Thinking of having a go at some Plastering?

Looking for Plastering tips to brush up as a Plasterers labourer?

Whatever the reason you require Plastering Tips, you can thank your lucky stars that you found the NRP Plastering tips page.

The following Plastering Tips will not turn you into a master Plasterer overnight. However, they should give you a fighting chance at a small to medium sized wall or ceiling.

So before you scan over the Plastering tips looking for what you think are the important parts. STOP!

There are things that you really need to know before you even begin to think about Plastering. Read these Plastering tips and your DIY Plastering project will be a whole lot more manageable.

You never know, you may not have to ring NRP to go over it afterwards!

Plastering Tips: What Tools Do You Need For Plastering?

The tools you will need for Plastering are:

• A hawk
• A trowel
• Gauging trowel
• A mixing stick
• A drill/whisk
• At least two buckets
• A pair of steps or a hop up
• A 1 inch paint brush
• A big brush (6in+)

You can get all of these items from your local DIY store. Alternatively, you can get better quality cheap Plastering tools from Ebay. I wouldn't advise you use the cheapest Plastering tools you can find. I only advise you buy the best you can, cheaply. Cheap Plastering tools will not do the job as well. I personally recommend Marhsalltown for trowels.

Plastering Tips: What materials do you need for Plastering?

These Plastering Tips are based on the intention of the reader making good and skimming. Or in laymans terms, repairing damaged sections of Plaster with a backing coat and then going over this with a finish coat to give a nice, flat and paintable surface. So to that extent, the materials that you require for Plastering are:

• Bonding
• Finish
• PVA Adhesive

Something I must stress is that you do NOT use any of these so called one coat, DIY jobbies. There is no substitute for the following brands of Plaster as far as cost, usability and finish are concerned:

These brands can cost as much as £10 per 25kg bag, depending on where you buy it from. The larger DIY stores usually let it go for around £5 per bag.

What brand of PVA should you use?

PVA can cost a fortune but it really isn't necessary to go splashing out on the most expensive brand. The DIY stores own brand of PVA is usually half the price and will do the job just as well.

Plastering Tips: The Work Area

The first thing you should do before you begin Plastering is to ensure that the area that you intend to work in is as empty as possible, and also as clean as it can be.

There is nothing worse than having to move things, clamber round or generally dodge when Plastering.

Now, providing you have an empty room you should set yourself up a spotboard. This is basically a table that a Plasterer uses to empty buckets of Plaster on so that he can access it without the need to keep bending down to scoop it from a bucket.

Plastering is hard enough without adding to it unnecessarily.

If you haven't got one and would like to get one cheap then click here to buy a spotboard off of Ebay.

Or just about anything else you could need for Plastering, in fact! No seriously. Plastering tools, materials and all manner of things at silly prices. I buy everything off of Ebay. Just turfed my garden with topsoil and turf bought from there. Saved about �150 compared to the main DIY store prices. It's growing lovely too.

Anyway, back to the Plastering Tips.....

The top of your spotboard should be made from finished timber and should be completely clean and free from debris etc.

Before you put any Plaster on your spotboard you should always wet it. This stops your Plaster drying out too quickly on the board.

You should always keep the edge that you are taking your Plaster from as free from drying Plaster as possible. You can use a wet brush for this.

This will prevent you from dragging lumps across your newly Plastered wall.

So, you have a tidy + empty room, your spotboard is set up and been wetted down. It's time to start Plastering, right?

Slow down, speedy. If you steam ahead without reading the rest of these Plastering tips then I am 98% certain that you'll look like a pillock in front of the MRS.

No one really needs that do they?

You'll have it thrown at you year in, year out....

So with that in mind, let's continue with the Plastering Tips shall we?

Plastering Tips: Surface preparation

Before you can begin Plastering you need to make sure that all surfaces are clear of loose debris, stripped of wallpaper and have had all screws + nails etc removed.

Once you are certain that your wall or ceiling is free of the above then you must prime your surfaces with a PVA Adhesive and water based solution.

It is advisable to mix this up fairly thickly if you are a novice and even if you are not to be honest. You should apply the PVA solution with a roller or a big brush.

Be aware that this is a messy job and you should ensure that all surfaces are well protected with dust sheets.

What the PVA does is puts a film over old work to stop the new Plaster drying out too quickly and possibly cracking.

The only surface that doesn't require the application of a PVA solution is Plasterboard/dry-lining. This surface doesn't have the same level of suction as say, old cement. The only preparation you need for Plasterboard is the taping of the joints. This is called 'scrimming' and again, you can pick this up cheaply from Ebay.

It is important that you do not start Plastering until the PVA solution is completely dry to the touch. If you try before, the Plaster will slide all over the wall and she'll be behind you waiting to tell you she should have got a 'man in'!

Plastering Tips: Mixing the Plaster

Ok, Plaster mixing tips. Can't be that many of those, right? Wrong again. Get this part wrong or skip over the tips here and you could be pulling your hair out!

