On Monday, September 16, 2013 9:44:26 PM UTC+1, mike wrote:
On Monday, September 16, 2013 7:50:27 PM UTC+1, Andrew Gabriel wrote:

In article ,



mike writes:



On Sunday, September 15, 2013 9:41:16 PM UTC+1, andrew wrote:



Looks like a depth gauge bead - Catnic make them, so should be obtainable from builders' merchants. These people list them, but only in 50s on the website:







Thanks for that. I thought they might have another name but didn't know what it was. Will ask in Selco the next time I'm in there. I had a quick Google using the new name and found a few references on plasterers' forums. Most of them seemed to think they were the work of the devil and that you should make your own plaster screeds - although it seems they're commonly used in Germany.



One small advantage of the Wickes ones though (which I discovered from a helpful staff member were made by Knauf and dropped by Wickes through lack of sales) was that they were only 3mm which meant you could stick 'em on the high points and not lose another cm of room / use another bag of plaster.







Proper plastering is about getting wall surface flat and vertical,



and not necessarily parallel to the underlaying brickwork.



I describe how to do this in the following old usenet article, but



basically, you make the depth bead out of plaster as you go...







https://groups.google.com/forum/#!ms...s/T42O-QU_HhsJ







I think we might be talking at cross purposes. The flatness guides take the place of the screeds you describe. If the flatness guide touches the high points, you'd pack it out at the low points to be vertical.



The Wickes How To leaflet is he



http://www.wickes.co.uk/content/ebiz...ges/gil/20.pdf



It describes using their one coat plaster but you can equally use it for browning/bonding.



For the minor cost involved, I found them to be better than making your own plaster screeds.



I appreciate a professional would likely follow the plaster screed method but if you only plaster occasionally - like most DIYers - I think they're a useful tool.

I've got a job like this to do soon. Large areas of plaster to be filled in around good areas I have stablised with PVA. Seems to me the plaster screed method should be easy enough - slap on a ridge of plaster and flatten it with a spirit level and allow to dry. The fill in later. This is only for the undercoat though. I cannot and never will be able to skim to any standard.
I still have to sand a "pro" plasterer's job in places anyway.

Every time I wonder about dry lining and filling like they do in the US and Down Under, etc. Just seen a large community centre hall done like that - skimming would have been prohibitively expensive. It looks pretty good from a distance - not looked up close at corners, window reveals etc., and none of the slightly wibbly walls that all skimming has to some extent.

Simon.