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Yeah I'm just a bit worried as it's not in specs. Im old and get confused with these products and what they can and can't do. Was only s and c in my day. Working with them is great all the same. As long as I don't get any posts in the coming days saying I'm stupid and it will all fall off I'll...

Hi all , Quick question. Can I use a basecoat over plasterboard? It's an internal garage with insulation boards but one small wall has had plasterboard dabbed onto it. Can just skim it but would be as handy just to put a thin coat on if I can Cheers

Cheers, it's a light coat so might get away with it.... New to all the new materials! Would of been scudded, scratched and rubbed up in my day!

Maybe a stupid question but can I just use ordinary sand and cement over a maite scratch coat? It's only a small area 10m and with this virus I can't get the ehi stuff. Client painting it all anyways so if I can get it out of the way..... Tyia

https://nelatrowels.co.uk/prods/334213/14andquot---nela-carbon-steel-premium-trowel.html Good job? Stiff enough? I'll go with that as I like the handle on the mediflex.. Doesn't need broke in with sand and cement? And not bent like the machine ready ones? Cheers

Howya! As title, need to replace my very trusty Mt xtra lite. Would get another one but don't use s and c much to get it broke in. Anyone recommend me a proper trowel that is similar and doesn't need broke in. Tyia

I know how you feel! jobs hard enough but it's the easy bit. fecking getting the good work, dealing with customers and builders and getting paid can do your head in all right! Plus feast or a famine all the time, lot to be said for a handy job that you just turn up 9 to 5 each day, pension paid...

Aye seen it all myself, took a lad with me, he had skimmed a few rooms for friends and family, in fairness he wasnt totally useless but by heck did he think he knew it all! Called himself a plasterer and slagging other lads work but you knew he had never set foot on a site in his life as soon as...

Always had a good labourer up until the "crash" either part of a day rate or the prices covered him, 1+1never an issue but since then you can't afford them so I work alone on domestics and small sites. 80 a day for a decent one so 400+ on a weeks work and with so many undercutters I had to let...

Plasterer who can't stick a few 6x3 boards up on their own..... Don't make em like they used to. load of slabbing nails in the mouth, head on the board and fire them up, knew a fella had a sponge hat for ease

On the materials thing now..... A lot of clients now are very smart and look up the price online and question why I'm more expensive so I exclaim that's fantastic and go load a load of the shitty bags into their nice clean car and haul them upstairs into the room for me. Once they think of the...

To be fair I'm already gone at hall stairs landing tune out, very busy, double price. He had the double effect of mentioning he didn't have much money so im only being polite before hanging up. He was moments away from saying he could help mix the stuff if it was any cheaper

Some good advice above, see what citizens advice say in the meantime. some odd comments about these lifestyles on the dole. It's about 70 quid a week? dunno how you get 2 holidays a year on that! nor would it pay your shopping! Anyways.... You pay into the system with your stamps so its an...

Take her handy mate, gonna be a slow burner to get back. listen to the doctors and enjoy the rest as best you can. You'll be back skimming hot walls in 40c heat for feck all money in no time

Hope you get well soon dude

Only reason I do this sh1t is for the money, so yes. You'll never see a rich plasterer all the same. Weekend millionaires

Is SBR a waterproofer? Worked with a guy was using a dash of it on an old brick gable in the scratch coat.I walked as I said he couldn't rub it with that. Maybe it would of been OK, what do I know. Anyways medusa was the only gig in town in my day

Fair play and a big hit yous took on! I'd struggle with that :-) although I'm old fashioned with only a trowel. When your doing the ceiling and round the beads why don't you dub out round them and cover scrim first? If I don't do that it's too heavy round them and the scrim tends to show...

Its all about the calligraphy font stick on quotes these days. Hopefully they pull the plaster off when we are back to porcelain dolphins. Yep, wet plastic bag is a great job

Carlite and ultra dry greyish

Just drag the rule over it or Darby it. I always imagine I'm going to do that but just scratch it with little interest or motivation. More important to get the additives right and worry about that more

Not talking prices, talking about pure exploitation :-( Much work around north Dublin clemo? Was half thinking of moving back to drogheda next year, was getting 200 a day in south dub but after parking, fuel and tolls was hopeless, never mind sitting in that traffic. Are they back to throwing...

Simon85 , would you go out on your own in the future? I might have a job coming up in a couple of months , work in Ballyclare , clock watching and patching £14.5o per hour , wouldn't be till Nov , sure if your quiet then let me know. Defo £10 a window , when we started they butchered them and...

Again its no accident we are all on the same shitty rate , these contractors all sit down and discuss wages with each other , they control demand and supply so they dont have to push wages up. They are making a killing now as they are charging boom prices and paying us next to nothing. Sure its...

i was on a tenner a window , kept the joiners sweet and they took them out without damaging the heads and reveals. 6 or 7 windows a house and easily do 2 even if they needed the reveals formed. Sometimes it was a bit of half and half round all the windows in a house :) I have fond memories of...

back in the 90's i worked for , Pattons , Henrys , Pilot,Mascott and also the plastering lads , Clarkes , McAlesse etc Always took home £500+ , usually around £700 , just a standard days work too for it , 2 hits and always home by 4 Whats going on now is a madness! Even the housing executive...