Ok, clean room, walls + ceilings have been cleared of all screws and nails, walls have had at least one coat of PVA solution and your spotboard is ready.

Now you need some buckets. If you have any more than one wall that requires Plastering then I recommend you get a bucket that is bigger than your average 99p DIY plastic pale.

You really don't want to be mixing up a new bucket of Plaster whilst you have half a wall on and it's drying! It makes Plastering much easier if you have enough Plaster mixed up to complete the entire coat without the need to mix up again halfway through.

Ok, so you are going to need a minimum of 2 buckets. One of these should be half filled with water and this will serve as your 'washing off' bucket. Use a dustpan brush/paint brush to clean your hawk and trowel off as necessary.

It's very important to keep both yourself and your tools clean during any Plastering project

You should replace the water in your cleaning bucket every so often. You will have to judge this yourself but be sure not to pour Plaster down any drains. The water is ok, but make sure that you scoop any Plaster at the bottom of the bucket into a bag that can be gotten rid of somehow once you are finished. If you do pour water down a drain then make sure you attempt to wash it through with clean water, hot if possible.

OK, so now you have your cleaning bucket set up it's time to get your water for your Plaster. As a guide, just over half a bucket of water will produce a full bucket of Plaster.

Again, you will have to judge the amount needed as I cannot see the size of the wall or ceiling you intend to Plaster after reading these Plastering Tips!

You should now pour the Plaster into the water.

Get your whisk going but be careful not to go to quickly as you'll just splash Plaster everywhere. Keep going until the mix has the consistency of say........thick Custard??? I don't know, how else do you explain the consistency of Plaster to someone?

Using your gauging trowel you should now clean the edges of your bucket. By sliding the side of your gauging trowel around the circumference of your bucket of Plaster you will rid the sides of any dry Plaster so that it can be thoroughly mixed in.

You will now need to mix the Plaster so that there are NO LUMPS in it WHATSOEVER. You cannot produce a flat surface with lumps in your Plaster.

If you think it's ready, give it another minute, ensuring that you whisk all of the Plaster from the bottom of the bucket.

You should now clean your tools with your brush and water bucket. If you don't clean your whisk now then the Plaster will begin to set and you'll get lumps in your next mix. You wont be able to whisk these out.

Keeping clean during Plastering is extremely important. It's the only way you can avoid ending up with lumps in your gear.

Plastering Tips: Making Good

Before you can apply a finish coat Plaster, you will have to 'make good' any damaged sections of the area to be Plastered.

Things like chases for wiring, 'blown' patches of Plaster and lumps or dips.

For making good I would advise you use bonding. It's fairly easy to use and simple to mix. You can get away without using a whisk with bonding. A bit of 2x1 batten will do for mixing this stuff.

You would normally mix bonding to a thicker consistency than finish coat Plaster. Unless, of course, you were leveling a wall or 'feathering' into something.

Before you begin making good with bonding, you will need to have cleared all areas you intend to make good of loose debris and dust etc. It's also generally a good idea to wet these. In fact, it would do no harm at all to apply PVA solution to the areas being as you are not a highly skilled Plasterer.

You need to apply to bonding with your trowel, making sure that any areas being filled are actually 'being filled'.

Deeper areas may require that you apply two coats of bonding.

If, even after you have run your trowel or straight edge over the bonding it still hangs proud, simply rake some out, trowel over it again to keep the edges of your patch clean and then wait for it to dry enough to push another tight coat over it.

You must ensure that the area you have bonded is the same level as the existing wall and that all excess bonding is removed from the edges.

Basically, the flatter a surface is, the easier it is to Plaster.

Plastering Tips: Putting on the 1st coat of Plaster

Ok, you've done all your making good, you room is clear, your water bucket and brush is at the ready, you have a clean trowel and a wet hawk and you have a spotboard full of Plaster.

The PVA adhesive on the surfaces you intend to Plaster has dried to the touch and you are ready to go.

If you are doing ceilings and walls it is best to do the ceiling first to avoid splashes from this going onto a finished wall.

Choose a corner to start from and set up your steps or hop up. I work left to right, but do what feels comfortable to you.

Take the Plaster off of your spotboard from the side of the mound and try and keep the back of your trowel clean.

Once you have some Plaster on your hawk you take it off by tilting the hawk and sweeping the bottom edge of your trowel across it.

You will probably need a few goes at this, Plasterers make it look easy. But it's not. Not straight away, anyhow.

So how to best apply Plaster?

Thinly! I used to make the mistake of just piling it on and then flattening it in after.

This is a mistake for 2 reasons, possibly more. The first one being that if the Plaster dries quicker than you expect you will have your work cut out trying to flatten it all in.

Secondly, if you apply your skim coat thinly and endeavour to flatten as you go, you'll have an easier time when it comes to 'laying it down'.

The purpose of the first coat is to lose any discrepancies or uneven sections of the existing wall level.

So generally speaking, the flatter the first coat the easier it will be to apply the second thus producing a better finish....

