Hallo



I've got a ton of plastering to do, like most of a (small) house. And
although I'm quite competent at most DIY tasks, electrical, plumbing,
Joinery etc, I've never plastered anything in my life. So I figure it will
be fun to have a go at 1 or 2 walls and if I can't manage a reasonable job,
then I'll just have to get a professional in, (which I can't really afford
at the moment).



I know that the usual way for a novice plasterer to get the wall level and
flat is to attach wood battens to the wall as a guide, then remove them and
fill the gaps. There are also some flatness guides you can buy from Wickes
that you just plaster up to and leave in the wall.



As a third alternative, what if I fix plasterboard strips to the wall with
drywall adhesive and use those as a guide, then leave them in and just skim
over the whole lot. I've got lots of plasterboard off cuts I could use.



Just looking to save a little work, or money. Batons have to be removed and
filled and the flatness guides are not so cheap. I figure if you leave the
wooden battens in place the plaster will crack as the wood shrinks and
expands, but a plasterboard strip should be stable enough to skim over.



What do you think, is this a stupid idea ?

Kethry coughed up some electrons that declared:



Hallo



I've got a ton of plastering to do, like most of a (small) house. And
although I'm quite competent at most DIY tasks, electrical, plumbing,
Joinery etc, I've never plastered anything in my life. So I figure it will
be fun to have a go at 1 or 2 walls and if I can't manage a reasonable
job, then I'll just have to get a professional in, (which I can't really
afford at the moment).



I know that the usual way for a novice plasterer to get the wall level and
flat is to attach wood battens to the wall as a guide, then remove them
and fill the gaps. There are also some flatness guides you can buy from
Wickes that you just plaster up to and leave in the wall.



As a third alternative, what if I fix plasterboard strips to the wall with
drywall adhesive and use those as a guide, then leave them in and just
skim over the whole lot. I've got lots of plasterboard off cuts I could
use.



Just looking to save a little work, or money. Batons have to be removed
and filled and the flatness guides are not so cheap. I figure if you leave
the wooden battens in place the plaster will crack as the wood shrinks and
expands, but a plasterboard strip should be stable enough to skim over.



What do you think, is this a stupid idea ?

Have a look at youtube for "Ron the Builder" "plastering". There's some
stuff in the wiki too.

I learnt in part from that. My first and only major job was skimming a north
facing room. It was OK ish - flat and stable, but the polish isn't great -
bit rough. Looks great with matt paint, but I did pay a plasterer to do the
other south facing rooms.

What I learnt is I can do it if I must, but I'll never be *that* good. All
useful experience though. Makes me more confident to do small jobs and
repairs though.

Get a Marshalltown Permashape trowel and a power mixer for your drill. Using
an ordinary steel trowel if it's not broken in is doomed for skimming.
Mixing large batches of plaster by hand is also doomed.

For the bonding coat, I agree on the wooden battens - little to go wrong
with that approach.

HTH

Tim

I've got a ton of plastering to do, like most of a (small) house. And
although I'm quite competent at most DIY tasks, electrical, plumbing,
Joinery etc, I've never plastered anything in my life.

ditto here...

i'm thinking of roughly plastering the walls
then getting an expert to skim over and do a luverly job
but how could i mess it up and make their job harder,
such that theyd have to remove all my work?

If I dont use PVA correctly beforehand would my plaster have to be removed?

I hate wasted work.

[g]

PS http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?...nner%27s_Guide

george (dicegeorge) coughed up some electrons that declared:



I've got a ton of plastering to do, like most of a (small) house. And
although I'm quite competent at most DIY tasks, electrical, plumbing,
Joinery etc, I've never plastered anything in my life.

ditto here...

i'm thinking of roughly plastering the walls
then getting an expert to skim over and do a luverly job
but how could i mess it up and make their job harder,
such that theyd have to remove all my work?

If I dont use PVA correctly beforehand would my plaster have to be
removed?

They never used to, though I expect they would have wetted the walls down
first and scraped off the paint(?). You really should use PVA (cheap
enough) and *definately* on friable or painted surfaces.

Apply one dilute PVA to soak into the bare plaster bits and another less
dilute coat an hour (+/-) before plastering and plaster to the the tacky,
not dry, surface.

Cheers

Tim

Apply one dilute PVA to soak into the bare plaster bits and another less
dilute coat an hour (+/-) before plastering and plaster to the the tacky,
not dry, surface.

Tacky or dry makes no difference IME.

