Calling all plasterers!
Hi there,
I've just started to skim coat my bathroom. I've completed one whole wall and it took me quite a while to complete. As I've got another two walls to complete and very little time to do it in (a 5 year old and a 10 month old keeping me busy!) I was wondering whether I wold be better off splitting the remaining walls into sections, using 3 mm strips of wood as a guide? I could skim up to the wood, remove when the plaster has hardened, then the next night complete another section, merging the existing layer of platster into the new bi as I go..... any comments / suggestions? Thanks in advance!! Simon |
Calling all plasterers!
On Apr 4, 5:19 pm, "Simon" wrote:
Hi there, I've just started to skim coat my bathroom. I've completed one whole wall and it took me quite a while to complete. As I've got another two walls to complete and very little time to do it in (a 5 year old and a 10 month old keeping me busy!) I was wondering whether I wold be better off splitting the remaining walls into sections, using 3 mm strips of wood as a guide? I could skim up to the wood, remove when the plaster has hardened, then the next night complete another section, merging the existing layer of platster into the new bi as I go..... any comments / suggestions? Thanks in advance!! Simon I'm not a plasterer, but like you have tried it and I don't see why not. One thing I've learned is that you really have to seal the walls first otherwise they just suck out all the moisture. ....or just tile it all instead :-) |
Calling all plasterers!
On Apr 4, 5:19 pm, "Simon" wrote:
Hi there, I've just started to skim coat my bathroom. I've completed one whole wall and it took me quite a while to complete. As I've got another two walls to complete and very little time to do it in (a 5 year old and a 10 month old keeping me busy!) I was wondering whether I wold be better off splitting the remaining walls into sections, using 3 mm strips of wood as a guide? I could skim up to the wood, remove when the plaster has hardened, then the next night complete another section, merging the existing layer of platster into the new bi as I go..... any comments / suggestions? Thanks in advance!! Simon Hmmm... 1 bucket of plaster as a base coat and half a bucket for the laying down does about 10 mtr square and sets in around 2-2½ hours from starting. I suspect you're playing about with it and using too much water as a lubricant, leave the plaster to dry a bit more before troweling it, ie: when the water sheen has gone away, you should aim for 5 visits to the wall in total. |
Calling all plasterers!
On 4 Apr, 18:16, wrote:
On Apr 4, 5:19 pm, "Simon" wrote: Hi there, I've just started to skim coat my bathroom. I've completed one whole wall and it took me quite a while to complete. As I've got another two walls to complete and very little time to do it in (a 5 year old and a 10 month old keeping me busy!) I was wondering whether I wold be better off splitting the remaining walls into sections, using 3 mm strips of wood as a guide? I could skim up to the wood, remove when the plaster has hardened, then the next night complete another section, merging the existing layer of platster into the new bi as I go..... any comments / suggestions? Thanks in advance!! Simon Hmmm... 1 bucket of plaster as a base coat and half a bucket for the laying down does about 10 mtr square and sets in around 2-2½ hours from starting. I suspect you're playing about with it and using too much water as a lubricant, leave the plaster to dry a bit more before troweling it, ie: when the water sheen has gone away, you should aim for 5 visits to the wall in total. Hi there.. thanks for the responses so far. As for your estimate, it took me about 2 hours to do a small wall, but the remaining walls are bigger and there's a window to contend with - that's why I favoured the section by section approach, I could do a flat section, then the next dat tackle the window section etc. Any tips on this approach? Cheers |
Calling all plasterers!
