Bellcast beads

[jaspla]

Hello fello plasterers!

I wondered if anyone can help me. I haven't as yet done much rendering and one thing that frustrates me is applying and finishing bellcast beads. How would you normally fix bellcast beads to the wall? sometimes i've tacked them with nails to hold in place and then dub over them with a bit of sand and cement. Would you normally build the drip shape out in the scratch coat? And how do you get the nice curve, all my float seems to want to do is dig in to the curve and mess it all up. Do i need to use a well rounded float over the drip area? And one more thing, how do I form the nice angled edge details that you see either side of a drip bead over window and door areas? I've always hated rendering but I would like to get into it a bit more now.

Any help out there would be appreciated, cheers lads :-/

 

[trowledover]

nail the bell cast bead its easier to nail into the sand and cement joins rather than brick. Start to form the bell cast on the sctatch coat and finish it off on the floating coat when your rubbing it up with your float just be carfull.

corners i take it your reffering to external walls two ways you can do this use an angle bead stainles steel or plastic or other way nail a block of wood to corner use the wood as your line once done take it off and do otherside.

above windows and doors apply the bell cast apply render with the ed.ges cut the angle into it with your trowel and scrape it away

hope this helps
any other querys just post away and i will try and help you out as much as i can

 

[jaspla]

Thats great, thanks for your help. I've got my own workshop to render at home at the end of the garden so i'll give it a go on that. I'm not too shabby at all rubbing up and with the help you've just given me it should turn out lovely. I'll post the pics when its done.

I was thinking of using a mix of 4 sand, 1 cement with some rendamix for the scratch coat and 5 sand, 1 lime and 1 cement for the finish coat. Do you use these mixes or would you sugest something else. I'll be rendering onto medium density blocks and its a single skin wall

Thanks again for taking the time to reply back.

jaspla

 

[trowledover]

yes the mix ratios are good, i would also use the lime in the scratch coat aswell as the floating coat the lime will allow the wall to breath and aid suction.
once you have rubed it up with your float any scratches etc its worth going over with a sponge, type of sponge you woulg wash the windows with.
be carful with the lime, with your eyes and breathing it in

also i would put in some plastersizer with a waterproofer in

 

[jaspla]

Great, I'll give that a go. Cheers

 

[trowledover]

oh and what i did forget to mention and im sure you are aware anyway
when i put bell casts over doors abd windoes i always form a trap to stop water running into the frame two ways you can do this run some of your render at an angle so the water cant run up or what i do apply render and form a trap with either pushing a pencil into it or using a brick jointer.

let us know how you get on

 

[jaspla]

Do you mean a trap as in the run away angles either side of the bellcast bead or are you refering to the underside of the bellcast?

Also I was thinking today, what calculations do you use for calculating quantities of materials for rendering jobs? ie sand, cement and lime etc. I used to have the calcs from my college course but they still have my portfolio with all my work in.

How much do you normally charge for labour per square meter of render?

:-/

 

[trowledover]

yes traps underside of bellcast.

difficult to say how much materials for job, its the size of the job.

i think the going rate external render is about £35 to £40 squre meter, i normally charge by the days work.

days work + VAT + materials most expensive bit if scaffold is involved

 

[jaspla]

trowledover, you've been a great help.

Thanks