roll on plaster my opinion

maryjane1

i bought this stuff yesterday and had a look on these boards. there were a lot of people asking if it was good but nobody had given an opinion so heres mine for what its worth.

i have learnt an expensive lesson. the stuff isnt cheap first off. second its very difficult to master and very time consuming and its pointless even buying unless your walls are very very smooth to start off with. thirdly they completely fooled me with it because i saw the ads on tv and they dont mention at all in them that it should only be used on plaster boards which means yet it sayd it on the tub.

overall it was a waste of my time and money and ive learnt my lesson that you get what you pay for, it wont make up for professionals.

Gurgle

tbh plastering isn't that difficult, its very time consuming for an amateur but you can get a finish every bit as good as a professional, and much better than a professional in a hurry.

And at €7.50 for a bag that will do 10-15 square meters, its very cheap.

The flattest & smoothest wall in my house is the one I did myself.

Kashkai

Go on gurgle,

Tell us how to plaster as I've had it with my builder who's left most of my walls in sh1te condition.

I presume half the battle is getting the mix right, so then its a case of spreading it evenly on the wall, right.

Any other tips???

GreeBo

One tip that I would give is that the skimcoat needs to be much, much wetter than you would think.

I have done a bit of skimming (new fireplace meant skimming required) and the best finish I got was when the plaster is literally runny, you are putting it on so thinly thats its not an issue.

Also, make sure your tools are clean, smooth and wet before you start.

Ballyman

If you are only plastering a small area then you can sand it to smoothness afterwards.

I plastered a bedroom wall after removing a wardrobe and the finish wasn't the best so I sanded it after drying and now you can't tell the difference between it and the old plaster.

Was a small area though, maybe 2sqm.

Gurgle

Prosperous Dave wrote:

Go on gurgle,

Tell us how to plaster as I've had it with my builder who's left most of my walls in sh1te condition.

I presume half the battle is getting the mix right, so then its a case of spreading it evenly on the wall, right.

Any other tips???

Plastering for Dummies:
Entirely a work of talking to the guys in the hardware shop followed by an afternoon of trial & error.

On concrete walls, you put on a scratch-coat first, which is just sand&cement, roughly & thickly plastered on. I think the mix is 3:1, check with someone else first.

If you're plastering on top of plaster, you may need to bond the walls first. I don't even know what that means .

Then comes the skim coat, which is the top layer of plaster. If you're plastering on plasterboard, this is all you need. Therefore this is all I actually figured out how to do.


Get a big flat plastering trowel.

Cover the floor well, you will be dropping plaster on it.

Make a basic mortar board - A bit of plywood with a rough handle on the back

Mix a small amount at a time, only as much as you can hold on your motarboard, it sets pretty quickly in the bucket.

You want it fairly thick, so it doesn't run off the mortar board (or the wall).

Mix it well, no lumps.

Have a bucket of water with you before you start applying it to the wall.

Pour out the plaster onto the mortar board.

Hold up one edge of the mortar board to the wall and scrape the plaster off directly onto the wall.

Cover one whole wall with plaster fairly quickly and roughly, pushing the plaster firmly onto the wall. Aim for a thickness of 2mm to 4mm.

Wet the trowel and go over the wall again, smoothing the plaster over. Dip the trowel in the bucket of water at least once every 30 seconds. The water mixes in with the surface of the plaster allowing you to spread & smooth it.

Repeat the smoothing with the wet trowel over and over, going lighter with the trowel each time until you don't leave a line gouged in the plaster from the corner of the trowel.

Leave it to dry for at least 3 weeks, preferably 6 before you paint it.

E&OE, don't even come back & tell me if you make a mess of it.

mad m

^^ I bet Evel Knievel would have a hard time getting over those walls...:)