My plastering abilities enable me to do a fairly good job of plastering a
flat wall. However, I've never yet had to do the window returns after
installing a new (larger) window, until now. Is there any special
tricks/tips anyone can offer, and in particular, can a decent edge be
achieved without the use of metal edging strips?

The returns I have to plaser are a bit rough, having been patched up with
bits of plasterboard etc. I would have liked to make the job easier by
lining the returns with plasterboard, but if I do that, the finished
surface will be too near the edge of the window glass to look good.

Thanks

Al

AL_n wrote:
My plastering abilities enable me to do a fairly good job of plastering a
flat wall. However, I've never yet had to do the window returns after
installing a new (larger) window, until now. Is there any special
tricks/tips anyone can offer, and in particular, can a decent edge be
achieved without the use of metal edging strips?

The returns I have to plaser are a bit rough, having been patched up with
bits of plasterboard etc. I would have liked to make the job easier by
lining the returns with plasterboard, but if I do that, the finished
surface will be too near the edge of the window glass to look good.

Thanks

Al
tape any joins with glass tape and then just go for it.

sand any rough bits down, and use decorators caulk to the frame..

On Jul 25, 7:01*pm, "AL_n" wrote:
My plastering abilities enable me to do a fairly good job of plastering a
flat wall. However, I've never yet had to do the window returns after
installing a new (larger) window, until now. Is there any special
tricks/tips anyone can offer, and in particular, can a decent edge be
achieved without the use of metal edging strips?

The returns I have to plaser are a bit rough, having been patched up with
bits of plasterboard etc. I would have liked to make the job easier by
lining the returns with plasterboard, but if I do that, the finished
surface will be too near the edge of the window glass to look good.

Thanks

Al

It's not possible to get a good corner without corner strip. You can
get plastic if for some reason you don't like metal.

On 25/07/2011 19:01, AL_n wrote:
My plastering abilities enable me to do a fairly good job of plastering a
flat wall. However, I've never yet had to do the window returns after
installing a new (larger) window, until now. Is there any special
tricks/tips anyone can offer, and in particular, can a decent edge be
achieved without the use of metal edging strips?

Use the beads - get them all square and marking the finished levels etc.
Makes the actual plastering so much simpler since you then have nice
straight corners to work from.

The returns I have to plaser are a bit rough, having been patched up with
bits of plasterboard etc. I would have liked to make the job easier by
lining the returns with plasterboard, but if I do that, the finished
surface will be too near the edge of the window glass to look good.

Add skim beads to the corners of the reveals then - that will let you
skim 3mm or so over the PB and have an edge to rule off against.


--
Cheers,

John.

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On Jul 25, 8:30 pm, John Rumm wrote:
On 25/07/2011 19:01, AL_n wrote:

My plastering abilities enable me to do a fairly good job of plastering a
flat wall. However, I've never yet had to do the window returns after
installing a new (larger) window, until now. Is there any special
tricks/tips anyone can offer, and in particular, can a decent edge be
achieved without the use of metal edging strips?

Use the beads - get them all square and marking the finished levels etc.
Makes the actual plastering so much simpler since you then have nice
straight corners to work from.

The returns I have to plaser are a bit rough, having been patched up with
bits of plasterboard etc. I would have liked to make the job easier by
lining the returns with plasterboard, but if I do that, the finished
surface will be too near the edge of the window glass to look good.

Add skim beads to the corners of the reveals then - that will let you
skim 3mm or so over the PB and have an edge to rule off against.

yup +1

you can stick em on with a small stiffer mix of plaster, daub it on
the wall corners and press (premeasured and cut) lengths of skim bead
into the plaster daubs, letting it ooze thru the holes in the beads as
you level them up with both spririt level and a straightedge etc
across the window opening.
Let it go off - 15/20mins say or til firm then with (say 2") paint
brush and water scrub off the "ooze" that came thru the holes so that
you will be able to plaster over the beads without interference from
protruding bits of set "ooze".

mmmm doesn;t read brilliantly but hope it makes sense;)

Jim K

In article ,
"AL_n" writes:
My plastering abilities enable me to do a fairly good job of plastering a
flat wall. However, I've never yet had to do the window returns after
installing a new (larger) window, until now. Is there any special
tricks/tips anyone can offer, and in particular, can a decent edge be
achieved without the use of metal edging strips?

