Help! maybe I'm not cut out for plastering!

[Jon Maine]

The japanese trowels come into their own on things like curved soffits on spiral stairs, I just have a 14" marshaltown that is now around 20 years old and nicely broken in for areas.( hard handle though so gets a bit tough if used for extended periods)

It does appear from the undulating finish on some of the existing remnants that they polished the original topcoat with a small tool in a repetitive P shape sweeping motion about 4" high with a 2" circular motion, this was a technique I had a play with when I used a bit of neat putty for top coat as an experiment and it worked well ( although it shrank and cracked a bit as you would expect). I tried this because much of the original top coat appeared to just be chalky with no visible aggregate. However needless to say we use for around a 1-1 topcoat for the majority of work anyway. Also i found if you get the suction right in around 3 hours it can be polished as if it were a gypsum plaster setting. We did find in places where the suction had varied small chunks were polished more and it was trickier to get an even coat of distemper to cover.

The 16" would just kill me though. 14" gets a bit much sometimes.

I also have a small wooden japanese laying on float which is nice to use. Although I seem to have no problem using the Marshaltown for most things with a leaf tool and the japanese for finer or shaped work.

As for a sprayer we tend to have a good quality sprayhead on a quality hose pipe as it is far less messing about when you have lots to do.

 

[Bitstreams]

Just an update chaps.

I finally managed to get some help with this. I have given up on the las of the Baumit finishing coat and scored back the base coat. With lots of help I've done a test patch using 'fine stuff' from the Old House Store and it's a hundred times better - not least because I was able to go back to it several times.
I'm going to need to take a day off to tackle the main wall, but I'm hopeful I'll be able to get a decent result this time.

If you've come across this thread as a result of searching for information on the Baumit or Hi-Q products then I'd have to suggest that you steer very well clear of them. The local expert who kindly came to have a look was appalled and came back to give me a gave me a much needed lime plastering lesson. Hopefully some of it went in.

Simon

 

[Bitstreams]

It's over a year since I posted the original question. I'll freely admit I started to get embarrassed about my lack of knowledge and the feeling that everything I did was making things worse.

It turns out the Baumit plaster was a bad idea. I finally persuaded a professional to have a look, as a favour, and he gave me a crash course in using real lime plaster and finishing off with lime putty. I finished the room a couple of months ago and whilst the walls are a lot more lumpy than they started out, they're also a lot drier.



I've put slate on the window-sills - probably not very authentic and used clay paint on top of the plaster.

I just wanted to post a follow-up in case anyone else is where I was a year ago. I'll never be a great lime-plasterer and the house will not win any awards for originality, but hopefully it's not going to deteriorate on our watch.

Simon

 

[MdB]

Having taught myself plastering and rendering, I would say your walls look great to me. I must admit to liking the wobbles around the door. Very likely not to be traditional, but I like that style.


Now tell me what a "Smart Quickbed" is ....

 

[Me!]

For anyone who hasn't found it yet, I love this website - Smart Quickbed

 

[Schoolmarm]

Simon that is great and thanks for posting it. What a nice person your plasterer was to give you a crash course.

 

[Flyfisher]

Indeed, and Simon was clearly an attentive pupil because that looks like a fine job to me. I only hope I can achieve something similar when I start on my plastering.

 

[Penners]

I'm a very long way from a skilled plasterer, but I manage to get a passable finish. Like you, I suffer from trowel "corner marks", but I've developed my own trick for getting rid of these.

My best friend is my Plasterer's Small Tool (pause for smutty jokes...), otherwise known as a Leaf & Square tool. I use the leaf end, which has a conveniently curved edge, to very gently smooth out the little ridges that the corners of the main trowel leave. I find it best to leave this operation until the plaster has gone off a fair bit.

 

[philpjuk100]

Great job Simon!

 

[Penners]

Now tell me what a "Smart Quickbed" is ....

I used to know a very intelligent girl.....

 

[inwood]

For those of you that don't like the sandy finish when floating off with a sponge trowl:

Try using a rubber grouting float with the rubber removed. This leaves a very dense sponge. Although my plastering is now at the level where i don't get lines I still get the odd holes where I've not used enough pressure when laying on. The grouting float is great (with a little spray of water - depending on how much the plasters pulled in) for rubbing the surface over to free up some lime and sand. You can then use the steel float to lay this back into the surface. As many have said I find the small marshaltown trowel great as with a smaller plate you can apply more pressure to consolidate the surface.

I've done this for whole walls - laid on first and second coats, allowed it to stiffen up and then roughed up the hole surface with the grouting float and then gone over again with the steel trowel and a small bit of water splashed onto the surface to lubricate the trowel and bring a bit of fat to the top.

Bear in mind though that the denser and harder the finish the less porous and breathable it will become.