Sanding marks out of plaster.....sigh

Aidan_M_M

Afternoon everyone.

It's an old story , but a painful one... like a loat of us , I was unlucky enough to be building towards the tail end of "the boom" . I priced a few plasterers , and ended up being convinced to go with a team of lads locally , partly due to being related to some of them . Other work they did loked fine , and references were good.

It took til I had the house wired for lights , and a coat of paint on the walls to see that they left a LOT of marks , scratches , lumps on the interior walls . Some of them were due to a c0ck up with the builder and the windows , but lots of them are purely down to poor workmanship .
And typical of my luck , they're not trading any more , and some have emigrated .

So anyway , long story shortened , I need to sand or level out the walls . I want to paint them different colours anyway . I'm more used to sanding filler on cars , I have a 220v random orbital sander , what's the best grades to use ? Any tips for keeping down the dust etc? I'd go out and buy a sander.dust collector for the job , as I have a lot of work for it...



Sorry for the long post , but I needed to vent!:rolleyes:

rubadubduba

i would hand sand with a very fine grit paper and fill any blemishes. i think a electic sander would be to rough and would leave the walls a bit papery, ballie locking, and when i finish filling and sanding i would give the walls a coat of pollybond to keep the dust down and give the walls a smooth finish and then paint.

jaspertheghost

jaysus surely there not that bad that you need a power sander!! hand sand it,fill in all the holes and scratches with filler and sand when dry..best of luck coz that is one pain in the arse job to have to do, throw up a few pics and i might be able to help ya a bit more

galwaydude18

jaspertheghost wrote: »

jaysus surely there not that bad that you need a power sander!! hand sand it,fill in all the holes and scratches with filler and sand when dry..best of luck coz that is one pain in the arse job to have to do, throw up a few pics and i might be able to help ya a bit more

Sand the walls with a sanding pole with 150grit sandpaper on it. When you have them sanded apply one coat of white emulsion onto the walls and it will show up where you need to fill.

Fill where needs to be sanded then sand again and repeat the above process and you will be good to go and apply whatever colour you desire then.

Aidan_M_M

jaspertheghost wrote: »

jaysus surely there not that bad that you need a power sander!! hand sand it,fill in all the holes and scratches with filler and sand when dry..best of luck coz that is one pain in the arse job to have to do, throw up a few pics and i might be able to help ya a bit more

Lots of big walls, and an element of laziness!

jaspertheghost

skimcoat plaster is only about 12mm thick so be careful ya dont sand away to much....

CarrickMcJoe

galwaydude18 wrote: »

Sand the walls with a sanding pole with 150grit sandpaper on it. When you have them sanded apply one coat of white emulsion onto the walls and it will show up where you need to fill.

Fill where needs to be sanded then sand again and repeat the above process and you will be good to go and apply whatever colour you desire then.

This is the one to go with.

Oh and a sanding pole is an extension pole with a sanding attachment on the end, not some random polish guy with a piece of sandpaper.

C Eng

jaspertheghost wrote: »

skimcoat plaster is only about 12mm thick so be careful ya dont sand away to much....

Skim is usually 2 to 3 mm. Scratch coat is usually 10mm depending on the walls and the plasterer you employ

If the walls are very bad and you need a power tool. Hire a "dry wall sander" they come with an dust extractor and long reach sanding head.

jaspertheghost

oops that 1 wasnt meant to be there...

Aidan_M_M

[Quote=C Eng;

If the walls are very bad and you need a power tool. Hire a "dry wall sander" they come with an dust extractor and long reach sanding head.[/Quote]
cheers, who'd I rent one from?

ctrl-alt-delete

Some good advice given,

I like to use Joint Filler for jobs like this as it is easy to work with, dries quick and is easy to sand and finishes well.

As said above, a coat of white emulsion works wonders for revealing the bad patches that need filling.

Aidan_M_M

well the coat of paint thats on the walls is all light coloured anyways , that's how I spotted all the marks.

Aidan_M_M

where would i buy a Drywall sander folks?

C Eng

Aidan, I wouldn't bother buying one, not worth the cost. Try to hire one. Most of the bigger hire shops would carry them.

Aidan_M_M

I've been asking around and no-one knows where to get a "dry wall" sander? Anyone able to point me in the direction of one?

galwaydude18

The likes of Domac tool hire should have them. Have you tried ringing tools hires to ask them and explain excatly what your looking for?

Maudi

Aidan_M_M wrote: »

I've been asking around and no-one knows where to get a "dry wall" sander? Anyone able to point me in the direction of one?

I have a friend in the hire business..and im in construction a good few years..neither of us has ever heard of a drywall sander..

rubadubduba

here is one in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKlihiG4FMw&feature=related

Maudi

rubadubduba wrote: »

here is one in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKlihiG4FMw&feature=related

Ahh.a sander for jointing tape...i was thinking of skimmed walls..completely different finishes...sad though to think some trades are that incompetent that electric sanders have been developed to finish their messy work.

cardwizzard

Aidan_M_M wrote: »

I've been asking around and no-one knows where to get a "dry wall" sander? Anyone able to point me in the direction of one?