I said what i think is fair , on site knocking the metres out then you should be on a big note , taking home £750 at least and working up from there as you get a routine going. Day rate is different esp in a squad with a small builder , i find it easier to work alone , if somethings not ready...

Good luck with it :) Be sure to keep us posted on how it goes , i have a suspicion you wont lift a trowel ever again after it :) Work like that is a melter unless you are experienced but youll get it done , just dont wear warm clothes ;)

ten years ago you thought of a price and tripled it! that was wrong too and i stupidly didnt do it but rates now are the same as the 90's , ive been offered jobs for money i paid my labourer a day :)

Thats no accident either! Can you think of any other job in the world that you do day in/day out and dont know what the rates are? divide and conquer , everyone against each other and getting nowhere. The irish are the worst for it too. Do you ever see any other trades on the site stressed? Are...

fair play to ya , good stretch to tackle on your own. I had someone say about that , put the stuff on right to left too! Never tried it myself , if it hangs at the end of the day i just rub a few sheets of newspaper over it

No mate , too slow for site work. 15 years or more since i did a site Easier when your younger and money was always decent on the grip , i dunno whats going on now , rates from the 90s! Problem is nobody sticks together and has no idea what the rates are and what they should be asking for then...

Aye its a madness! I seen a load of lads last week , firing on 6-9 tubs as a 2 and 1 , just about clearing a wage Work rough as feck too on 400k+ new builds , new squad every few houses Its their own fault , been the same for all my life. Plenty of work and their happy with their lot , annoys me

Dont seem to do as many exteriors as i used to. Used to do a lot of roughcast here in NI but not so much now Dry dash and K-rend but mostly just rubbing up these days. Also done a lot of stucco work with various textures over in California. Still just cant enjoy plastering , well i dont mind...

if you have to ask they will eat you alive ;) You need a good squad for a start , proper labourer and 2 good spreads. If your getting what you say on domestics and plenty of it then why would you go to site?

I do a lot of these , very few of them are a handy day! As said the paint is usually the killer so needs grit or else its arsing about patching the boarding and dubbing out Then all the covering up through the house etc Plus as a general rule never do anything without seeing it first , dead...

I had a company that were finding it hard sourcing men around the country so QS dealt with me and agreed more or less "the rates" if i travelled and completed the jobs. Was about one a month, weeks work , job was fairly handy but the prices were the eye opener! family enjoyed the few holidays...

Can't speak highly enough of the nela mediflex! Use SS marshallTown to apply first, second coat and close in. Then mediflex I'd near enjoy skimming it's that easy Had halogens and natural light along big walls and looks good to me

I'm doing one today, just said it's best keeping it simple, 5/1/1. Skim over although only the front. Problem is the surround has been fitted poorly, wasn't secured so all the heat escaping around it blew plaster off. Easy to tighten up with plugs. Told her can't guarantee it unless the...

OK thanks folks. Maybe a retarder in it, hopefully it's dry tomorrow. At least I got a new float broke in

Was ready mix so no idea but would of been standard. I haven't seen it so don't know how soft it is but he's saying he can't stand on it. Was packed down and the stuff was standard , was going off after a few hours. Just the usual, I haven't done one in years but never had this problem...

What's the general setting time for dry screed? 48 hours and still spongey. Was 70mm with the odd bit deeper and a few spots shy. Black plastic and insulation, only odd thing was light polythene type plastic over all that, then the screed on top. House was damp at one time as work is dpc but...

what a load of bollux? Think your working a bit hard love and need to take her a bit easy ;) Stress is a killer! anyways not everyone can be as perfect and exemplary as you are so in this lads case he is offered steady work and with a large mortgage and three kids he needs that over anything...

I posted a similar rant about this a while back. i worked with a guy , six years with same company , company logo on van yet self employed. So days off with no pay when job not ready , no sick pay , no guarantee of work , no pension etc. If he went away to take a better paid job for a few weeks...

if your doing it for the money forget about it. You always end up spending a fortune. And if you think about the hours worked and the travel there and back etc , you would get the same money at home working 12 hour shifts

Formby, im happy and have a better understanding of who I am, definitely less stressed. Funny as I was the same, loads giving me advice and warning me but at that time I thought they were all bitter weirdos ;-) Best of luck, no reason why it won't work out and ill send some positivity :-)...

Best thing to do is get your plasterer over to look at the job and discuss what he would like prepped. Very good of you to do it , most wouldnt even clean the room out :) But dont stress about it , take you an hour to fill a few holes flush and take us 2 minutes so dont worry about it

Rossi, took a few years but 100% saved me.

And now or never is a lie, she could easily wait till the kids start school? Comprise a little? She's definitely thinking 100% about herself, in my opinion. Good luck pal, I was the nice guy too, only thought about the family. My advice is to go away and seriously think about what you want...

I was in a similar position, 2 kids, partner wanted to go to uni for nursing, from what I remember it was a years access course and a 3 year uni course. She didn't drive which was a killer too! First year wasnt too bad as she could skip the odd class and timetable wasn't too bad so I just...