Simon wrote: On 4 Apr, 18:16, wrote: On Apr 4, 5:19 pm, "Simon" wrote: Hi there, I've just started to skim coat my bathroom. I've completed one whole wall and it took me quite a while to complete. As I've got another two walls to complete and very little time to do it in (a 5 year old and a 10 month old keeping me busy!) I was wondering whether I wold be better off splitting the remaining walls into sections, using 3 mm strips of wood as a guide? I could skim up to the wood, remove when the plaster has hardened, then the next night complete another section, merging the existing layer of platster into the new bi as I go..... any comments / suggestions? Thanks in advance!! Simon Hmmm... 1 bucket of plaster as a base coat and half a bucket for the laying down does about 10 mtr square and sets in around 2-2½ hours from starting. I suspect you're playing about with it and using too much water as a lubricant, leave the plaster to dry a bit more before troweling it, ie: when the water sheen has gone away, you should aim for 5 visits to the wall in total. Hi there.. thanks for the responses so far. As for your estimate, it took me about 2 hours to do a small wall, but the remaining walls are bigger and there's a window to contend with - that's why I favoured the section by section approach, I could do a flat section, then the next dat tackle the window section etc. Any tips on this approach? Cheers Sure, do the wall first then the window reveals after, but soak the newly plastered wall around the window opening before doing the window reveals as any mix touching the wall will dry quickly and you run the risk of dragging these "lumps" across the bit your doing and ruining the finish. You may struggle doing all four sides of the reveal where the faces meet in the corners, so leave in inch bare in each corner until the plaster is nearly hard and then fill them in with some plaster you left for this purpose and your corners should be sharp. I wouldn't worry about doing a large wall of about 10+ sq mtrs in one hit, you may be a bit achey afterwards :) if you decide to do it in sections, just do up to where you can manage as normal, when you've done the final polish, cut a line in the plaster with your trowel edge or a scraper in a line and scrape off the messy edge. When you come to do the next bit, soak the edge about six-ten inches back and keep it wet, scraping any new plaster off it asap. Unless you are good and experienced, you will notice the join... even through paintwork, so expect to do some sanding and filling as part of the decorating. You are best doing it in one go, use a plant water spray for wetting the plaster when troweling up and NEVER use the "fat" as filler. Good luck :) |
Calling all plasterers!
In article .com,
"Simon" writes: Hi there, I've just started to skim coat my bathroom. I've completed one whole wall and it took me quite a while to complete. As I've got another two walls to complete and very little time to do it in (a 5 year old and a 10 month old keeping me busy!) I was wondering whether I wold be better off splitting the remaining walls into sections, using 3 mm strips of wood as a guide? I could skim up to the wood, remove when the plaster has hardened, then the next night complete another section, merging the existing layer of platster into the new bi as I go..... any comments / suggestions? You can do this. Most houses have a wall which starts in the downstairs hall runs up the stairs to the upstairs ceiling. This is sometimes plastered in two pieces -- if you look carefully, you will be able to see the boundary as it's almost impossible to hide it completely. However, if you never noticed it before explicitly looking, then it was hidden well enough. To make a join like this, don't use a batten, as the plaster thickness always ends up increasing as you plaster up against a batten (or into a corner). This will end up as ridges running down the middle of the finished wall. Also, don't make the join a straight line. Your eyes will easily pick out a straight line mark or imperfection in the finished job, which would not be noticable if it were a ragged join. So simply don't lay the plaster on past a certain point. When reworking and finishing, don't bother going right to the edge of the plaster you layed. When you've finished polishing but before the plaster is set hard, run a scraper or the end of the trowel up the wall to remove the plaster edge which isn't polished, remembering not to make this edge a straight line. This should leave a clean step to run the next area of plaster up against. If you are doing two skim coats, cut the second back at least 6" from the edge of the first so you have two separate steps to run the two coats in the next area up to. -- Andrew Gabriel [email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup] |
Calling all plasterers!
On 4 Apr 2007 09:19:27 -0700, "Simon" wrote:
Hi there, I've just started to skim coat my bathroom. I've completed one whole wall and it took me quite a while to complete. As I've got another two walls to complete and very little time to do it in (a 5 year old and a 10 month old keeping me busy!) I was wondering whether I wold be better off splitting the remaining walls into sections, using 3 mm strips of wood as a guide? I could skim up to the wood, remove when the plaster has hardened, then the next night complete another section, merging the existing layer of platster into the new bi as I go..... any comments / suggestions? Thanks in advance!! Simon Try this stuff. The "flatness guide" http://www.wickes.co.uk/icat/plastaccang I have used it in the past with a Derby and got very nice results. Set it about a meter apart and chuck the plaster in between them and simply level it off. |
Calling all plasterers!
