Question about using plaster.

[demographic]

Bit of a tangent, but is Plaster the Norm in Europe, or has it largely been replaced by Drywall like in the US?  Or is there a 3rd or 4th option that is the norm (400 years of patch...aka charm)?

I can't really comment for areas other than the north of England but for what its worth...
Here we usually use a plaster skim finish over plasterboard on household and smaller areas. As far as I'm concerned its a far better finish than taped and jointed walls.
Larger areas on commercial buildings tend to get plasterboard then taped and jointed, otherwise the plasterer has to go nuts to get a load of plaster on in one go.

Then in places subject to flooding risk (I live in Carlisle which has had considerable flooding over the last 20 years) it's quite common to just plaster over the brickwork in the downstairs of properties so if it floods it takes far less time to sort out.

Bear in mind that I'm not a plasterer so have gaps in my knowledge of the subject.
I sometimes screw plasterboard on walls I've made but generally avoid it if I can.

 

[Cheese]

The Tape Techs lay the compound down glass smooth with very little to no lap marks. I have the full set.

Thanks again Tom [member=4105]tjbnwi[/member] , I found this video on Tape Tech...it all makes sense, I like the design.  The Marshalltown knives always take off more compound than I'd like and the outer edges usually leave tracks.
=3

 

[AlexThePalex]

Hmm, remarkable how I get little to no answer to my question and this thread now seems to be about something that has no bearing whatsoever to my original question.  [scratch chin]

Is there no one here with any real experience in plastering?

 

[bertv]

Is there no one here with any real experience in plastering?

My experience is limited to small projects using Fix & Finish, which is the most forgiving plaster, because excess can be easily sanded off and deficit corrected by using it like a putty ('plamuur'). The fact that you need to apply quite thin coats helps you achieve a flat surface — which can be improved by defining sections with strips of leveled out plaster, which allows you to use a wide scraper. It does often take a couple of passes to get a really good result.

When and if 'real' plastering is necessary, I leave it to a pro.

Hope this helps. : )

 

[tjbnwi]

Hmm, remarkable how I get little to no answer to my question and this thread now seems to be about something that has no bearing whatsoever to my original question.  [scratch chin]

Is there no one here with any real experience in plastering?

Plastering is no longer widely used in the U.S. My experiance with it is very limited. My uncle could plaster anything, he was a trowel tradesman, I'd ask him for advice, but he past away 20 years ago.

I did look at the Knauf website. I can't tell from reading it if the products you're asking about are for brown/base coats or are the actual topcoat. I do know here (as shown in Cheese's photo) plaster is a built up system. Lath or drywall/blue board, brown/scratch coat then a white/top coat.

You answered one of your questions about the minimium thickness.

Here, as I pointed out, to achieve the finsih level you're looking for it would be compounds and finishing knifes.

Reading the description of your wall substrates, I see no reason why the method would not work.

If plaster white coat is the way you really want to go, look into plastering darby's.

I strongly recommend you remove the wall paper or use a conditioning sealer. The mostuire in the topcoats can lossen the paper causing bubbles in the skim coat.

Tom

 

[DeformedTree]

Alex,  sorry we couldn't help much on the actual act of plastering.  In the US it's basically dead everyplace outside of episodes of "this old house".  That's why I was curious what goes on over there.  And since you all live in castles and many hundred year old brick farm houses, plaster makes sense.  But that's also why I'd expect more people over there to know and this forum is clearly mainly Americans. If plaster is still common, I wonder if tools and methods for doing it have goes easier over time.  Like a Festool Plasterex that spreads it on the wall perfectly for you.

Something that is a combination of a concrete power trowel, shaper origin, material spreader.

I agree with learning a skill when the opportunity is there. Good luck

 

[Jiggy Joiner]

Over here, the thickness of the finish coat depends on the type of plaster, and what the finish plaster is going onto.

For finishing over drywall (plasterboard) and probably most surfaces, I like to see a minimum of 3-4mm because it will cover the scrim joints, and give good coverage on the angle beads.

Finish on top of sand and cement render, or bonding coat may be a little thicker still by time it has filled any keying lines etc. Although I’ve often seen it very thin.

When skimming over old finish, we normally first coat with Gyp-bond or similar which is textured PVA. Then skim finish, if no angle beads are used, I’ve seen the finish as thin as 1mm, which often cracks.

All said and done, providing angle beads are covered, and scrim joint etc, and the overall is flat, the finish can be various thickness.
Generally though, it will be 2-4mm
I favour a good thickness to help eliminate cracking.

That really goes for other types of plaster too, for bonding plaster, on very uneven walls, the thickness before the finish goes on, could be between 3-25mm or more.
The bonding is applied to pull out dips and uneven surfaces. Quite often this type of plaster will be around 13mm before finish.

I’ve taken out brick walls where the bonding coat has been 70mm in places. In that instance personally, rather than load the wall up with thick bonding, I’d dot and dab the wall nice and plumb, then skim it.

 

[Girl_w_Style]

Not sure if u got all the info u need already but just a tid bit from a trade plaster & decorative finisher....

If your existing walls have wallpaper on them, that needs to be stripped off before any plaster work is done. Wallpaper is made in layers & when the top decorative layer delaminates from the base paper it will cause sagging...plaster has a high water content that will quickly cause this to happen.

As for the plastering- have u considered hiring out? The guys who plaster for a living can have it done in a day or less & it will be perfect...its not a hard skill to learn but mastering it is.

If your intent on doing it yourself & don’t have previous experience with a trowel I HIGHLY recommend you practice practice practice on a few sheets of primed drywall in the garage.

 

[AlexThePalex]

Hello Girl with style, welcome to the forum and thank you for your reply.

It was always my intent to do this job myself, as I want to learn how to do it. I know the basics, read the theory, watched the tutorial videos on the net, and still it is a very hard thing to do to get it right. But I'm getting there slowly but surely and I got a lot of wall space in my own house to practice on.

I want to learn it because I do a lot of jobs for people in and around the house and they often ask me if I can plaster a wall for them. I always had to say no, better hire a professional plasterer, but the last year I got the opportunity to practice a bit in my own tempo, and with my own unique appraoch I turned a big mess into a perfectly flat wall. But unfortunately not in the efficient way it is supposed to be done, not how a professional plasterer does it.

Started working in my hallway now and while I did mess up my first two walls, the next ones were quite promising. Gladly, if you mess up, you can start over again. Only the sanding with my Rotex 150 is extremely tedious and very messy, so I am trying to get to the point where I can avoid that.

I'll get there eventually, I was just hoping to maybe get some tips from people with real plastering experience.

 

[Girl_w_Style]

Ahhh gotcha!! My house is a constant lab experiment in progress too haha.

Good on u for tackling such a skill head on! The trowel handling & pressure is honestly the hardest part, as I’m sure you’ve noticed by now.

Glad to hear you’ve been making progress, its crazy how fast u start to develop your own style & rhythm when plastering...careful tho- it can be addicting! Lime plaster work is my meditation

 

[AlexThePalex]

Nah, the trowel handling is ok I guess, what I find hardest is flattening and smoothing it all with these two things (dunno their names in English):

[attachimg=1] [attachimg=2]