Hi this maybe a stupid question but how do you clean your buckets out after you've done some plastering? I used to swill mine out with water and dump it down the drain, till one day I forgot to tip the water away and found in the morning the plaster had set under water which got me thinking that cant do the drain much good :/.
I generally like to clean my bucket between mixes, and I'd rather not buy extra buckets. So do you think its ok to tip it down the drain or is there a better solution?
I don't think thee is a solution for gypsum is there? It will have blocked your sewer somewhere. With luck it may have kept itself to the water trap.
What you do is wipe the bucket with the trowel and then brush it out with clean water then rinse it asap. Do try and remember next time, there's a good chap.
You can use the old plaster on the garde if you have acid soil, otherwise it should go in the bin.
My drains still working ok thank goodness, I do scrape out as much of the old plaster as I can but you can never get it a hundred percent clean unless you give it a good swill round with water.
Anyway think I'll start buying new buckets in future. Someone should invent a plastic bag type bucket that is cheap and easy to dispose of.
Thanks for ye help.
Get one of the flexible moulded jobs with integral handles. You can just let plaster and (ten times worse) grout set in these, then knock and flex them and it all falls out. Can't remember the name but "farm supplies" places stock them
Scrape it clean, let it dry. So little is left it don't much matter, if it starts to build up, chuck it out. B&Q buckets are only 99 pence, a lot less than a blocked drain. If I am feeling like not doing the 3 hour round drive to B&Q, I turn bucket over, and bang, it cracks off, or I clean the bucket with a hose pipe and let the mess stay on the garden.
Rick
In message , Max writes
Let it set and hit the bucket with a hammer
I think it is called a "Wickes Builders Bucket" 98p / each.
Guaranteed to crack the bucket. Also, if you leave plaster in the bucket it will set the new stuff off toute sweetie.
You don't have to get the last tint of pink out though.
In message , Michael Mcneil writes
Works for me (usually)
Do that but leave it for a an hour to let the plaster settle, drain off water, residue in bin.
Knock what you can out, swill out to remove remnants and dump it on the garden. A hard layer builds up on the patch of soil, when the works all done just lift the crust off the soil it and bin it.
NT
Black builders buckets are a pound each if you shop round...
But I get worried by the euphoric feeling I get from this action.
Arthur
I clean the bucket and chuck the dirty water into an old wheelbarrow. The plaster settles to the bottom and leaves cleanish water which is used to clean the next bucket.
In message , OldScrawn writes
'TubTrugs' well that's one brand name at least.
Swill out with water using an old washing up brush to dislodge all the plaster from the bucket and empty over the lawn. When it's dark outside, I empty it all in the same place in the garden (which was a depression in the ground). Grass seems to grow in the plaster without any problems.
I do this before applying the plaster I just mixed -- that can wait for the time it takes to wash up the bucket and strirrer, but they won't wait until I've finished putting up the plaster.
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