Tips on Plastering - esp' mixing

I'm about to do my first spot of plastering. Mostly just repairing some sections damaged by over-zealous scraping off tile adhesive, but also trying to level out some overall unevenness in the wall.

Any tips on mixing fine grade plaster to the right consistency? Also, how long can I expect the plaster to remain workable?

Thanks Des

Reply to
Des
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this has been covered several times, in depth. Al

Reply to
Al Reynolds

Point taken.

Anyway, I did my plastering and imo, the mix consistency is absolutely crucial for a reasonable result. I tried to make it as thin as whipped cream ( is that ISO cream or BSI cream) but I think it was still a touch on the thick side. I'll make it even thinner tomorrow.

Des

Reply to
Des

I reckon melting ice cream is about right, FWIW. Well done on DIYing anyway! Al

Reply to
Al Reynolds

How do you get it on to the hawk if its that runny? I'm just doing a large ceiling area 30ft x 12ft and making a right mess - but its improving very slightly as I go. We've worked out that the consistency should be as wet as possible as long as it will sit on the hawk without running off, or run off the float and down your sleeve etc.

cheers

Jacob

Reply to
jacob

A significant part of learning how to plaster is actually learning how to handle the stuff -- how to transfer between board, hawk and trowel without getting it in your shoe/sleave/pockets/etc, and how to shape it on the hawk and get the distribution you require on the trowel edge. It shouldn't be so runny it runs off a hawk or trowel when held horizontally. It should run off the trowel when held vertically, but as pretty much one sloppy lump, not like pouring water off it. Also, it shouldn't fall off the hawk when held horizontally upside down at least for periods of a few seconds, or it's too runny or you have too much on the hawk or you have not shaken it down to form a sort of flattened cowpat.

You should have poured the plaster out onto a plastering board (a piece of plywood, wetted with water but allow water to completely soak in to surface before pouring out plaster). The proper way to pick up finishing coat is to use the hawk and trowel to scrape up a wad of plaster by bringing them together in a V on the plastering board. The other way you can do it is to hold the hawk under the edge of the board, and use the trowel to slide a wad of plaster off the board onto the hawk. This latter way is more correct for scratch (under-) coat which is thicker and less likely to splash, but whatever works for you. With the plaster on the hawk, scrape it onto the trowel using the long edge of the trowel (backhand) in one go, and then turn the trowel so it's vertical with the long edge vertical, so the plaster slides off onto the centre of the hawk, leaving the plaster nicely centred on the hawk. Now drop the hawk a few inches and stop it suddenly, so the pile flattens out. If you did this right, you can now turn the hawk upside down (over the plastering board;-) and the plaster should not fall off, at least for some few seconds (for scratch coat, it should stay indefinately). If it does fall off, it's too runny or you have too much on the hawk.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

Brilliant -thanks.

Jacob

Reply to
jacob

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