Goldtrowel

[Jonni]

Never done any plastering before but I am thinking of attending one of the courses at

I don't pretend I'll instantly become an expert plasterer, and I know practice makes perfect and all that but does anyone here have any experience of this crew?

Thanks

[Gary Cavie]

I have no experience of any of these courses, but a friend who is a plasterer went to do a quote for somebody. This somebody had been on one of these courses (not necessarily Goldtrowel), and said that during the

5 days they covered tacking, coving, screeding, and about 2 hours of actual plastering, which left him feeling somewhat done. I don't know who he did the course with, or if they are all the same, but certainly from this one it doesn't sound as though you would have learned much about plastering itself!

Might be as well off finding a friendly plasterer, and seeing if you can tag along with him for a few days - you'll probably learn as much if not more! (You might even get paid a few quid for labouring if you're lucky!)

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Hope you have a strong neck and back. ;-)

-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

[RedOnRed]

Years ago, during school holidays, I used to do dry lining for my next door neighbour and all the seasoned old hairy arsed builders generally used to consider plastering to be the "ardest job on site".

That's certainly been enough to put me off it for the past 25 years.

[Andrew Barnes]

This is not the case with Goldtrowel, plenty of time is given to plastering. I bought their DVD and a good Marshalltown trowel (£40) and can now plaster to a near perfect finish.

Andrew

[Andrew Gabriel]

I did a 2-day course at the Aldershot Building Centre (?IIRC), part of Farnborough College of Technology. It was brilliant. All 16 of us were plastering better than the 2 plasterers I had hired a few months before. I've done loads since too. The course covered plastering and rendering, and if you were interested in special finishes such as pebbledash, you could do that too. The second half day covered patch/repair techniques for things like filling in a chase, repairing a lath and plaster ceiling, etc. The course was quite flexible and could be adapted to any particular things people wanted to cover.

Aldershot Building Centre did a 2 day course (occasionally it ran over a weekend, but mostly during the week), a 5 day course, and the full C&G course. They had a waiting list of a year, but I got in sooner by saying I could take a place at a day's notice. I believe the building training has moved to another site now, so arrangements may be different. I also suspect they may have lost their trainer, as the same chap did the bricklaying course, and I've been on their list for this for 6 months and they haven't even got any dates scheduled yet.

[Gary Cavie]

Sounds good - I've thought about doing one of these courses myself, but=20 been put off by my friend's comments. Perhaps now is the time to look=20 into it myself. Not sure when I'd actually use it, but would to be able=20 to if needed.

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

I started a couple of years ago with own tuition and a £3.99 trowel, and can now plaster to a perfect finish.

-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

[Jonni]

Thanks for all the feedback.

I note what was said about others not providing much actual plastering time but it seems that the Goldtrowel crowd give you some material beforehand so that you are ready just straight into the practical stuff when you arrive!

Think I'll go for the DVDs first, then have a go at it

Jonni

[Alfred]

I have done 2 courses at Goldtrowel. I actually visited them spoke to students on their courses to get a feel for what they do. They have 3 Centres at the same Location and believe me it's fantastic. I did 6 weeks on a City and Guilds plastering course and the 5 day venetian marble plastering course. You are full on hands on all the way through the courses. Andy is a top fella knows his stuff and makes sure that you get to the right level. I am confident and I felt that's what I needed. Have done many jobs now and now self employed.By the way I actually went to many centres but they don't offer what Goldtrowel do,I think it's because they are dedicated and only do trowel trades. I thoroughly recommend them to anyone interested in changing career or trying something different.

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[Jim K]

[Steve Firth]

You need to ask? It's another moron attempting to disguise his adverts as unsolicited testimonial. I'd quite like to make sure that no one could ever solicit his testimonials, using a pair of bricks for the process.

report abuse to

[Andrew Gabriel]

Well, it's been canceled now, and would have vanished from sight had you not reposted the whole thing.

[Jim K]

if only everything worked as God intended ;>)