Yes, but it's more difficult.
One way is to fix a piece of timber along the reveal, projecting out from
the wall, and to plaster up to it as though doing an internal corner.
Then remove the piece of timber after the plaster is set. I stick wide
plastic parcel tape down the side you're plastering against to stop the
plaster sticking to the timber. This gives you an incredibly sharp
corner - painful if you bump into it, and fragile if you knock it with
something hard, so you'll probably want to sand it a bit afterwards.
Alternatively, if you do another finish coat afterwards, you can use
an external corner trowel which will slightly round off the corner.

The returns I have to plaser are a bit rough, having been patched up with
bits of plasterboard etc. I would have liked to make the job easier by
lining the returns with plasterboard, but if I do that, the finished
surface will be too near the edge of the window glass to look good.

If the unevenness is more than about 5mm, level it off with scratch coat
first (I usually use bonding coat). It won't work very well if you try
to do that with finish coat.

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

(Andrew Gabriel) wrote in
:

In article ,
"AL_n" writes:
My plastering abilities enable me to do a fairly good job of
plastering a flat wall. However, I've never yet had to do the window
returns after installing a new (larger) window, until now. Is there
any special tricks/tips anyone can offer, and in particular, can a
decent edge be achieved without the use of metal edging strips?

Yes, but it's more difficult.
One way is to fix a piece of timber along the reveal, projecting out
from the wall, and to plaster up to it as though doing an internal
corner. Then remove the piece of timber after the plaster is set. I
stick wide plastic parcel tape down the side you're plastering against
to stop the plaster sticking to the timber. This gives you an
incredibly sharp corner - painful if you bump into it, and fragile if
you knock it with something hard, so you'll probably want to sand it a
bit afterwards. Alternatively, if you do another finish coat
afterwards, you can use an external corner trowel which will slightly
round off the corner.

Thank you for this suggestion. I was thinking of doing something very
similar to that. The parcel tape suggestion sounds excellent.

Thanks to all for the other suggestions.

Al

On Jul 26, 8:55*pm, "AL_n" wrote:
(Andrew Gabriel) wrote :





In article ,
* * *"AL_n" writes:
My plastering abilities enable me to do a fairly good job of
plastering a flat wall. However, I've never yet had to do the window
returns after installing a new (larger) window, until now. Is there
any special tricks/tips anyone can offer, and in particular, can a
decent edge be achieved without the use of metal edging strips?

Yes, but it's more difficult.
One way is to fix a piece of timber along the reveal, projecting out
from the wall, and to plaster up to it as though doing an internal
corner. Then remove the piece of timber after the plaster is set. I
stick wide plastic parcel tape down the side you're plastering against
to stop the plaster sticking to the timber. This gives you an
incredibly sharp corner - painful if you bump into it, and fragile if
you knock it with something hard, so you'll probably want to sand it a
bit afterwards. Alternatively, if you do another finish coat
afterwards, you can use an external corner trowel which will slightly
round off the corner.

Thank you for this suggestion. I was thinking of doing something very
similar to that. The parcel tape suggestion sounds excellent.

Thanks to all for the other suggestions.

That is the way it is done.

Buy a small gauge trowel and mix 4 to 1 in a bucket. Clean off the
reveal to the brick or whatever and wet the wall with a spray bottle
or pop bottle with a hole in the top. Put a little oil on the timber
if you are really nervous. Diesel will do or you can buy some really
good stuff for a tenner or more a pint in a chain saw oil shop.

You have to cover half the window frame; say about an inch. Use clean
water and a small paint brush to was off exess splashed over the line.
If you are going over aluminium be bloody quick about that.

Just slap the stuff in and scrape it off level. The timber can come
off straight away if you are happy with your work, wait until it has
set if not. Just let the cement settle after scraping level, then tap
the timber to crack it loose.