Plastering Tools Needed
To get started in plastering there is not a massive amount of tools you need. But as you get more into the trade you will buy more tools that will just make your job easier and you will also do a lot of multi trades so you will find yourself buying extra tools.
So lets get the basics done first
You will need a hawk and trowel.The trowel you use is going to literally down to you some people prefer Marshalltown and others prefer Tyzack I personally prefer Marshalltown they seem to be better made but that's is because its all I know. I started on a 13' marshalltown stainless steel. I bought mine pre worn which basically means the edges are slightly worn. You will find that you will need to do further wearing in and this can be done either using it for floor screeding or rendering but if you are new to the trade you will find that you probably wont be doing such jobs so I would go out and buy an oil stone for a couple of pound and spend an hour or so just tacking the corners off. This will make the trowel useable and in time it will be perfect in fact every plasterer I know gets very protective over their trowels.
Once you have got use to your trowel it is always a good idea to start wearing another trowel in just incase the other one gets damaged or lost for my second trowel I have a Marshalltown 14' stainless again pre worn and I just use it for rendering which is really getting sharp now.
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This is a Marshalltown 13' stainless steel trowel They are around £35 |
The next tool you will need is a hawk this is used to transfer the plaster from the bucket or spot board to your trowel, these come in different sizes and materials I would personally start off with a plastic one as this wont do any damage to your trowel when you are picking the technique up one you get more experienced you will then probably consider moving to a magnesium hawk. I have two hawks one is 13' which I use for skimming then I have a 14' hawk which I use for rendering and floating. Prices for plastic hawks are from about £5 to £30 for a magnesium one. I always try and get the lightest one available as every little helps in the plastering trade.
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This a plastic plasterers hawk they range from £5 - £35 for aluminum or magnesium
You can pick plasterers hawks up at good prices from here |
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The next tool you will need is a plaster mixer or mortar mixer, this come in varying different sizes and range from £50 - £500 so this tool is purely whatever you can afford, I bought my first one from ebay it cost £65 it still goes today. It has variable speed and is 1200w which is perfectly adequate for mixing multi finish. It has also done its fair share of mixing hardwall. A lot of site plasterers have big Bosch mixers which can spin up a bucket of finish in about 30 seconds which is truly amazing but then there is the money implication. If you are just starting out you can buy a cheap drill and buy a paddle for about £40 that will do till you can afford a better one.
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The Plaster mixers range in price from £50 to £500 |
The other things you will need are bucket trowels a selection of small tools for getting into those tight spaces that you cant get into and you will also need a selection of buckets and brushes. Wickes do some pretty good builders buckets for 98p which last for ages and replacing them is not a big expense when you do need to.
I use gorilla tubs for knocking up in if there is not room for a spot board as when the plaster goes hard you give the bucket a kick and it falls out. But if I am working with a board and stand then I use the tall plasterers buckets as the finish plaster is knocked up quicker but it is important that you clean the bucket out straight away as it is a pain when the plaster goes hard in the bottom
So a few other things you will need are Stanley knives, tin snips for cutting angle beads and straight edges for ruling off. Its always wise to have a selection of levels as well as you will need these for setting beads. Straight edges are very hand you mostly need a six foot, a four foot, and a two foot what I did was buy two six foot straight edges and cut four foot off one and hey presto the whole set a lot cheaper than buying individually. I also use a board and stand this makes putting on big areas very easy as taking straight off the bored is a lot quicker than taking it out of the bucket.
The list can go on for tools its really becomes a hobby buying tools as most trades men will tell you but if you do have any more questions you can email us or you can ask on our very busy plastering forum.