says so £30 and a bit of work as apposed to £200 is a good saving in my opinion.

I too thought the worst of this product after reading some reviews, but having isued this product have since decided that the people who have left bad reviews have been thinking this product was something else, i.e plaster. This product is not designed to fill in holes, or cover loose plaster. Only to smooth plaster which has dips and marks. If you want to fill up holes, use polyfiller first and then go over with smoothover.

I have used this product and it really works. The toolset takes a while to get used to, but lukcily the product is easily sandable and therefore even if you make huge tramlines, then it will smoothen down with a bit of sanding.

Good product, and for the price - very worthwhile.