I've finally cracked it (no pun intended). With much help and mentoring from Gervase and Ian Bond - to whom I am eternally grateful for their comments and assitance, I've finally worked out why my lime finish coat was cracking and crazing.
It's probably a combination of a factor of things but ultimately it appears to come down to depth of the finish coat. Since my putty is fairly stiff (and not wanting to add water) I'd been using this with a normal sized steel float to plaster the two coats of my finish coat. The result was a depth of probably up to 5/6mm in places.
I've now been mixing the finish plaster a bit wetter, using a small steel float (which rides over the walls undulations better anyway) and applying two almost transparent coats - to a depth of 1 or 2mm in total. The result - a wonderful finish with absolutely no crazing or cracking anywhere - Hurrah!
Thanks once again to Ian and Gervase.
It's probably a combination of a factor of things but ultimately it appears to come down to depth of the finish coat. Since my putty is fairly stiff (and not wanting to add water) I'd been using this with a normal sized steel float to plaster the two coats of my finish coat. The result was a depth of probably up to 5/6mm in places.
I've now been mixing the finish plaster a bit wetter, using a small steel float (which rides over the walls undulations better anyway) and applying two almost transparent coats - to a depth of 1 or 2mm in total. The result - a wonderful finish with absolutely no crazing or cracking anywhere - Hurrah!
Thanks once again to Ian and Gervase.