Stuart Noble coughed up some electrons that declared:


Apply one dilute PVA to soak into the bare plaster bits and another less
dilute coat an hour (+/-) before plastering and plaster to the the tacky,
not dry, surface.

Tacky or dry makes no difference IME.

Fair enough - I was going by quoted random wisdom, that may be wrong...

Tim S wrote:
Stuart Noble coughed up some electrons that declared:

Apply one dilute PVA to soak into the bare plaster bits and another less
dilute coat an hour (+/-) before plastering and plaster to the the tacky,
not dry, surface.

Tacky or dry makes no difference IME.

Fair enough - I was going by quoted random wisdom, that may be wrong...

Logically it doesn't matter because the pva isn't acting as an adhesive,
it's only reducing the suction of the plaster.

Also, it's not always practical to time the plastering that accurately.
At the rate I go most of the wall will have dried anyway.

In article ,
Stuart Noble writes:
Tim S wrote:
Stuart Noble coughed up some electrons that declared:

Apply one dilute PVA to soak into the bare plaster bits and another less
dilute coat an hour (+/-) before plastering and plaster to the the tacky,
not dry, surface.

Tacky or dry makes no difference IME.

Fair enough - I was going by quoted random wisdom, that may be wrong...

It doesn't matter because PVA is water soluable, so providing
the PVA is very recent, it will soften and go tacky when you
smear wet plaster on it anyway.

Logically it doesn't matter because the pva isn't acting as an adhesive,

Depends where you're using it. Under bonding coat, then the adhesive
isn't required because it's in the plaster (hence the name). Finish
coat on the other hand has very poor bonding properties in comparison,
and if you want it to last, you'll need some bonding to keep in in
place on many surfaces. (You can put finish coat on a sheet of glass
if you PVA it first.)

it's only reducing the suction of the plaster.

Also, it's not always practical to time the plastering that accurately.
At the rate I go most of the wall will have dried anyway.

The PVA won't have dried for long enough that it won't immediately
be tacky when wet plaster hits it.

Don't use PVA when you're applying next coat and previous one has
not quite fully set and still wet (which is the ideal), i.e. within
about 4-5 hours of applying the previous plaster coat or 48-60 hours
for a previous sand and cement coat. Don't use it on plasterboard
either, with either MultiFinish coat or Plaster Board finish.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

In article ,
Kethry wrote:
I've got a ton of plastering to do, like most of a (small) house. And
although I'm quite competent at most DIY tasks, electrical, plumbing,
Joinery etc, I've never plastered anything in my life. So I figure it
will be fun to have a go at 1 or 2 walls and if I can't manage a
reasonable job, then I'll just have to get a professional in, (which I
can't really afford at the moment).

I know that the usual way for a novice plasterer to get the wall level
and flat is to attach wood battens to the wall as a guide, then remove
them and fill the gaps. There are also some flatness guides you can buy
from Wickes that you just plaster up to and leave in the wall.

As a third alternative, what if I fix plasterboard strips to the wall
with drywall adhesive and use those as a guide, then leave them in and
just skim over the whole lot. I've got lots of plasterboard off cuts I
could use.

Just looking to save a little work, or money. Batons have to be removed
and filled and the flatness guides are not so cheap. I figure if you
leave the wooden battens in place the plaster will crack as the wood
shrinks and expands, but a plasterboard strip should be stable enough
to skim over.

What do you think, is this a stupid idea ?

I find producing a decent flat and true base coat the easy part - although
time consuming. Getting a good finish is the skill - and one I've never
mastered.

--
*Could it be that "I do " is the longest sentence? *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
"Kethry" writes:


Hallo



I've got a ton of plastering to do, like most of a (small) house. And
although I'm quite competent at most DIY tasks, electrical, plumbing,
Joinery etc, I've never plastered anything in my life. So I figure it will
be fun to have a go at 1 or 2 walls and if I can't manage a reasonable job,
then I'll just have to get a professional in, (which I can't really afford
at the moment).

Find yourself a 2 day plastering course at a local building trades
college. Plastering is easily taught in person, but it just doesn't
work for most people to read how to do it or watch videos, etc.

I know that the usual way for a novice plasterer to get the wall level and
flat is to attach wood battens to the wall as a guide, then remove them and
fill the gaps. There are also some flatness guides you can buy from Wickes
that you just plaster up to and leave in the wall.

Go and learn how to do it properly. It really isn't worth trying
out DIY methods, they really aren't any easier, but give a poorer
result.

The only downside is the number of requests you'll get to plaster
walls/ceilings/rooms for friends...

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]