Where r u? I have one u can use.

galwaydude18

Maudi wrote: »

rubadubduba wrote: »

here is one in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKlihiG4FMw&feature=related

Ahh.a sander for jointing tape...i was thinking of skimmed walls..completely different finishes...sad though to think some trades are that incompetent that electric sanders have been developed to finish their messy work.

You obviously know nothing about taping and jointing to make a statement like that!!

Maudi

galwaydude18 wrote: »

Maudi wrote: »

rubadubduba wrote: »

here is one in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKlihiG4FMw&feature=related

Ahh.a sander for jointing tape...i was thinking of skimmed walls..completely different finishes...sad though to think some trades are that incompetent that electric sanders have been developed to finish their messy work.

You obviously know nothing about taping and jointing to make a statement like that!!

Ive done a fair bit of taping and jointing..ive never had anyone and would be ashamed of my life if anyone had to belt sand my work..painters will sometimes give it a quick rub with a sanding pad...i worked in europe with a russian taper who could leave it like glass..no sanding..you use electric sanders much yourself?

galwaydude18

Maudi wrote: »

galwaydude18 wrote: »

Maudi wrote: »

rubadubduba wrote: »

here is one in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKlihiG4FMw&feature=related

Ahh.a sander for jointing tape...i was thinking of skimmed walls..completely different finishes...sad though to think some trades are that incompetent that electric sanders have been developed to finish their messy work.

You obviously know nothing about taping and jointing to make a statement like that!!

Ive done a fair bit of taping and jointing..ive never had anyone and would be ashamed of my life if anyone had to belt sand my work..painters will sometimes give it a quick rub with a sanding pad...i worked in europe with a russian taper who could leave it like glass..no sanding..you use electric sanders much yourself?

No I never use an electric sander. I use a sanding pole and give it a quick rub at the edges.

Why would anyone use a belt sander? It would go through the jointing compound and slab in about one second.

The dry lining sander is a big sander to give the filler a quick rub on big jobs as its attached to a Hoover so your not breathing in the dust from the filler! It's not like your going to spend a half an hour on the one spot sanding with it.

The trick to taping and jointing is less is more as the filler will dry a lot quicker.

Maudi

galwaydude18 wrote: »

Maudi wrote: »

galwaydude18 wrote: »

Maudi wrote: »

rubadubduba wrote: »

here is one in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKlihiG4FMw&feature=related

Ahh.a sander for jointing tape...i was thinking of skimmed walls..completely different finishes...sad though to think some trades are that incompetent that electric sanders have been developed to finish their messy work.

You obviously know nothing about taping and jointing to make a statement like that!!

Ive done a fair bit of taping and jointing..ive never had anyone and would be ashamed of my life if anyone had to belt sand my work..painters will sometimes give it a quick rub with a sanding pad...i worked in europe with a russian taper who could leave it like glass..no sanding..you use electric sanders much yourself?

No I never use an electric sander. I use a sanding pole and give it a quick rub at the edges.

Why would anyone use a belt sander? It would go through the jointing compound and slab in about one second.

The dry lining sander is a big sander to give the filler a quick rub on big jobs as its attached to a Hoover so your not breathing in the dust from the filler! It's not like your going to spend a half an hour on the one spot sanding with it.

The trick to taping and jointing is less is more as the filler will dry a lot quicker.

Yes and the op is looking for a sander to sand back shoddy work..and im saying if anybody had to sand back my work with an electric sander (taping or skim)id throw my tools in the bin...a lot of incompetents got away with shoddy work during the last cupla years..can you picture just how bad it must be for the chap to have to sand it back with an electric sander...theres no excuse for it big or small job.

galwaydude18

Ya I can imagine how bad it is! I know of one lad in my trade who hung a 6 panel door upside down and it took an Electrican to point it out to him so ya I know what your saying about trades.

But you even said yourself painters give joint filler a quick rub of sandpaper!

There's no reason in the world for anyone to have to sand skim unless they had a complete gobs***e in doing it and undortunatly the op ended with that happening to him :-(

If I ever had a plaster on job for me that the skim needed to be sanded I would be having the c**t back sanding it or paying to get someone compent in to re skim it for me.

Maudi

galwaydude18 wrote: »

Ya I can imagine how bad it is! I know of one lad in my trade who hung a 6 panel door upside down and it took an Electrican to point it out to him so ya I know what your saying about trades.

But you even said yourself you give joint filler a quick rub of sandpaper!

There's no reason in the world for anyone to have to sand skim unless they had a complete gobs***e in doing it and undortunatly the op ended with that happening to him :-(

If I ever had a plaster on job for me that the skim needed to be sanded I would be having the c**t back sanding it or paying to get someone compent in to re skim it for me.

Stop.i could write a book!we had one gang of 'plasterers'who we gave a start to.and put them into a house and let them on..they were ran when one of the lads checked on them and reported back that they were laying skimcoat on to bare block walls!

Aidan_M_M

Whoa there lads , no need to get into a heated discussion over it! I ended up borrowing my mates panel beater's sander , it's a normal orbital one with a proper HD vacuum attachment . So it kept the dust down. I just used 80 grit on the bad stuff and 120 to 240 elsewhere. It's come out pretty good so far.