I have a big, old and crumbling house in Manchester and the final plastering I’ve decided to do myself.
In the past I’ve had plasterers in to do some of the rooms with few issues. However the stairs, corridors and landings are a different matter: 3 storey, narrow and some tricky, very tall spots near the stairs. Had six plasterers in to quote but they just don’t want the work - 3 didn’t even come back with a quote for the work. I did get a guy on a recommendation from a friend but he left day 2 with a story so unbelievable that I couldn’t even bring myself to reply.
After all the let downs I decided that it was never going to happen unless I did it myself. So.... I put myself and a friend on a 4-day plastering course to learn the system and techniques. This is purely so I can tackle my own basic projects around the home.
I have a few questions...
The plasterer that came for one day has PVA’d my walls and added what appears to be sand to the mix. This was done a month ago.
On one of the walls. (This is plasterboard base with plaster on top and then this PVA sand mix). I put another two layers of PVA over and left it until tacky before starting , maybe an hour. This is god damn awful to plaster over as so gritty. I used Thistle multi-finish. On the first coat some bubbles appeared but then did disappear on the second. I used a smaller than average metal handle that is new and it felt very labour intensive.
Q1, Was I correct to PVA over the PVA and sand mix?
Q2, Should I have plastered over the PVA mix whilst still tacky or left overnight on account of there being this sand on the wall?
Q3, Shall I get a trowel that has already being weathered in ie like the gold one?
Q4, Shall I sand out all the existing PVA grit mix and get some blue grit and use that? Most of my other walls are old with a variety of different surfaces.
Would really appreciate any assistance!
In the past I’ve had plasterers in to do some of the rooms with few issues. However the stairs, corridors and landings are a different matter: 3 storey, narrow and some tricky, very tall spots near the stairs. Had six plasterers in to quote but they just don’t want the work - 3 didn’t even come back with a quote for the work. I did get a guy on a recommendation from a friend but he left day 2 with a story so unbelievable that I couldn’t even bring myself to reply.
After all the let downs I decided that it was never going to happen unless I did it myself. So.... I put myself and a friend on a 4-day plastering course to learn the system and techniques. This is purely so I can tackle my own basic projects around the home.
I have a few questions...
The plasterer that came for one day has PVA’d my walls and added what appears to be sand to the mix. This was done a month ago.
On one of the walls. (This is plasterboard base with plaster on top and then this PVA sand mix). I put another two layers of PVA over and left it until tacky before starting , maybe an hour. This is god damn awful to plaster over as so gritty. I used Thistle multi-finish. On the first coat some bubbles appeared but then did disappear on the second. I used a smaller than average metal handle that is new and it felt very labour intensive.
Q1, Was I correct to PVA over the PVA and sand mix?
Q2, Should I have plastered over the PVA mix whilst still tacky or left overnight on account of there being this sand on the wall?
Q3, Shall I get a trowel that has already being weathered in ie like the gold one?
Q4, Shall I sand out all the existing PVA grit mix and get some blue grit and use that? Most of my other walls are old with a variety of different surfaces.
Would really appreciate any assistance!
