Wickes Ready Mixed Patching Plaster

=============================== I haven't used it but if you have several on-going jobs to do then you might be better off using Wickes 'One coat' plaster. It works easily with plenty of time before it goes off and it keeps very well in the bag if kept sensibly. I think it's also quite a bit cheaper.

Cic.

Don't buy it, it's absolute rubbish. It's very coarse with lots of what appears to be sand and some sort of furnace waste. It's so coarse that when I used it it scratched the surrounding plaster. To get a finish I had to skim it with mix up filler and then sand. Worst of all it doesn't set quickly. I filled a piece about 25mm deep and it could only be said to be set after 6 days and that was with a dehumidifier and the central heating right up. When it was still completely un-set on day 2 I nearly ripped it all out and bought a bag of plaster. Wish I had, it would have been quicker. I thought buying ready mixed would save time but it was a wasteful mistake. Maybe it was a bad batch but I doubt it.

I did and I liked it. Then again I'm no plasterer, but it filled the deep gaps I had a treat. You do need to apply quite a lot of pressure to get it to 'flow' and stick (I had to use PVA to get it to stick to an overhead bit) , but once you got the hang of it it was okay. Odd stuff though, and it does take a very long time to fully harden off.

Regards

Mark

Did the instruction say to put it on 25mm thick? because usualy with fillers etc that set by drying out you build it up with thin layers.

I think I'll take your advice :-)

"funtwo" wrote

The instructions say, IIRC, up to 50mm. Goodness knows how long that would take to set.

I suppose anything 50mm deep takes forever to dry. The idea with this type of product *should* be that the fly ash can be incorporated without increasing the viscosity, so very little water is required in the first place to make it a workable consistency. It's the gritty texture that puts me off using it as a skim coat.

bollock, it's excellent stuff if you use it correctly. you obviously didn't.

great stuff, I use it all the time. use a basket mixer on a drill for best results and make the mixture really stiff. it goes on really easily but the best thing about it is that it's sandable so if, like me, you're not an expert, you can still get a really nice finish.

"." wrote

You obviously have very low standards.

Are we talking about the same stuff? This comes ready mixed in a tub.....

I think we can take it from Dot's lack of a reply that they got themselves a little muddled, bless em :-)

I might still give it a try. Cheap enough and it might do as a lightweight filler if all else fails.

Good luck, but to be honest I think when I need to do a similar job again I will try the mix up patching plaster or the way I used to do it - bonding (or was it browning?) and then thistle multi-finish.

Considering how long the ready-mix patching plaster took to set it seems to me the extra few minutes effort having to mix up plaster would be well spent. Also the finish is good one, I can't see any way I could have got a very good floated finish with the tub stuff.