Eeek! Plaster skim polishing!

[Tim S]

Help :(

I've just had a good look at my handywork with a lamp on the floor (which makes things look their worst).

The walls I've skimmed, whilst generally flat have turned out rather poor in the surface finish dept.

Specifically, odd small hollows (like 1/2mm deep) with sharp edges and lots of similar other "edge" effects. Few bits are rather rough.

Nothing a sander won't sort out - and I can live with it as a first attempt either way...

But what am I doing wrong?

I used the method: first coat down, go cheesy, flatten (mostly as far as possible), wait until harder (20-30 mins) , second coat dead thin (virtually scraped over to fill hollows, wait 20-30 mins and polish with the help of a plant mister.

It seems to be the last step that's giving grief - but that might be as a result of earlier errors.

Should I put the second coat on:

a) Thicker;

b) Sooner, immediately after flattening first;

c) Less water?

I'm using Thistle MultiFinish BTW.

To be honest, I get a better result using a 3" wet paintbrush to "polish"[1] (rougher, but no nasty edges which will show though paint).

[1] I tried this on some window edges out of interest, after using same brush to blend the corners in.

Ta

Tim

[Andrew Gabriel]

I was again going to suggest looking back at some old plastering articles I wrote, but it seems Google can't find them. Someone else refers back to them in March 2004 so they're before then, but Google can't find any that predate that date, so either it's lost them, or they aren't turning up with obvious searches.

[Tim S]

Andrew Gabriel coughed up some electrons that declared:

Was it this one?

"Gabriel"+group:uk.d-i-y+plastering#61393847a2abfdcb

[Andrew Gabriel]

"Gabriel"+group:uk.d-i-y+plastering#61393847a2abfdcbWell, it is, but it's not one of the one's I was thinking of.

When I've got some time, I could try crawling around wider, e.g. see if diy-banter or similar still has them. I could rewrite them, but it actually takes a long time to write something like detailed plastering instructions, and I don't have that just at the moment. Also, it's about a year since my last serious quantity of plastering, and these things turn out better if you write them in the middle/end of doing a load (which was the case with the earlier articles, when I'd just finished plastering most of a house).

[Tim S]

Andrew Gabriel coughed up some electrons that declared:

"Gabriel"+group:uk.d-i-y+plastering#61393847a2abfdcb>

Pity. Google seems to be having a fit with some of those older posts...

I can do that, now that you've mentioned it - ta.

No worries.

Cheers

Tim

[PCPaul]

This post links to some useful looking stuff about 2003/2004 time:

(One of which I think is the above link)

[Phil L]

The first coat doesn't require flattening down - it should still be workable enough so that the second coat (more or less immediately after the first -

10mins maybe) will flatten any ridges and the new mix will fill any hollows.

Then 15-20 mins later a rub over with a wet trowel (no water on the wall at this stage).

then 15-20 mins later a light splash and trowel up.

If it's still not playing ball, repeat the last step as many times as it needs.

A word of warning here; not all plaster sets at the same rate - even bags of identical plaster bought on the same day at the same shop can differ in setting times - some go off in minutes and others can take up to an hour to do the same....the latter is normally observed near going home time

[Tim S]

Phil L coughed up some electrons that declared:

Right - I see. That means that I am probably putting my 2nd coat on too late, when the first coat is too hard to take it properly.

OK

That's certainly a varation - I'm going to try that on my next bit.

Actually - looking at the walls today ,they aren't too bad. Back of chimney (well, in the alcove) are as rough as a geriactric tarts arse, (doesn't matter, will have shelves). Chimney breast is best (small, all extrnal corners). Window reveals are a bit rough, but quite accurate (sandpaper job). Rest of main walls are approximately flat :)

Not a total disaster - hopefully next rime will get better!

Cheers Phil

Tim