Plastering Tips: Laying It Down

Now would be a good time to tell you that if you play around with the Plaster too much when it's on the wall, you will 'kill' it. It reacts and you end up with a 'sore' looking patch.

Once the top coat has been on for around 10 minutes (You need to be the judge really!) you will need to go over this to remove lines and fill any dips or lumps. You will need a clean trowel for this.

Trowel across the Plaster taking care not to be pulling it off as you go. Chase the lines out of it and use the build up on your trowel to push into dips and rule them off to make them flush. Repeat this until you have covered the wall completely.

If you are not happy with the results then give it 7 minutes or so and lay it down again.

Plastering Tips: Applying The Second Coat

The purpose of the second coat of Plaster is to face fill any small areas missed by the first coat and to produce a flatter surface generally.

The second coat of finish Plaster doesn't need to be quite as thick as the first. Wetter Plaster is easier to spread thinly. But be careful not to make it too wet. It will end up everywhere! If we said the consistency of.......Angel delight? What?

You need to trowel a tight coat of Plaster over your first coat. You should start in the same place that you did with the first coat to ensure corresponding drying times.

A good tip on the second coat of Plaster in not to build up your corners too much.

By this I mean apply the Plaster a couple of inches away from any corners/ceiling lines. Simply use some excess plaster from your trowel to fill the couple of inches left afterwards.

Doing it this way will give you better looking lines as you haven't heaped excess Plaster into the edges.

Once you are completely satisfied that you have evenly applied your second coat of finishing Plaster then your are ready to sit down for 5 minutes.

Providing the Plaster is still wet enough! That's the thing with Plastering, you are completely governed by drying times.

A number of factors can affect drying times:

• Room temperature
• Type of background
• Age of Plaster you are using
• Windows being open

Unfortunately, these Plastering Tips will not be able to help you here. You will need to be your own judge, but as a rule, if the Plaster is still wet enough to spread after you have finished applying your second coat, you could probably get away with that cup of tea!

Plastering Tips: Laying It Down Again

I know we already covered laying it down, but this time you need to be a little more careful.

Now is the time to ensure that all edges and ceiling lines are nice and clean. This is achieved by making sure the edge of the trowel gets pushed right into the corners and even pressure is applied.

Remember, laying down the second coat shouldn't require any pulling off. Flattening it in is the name of the game.

Any parts missed with the second coat can be filled using the build up on your trowel and wiped over to make flush as you go.

Once you have covered the whole area, now would be a good time to get the 1 inch brush, dip it in some CLEAN water and wet your edges and ceiling lines in.

This should be done when the Plaster is no longer able to be worked and is hard to the touch as you will end up brushing it off otherwise.

Plastering Tips: A Wet Trowel

Ok, now your Plastered wall has started to go off, you have all the lines taken out of it and it is beginning to look a lot like you intended it to, right?

What you need to do now is begin the polishing stage. This is done by applying a few brush flicks of water to the Plastered area and then running this water firstly across the Plaster and ultimately off of it again.

Be certain not to overdo it with the water and make sure that you are using a fresh bucket of water with your brush when you are at this stage.

Start flicking the water in the corner you started in and pull the same way as you did when you applied the Plaster. You need to separate the water from the Plaster. This can be quite messy.

You also need to know that leaving water on the ceiling will leave water marks that may require sanding and filling. So don't leave any!

Repeat the process until you are satisfied that you have covered the area fully.

Looking good yet?

I sincerely hope that you are not actually referring to this whilst Plastering next door......

Plastering Tips: A Dry Polish

To get the glass effect on your Plastering you need to polish it

Assuming 5-10 minutes has passed since you finished giving your top-coat a wet trowel, you should be ready to administer a dry trowel, or polish.

This is to ensure that all watermarks are removed and any final digs or blemishes are also taken care of.

Go over your Plastered area, making sure that you do nothing else to damage your, hopefully, well Plastered wall or ceiling. Once you have finished, stand back and admire your handywork.

How does is look?

Are you satisfied with your Plastering efforts?

If not, then wait 5 minutes and polish your work again.

Plastering Tips: Summary

Firstly, thanks for taking the time to read our Plastering Tips.

Whilst our Tips cannot do the Plastering for you, they can help you become aware of the pitfalls and what to do to make your Plastering project go that much more smoothly......

All the best,
NRP

P.S If you found these Plastering Tips useful please share them on your favourite social sites:

Alternatively, you may link to this page by copying and then pasting the following code into forum posts, blog posts or your own website.

To do this please add this code:

<a href="http://www.nrpplastering.co.uk/plastering_tips.html">Plastering Tips from NRP</a>

Connect with Hertfordshire Plasterers NRP

Get a Plastering call back:

Simply fill in the form below and we will usually call you back within 12 hours.

Don't forget! NRP are dedicated to providing free Plastering Tips but also real help with anything related to Plastering. Check the menu on the right, under the header 'more plastering help' to access Plastering tips, Plastering tools, Plastering books and much more besides Plastering tips. Please check back soon for updates.

All the very best,
NRP Plastering Services