Plastering drytime

[Antony Gelberg]

Hi all,

As part of my refurbishment, I have a plumber doing some pipework and a plasterer making good where I've removed a wall. I want this to happen:

1. Plumber to remove boiler.
2. Plasterer to remove plasterboard behind boiler and replaster.
3. Plumber to install new boiler on newly-plastered wall.

Two questions:

1. How long does the plaster need to dry?
2. Is plasterboard necessary or can plaster be applied directly to the breeze blocks?

Antony

[Andrew Gabriel]

It goes hard in a few hours, but it will take up to a week to dry, or a day or so if it's just a skim. Wet plaster can chemically attack things, so you should really let it dry and paint it if possible before fixing things to it, unless they are mostly standing clear of the surface.

Plaster should be applied directly to breeze blocks. Using plasterboard in that case would be a workaround for those who can't plaster, and not something I would expect a professional plasterer to do. Probably would be more difficult to fix a boiler to also.