"Simon" wrote in message oups.com... Hi there, I've just started to skim coat my bathroom. I've completed one whole wall and it took me quite a while to complete. As I've got another two walls to complete and very little time to do it in (a 5 year old and a 10 month old keeping me busy!) I was wondering whether I wold be better off splitting the remaining walls into sections, using 3 mm strips of wood as a guide? I could skim up to the wood, remove when the plaster has hardened, then the next night complete another section, merging the existing layer of platster into the new bi as I go..... any comments / suggestions? Thanks in advance!! Simon I see so why cant you do it when they're in bed asleep? If you seen the size of the walls I've done you'd crap in your trousers and I'm no master plasterer and done each wall in 1hour 10 minutes,minus the time to mix and clean up. |
Calling all plasterers!
On Apr 4, 11:21 pm, "George" wrote:
I'm no master plasterer and done each wall in 1hour 10 minutes,minus the time to mix and clean up. Wow!, you finish before the plaster has set? |
Calling all plasterers!
wrote in message oups.com... On Apr 4, 11:21 pm, "George" wrote: I'm no master plasterer and done each wall in 1hour 10 minutes,minus the time to mix and clean up. Wow!, you finish before the plaster has set? Heh! 10 mins to slap it on 20mins to even it out 40mins for a fag&cuppa. :-) did I mention the time for polishing? |
Calling all plasterers!
On Apr 4, 9:19 am, "Simon" wrote:
Hi there, I've just started to skim coat my bathroom. I've completed one whole wall and it took me quite a while to complete. As I've got another two walls to complete and very little time to do it in (a 5 year old and a 10 month old keeping me busy!) I was wondering whether I wold be better off splitting the remaining walls into sections, using 3 mm strips of wood as a guide? I could skim up to the wood, remove when the plaster has hardened, then the next night complete another section, merging the existing layer of platster into the new bi as I go..... any comments / suggestions? Thanks in advance!! Simon Forget the strips of wood, I think you're making it all too complicated. You need to get the first coat on as soon as possible and not play with it too much, that's the most important part. How bad were the walls? Considering the time it's taking to skim could you not have filled and sanded them? |
Calling all plasterers!
On Wed, 04 Apr 2007 22:10:53 GMT, in uk.d-i-y EricP
wrote: On 4 Apr 2007 09:19:27 -0700, "Simon" wrote: Try this stuff. The "flatness guide" http://www.wickes.co.uk/icat/plastaccang I have used it in the past with a Derby and got very nice results. Set it about a meter apart and chuck the plaster in between them and simply level it off. How do you use these - or are they just metal lathes? Phil |
Calling all plasterers!
Phil Addison wrote:
On Wed, 04 Apr 2007 22:10:53 GMT, in uk.d-i-y EricP wrote: On 4 Apr 2007 09:19:27 -0700, "Simon" wrote: Try this stuff. The "flatness guide" http://www.wickes.co.uk/icat/plastaccang I have used it in the past with a Derby and got very nice results. Set it about a meter apart and chuck the plaster in between them and simply level it off. How do you use these - or are they just metal lathes? Phil Excellent because you can take your time packing the guides and then slam the plaster up quickly. It's trying to be quick and getting it roughly level at the same time that undoes us amateurs. |
Calling all plasterers!
On Mon, 09 Apr 2007 15:07:44 GMT, in uk.d-i-y Stuart Noble
wrote: Phil Addison wrote: On Wed, 04 Apr 2007 22:10:53 GMT, in uk.d-i-y EricP wrote: On 4 Apr 2007 09:19:27 -0700, "Simon" wrote: Try this stuff. The "flatness guide" http://www.wickes.co.uk/icat/plastaccang I have used it in the past with a Derby and got very nice results. Set it about a meter apart and chuck the plaster in between them and simply level it off. How do you use these - or are they just metal lathes? Excellent because you can take your time packing the guides and then slam the plaster up quickly. It's trying to be quick and getting it roughly level at the same time that undoes us amateurs. I've found a PDF file of "Wickes Unique Plastering System" http://www.wickes.co.uk/content/ebiz...ges/gil/20.pdf leaflet. It seems to a useful guide to plastering, including using these "flatness guides". They are like metal corner beads, but flat with the bead in the centre of the flat mesh. The leaflet explains them being used with 'one coat' plaster, so it appears that Wickes intend the final skim surface to be flush with the tops of these guides. Are there any problems with that? Or would it be better to use them only for getting the scratch level? The guide is generally very detailed but decidedly vague about a skim coat - it just says apply the plaster in two coats, but goes into detail on polishing it using a sponge. Phil |
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