Does Being Qualified Make You A Good Plasterer

Does going to College and doing an apprenticeship make you a better plasterer?

  • Yes it does make you better

    Votes: 4 8.9%

  • No it doesn't make you better

    Votes: 26 57.8%

  • Makes no difference

    Votes: 15 33.3%
  • Total voters
    45
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Danny

Danny

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I have worked with lots of plasterers over the years and some have just been on the tools a long time and others went the college route while others have been on a course....

But my question to you is do you think going to college and doing an apprenticeship makes you a better plasterer?

Danny
 
I don't think it does..

In college they can't teach you what happens on site, every job is different and you have so many different backgrounds it's impossible for them to teach that in college.

Getting stuck in on site is by far the best way.
 
A lot of it helps who your mentor is?? I was lucky enough to be trained by a couple of old boys who were brilliant and very meticulous in their approach to plastering and everything had to be done correctly :RpS_thumbup: college helped because you got to have a go with the tools straight away and the theory side of mixes etc plus the advanced craft was great to do the moulding work which most of us don't do on a weekly basis?
I think whoever is training you has the biggest impact and not college! If they cut corners then you will too!?
 
It does make you a better plasterer, in such that you should know the technical side of things, im talking about a proper college course, not a few weeks.... it wont however cover experience on the job,
 
Danny said:
I have worked with lots of plasterers over the years and some have just been on the tools a long time and others went the college route while others have been on a course....

But my question to you is do you think going to college and doing an apprenticeship makes you a better plasterer?

Danny
Click to expand...
NO
 
Going to college gives an overview of all aspects of the trade and an uderstnding as to why you need to do things, but that doesn't mean your a better plasterer.

By the way I was an indentured apprentice who went to college and I have taught the skill, end if the day it all depends how much you want to be a GOOD plasterer
 
No, some of the worst plasterers i've had out have been the 'time served' ones. cutting every corner in the book to get home early.
 
Most trades would say the same but plasterings a mile away from doing a bit and gaining qualifications
 
I thought he was just saying he liked it? It's like people say I've pm'd you .....what the fucks that all about it's like telling the person you've text them?
 
i done a 3 year apprenticeship wen was younger 4 days on site 1 at college
if wernt for the 4 days on site a week id never of got anywere college is 3 block walls one window cut out
few joists going across the top for tacking and that was pretty much it everything was all level and stright were as in the real world nothing is that easy going


huge diffrence between college and real job enviroments
 
Danny said:
I have worked with lots of plasterers over the years and some have just been on the tools a long time and others went the college route while others have been on a course....

But my question to you is do you think going to college and doing an apprenticeship makes you a better plasterer?

Danny
Click to expand...

lets turn the question around, it all depends on what you call a plasterer. are you talking about a skimmer or someone who can skim, render, float, fit plasterboard,fit ewi, lay floor screeds, run moulds, lime mortar internal and external, pargetting,etc.
 
Gibbo said:
Sorry but it aint a load of b*ll***s there is a lot u get taught that comes in usefull
Click to expand...

I agree, the technical aspects are very useful.... you are shown the correct way, then you learn on site the short cuts, however if you dont go to college and work with a lemon, you have no comparison...
 
How to set out curved walls in floating so they are properly curved not freehand how to line columns through properly how to make collars for round sand and cement collars etc
 
Gibbo said:
How to set out curved walls in floating so they are properly curved not freehand how to line columns through properly how to make collars for round sand and cement collars etc
Click to expand...

yeh, I remember all that, i keep reading ( occasionally ) my old books, theres plastering and theres skimming boards... I have worked with great plasterers that have never been to college, but worked with very few rough ones that have, my apprentice asked me when he would be qualified, told him when you can go to work and not worry whether your dashing, screeding, fixing cornice or float out..... going to college gives you the technical know how to do these jobs, then it all depends who you work for....
 
Yes they really are I'm sure the 2-3 years they spend in college and coming out with their head up their ass is a huge advantage over a young lad who's just gained twice the experience plus hands on 100%
 
I too like others were taught by 'old boys' who had an 'old school 'attitude on how to plaster and how to teach....this I guess was passed down to them by their predecessors and likewise for them...so let's say there's a plasterer now who's 70 he could of been taught 50 years ago...say in the 1960's his teacher would possibly of been taught in the 1940's ish...my point is no colleges about in them days, no silly two week courses etc etc...just good old fashioned education,which sadly is being missed these days,in my opinion that is.....it is down to the teacher and whether the pupil response in the correct manor...I know some real nice guys but **** for brains as a plasterer.and likewise some complete arse holes but absolutely top drawer plasterers......down to teaching I guess...
 
I think a 3/4 year indentured apprenticeship all block release like what's been mentioned will make you a better plasterer, it makes sense. I did an indentured apprenticeship and never learnt how to dot and dab till around five years after so was taught how to plaster a wall. forget your dot and dab and skimming for a minute because that's all a site spread will do these days and that's all that's required but get onto the domestic scene in all types of houses this is where an apprenticeship shows it's worth. There is so much you learn in college if the teaching is there and the desire to learn is there. I was on a house today and have a lad helping me who doesn't want to be a plasterer which suits us both, I removed a picture rail today which he called a dado and I put him right. He asked the difference between the two and what's the point of them so I told him "the picture rail is exactly what it says you hang pictures of it and it's decorative". It sounds common sense but some people wouldnt know that then onto the dado "that's also decorative but in some instances it's a man made crack, the bottom half of the wall was plastered in a cement mix to make it harder in places that took a lot of knocks like hospitals, The top half was done in a sand lime Morter to save money". Now I know some will say it's boring or when are you gonna use that in the real world? But that's not the point you have learnt something which one day you might use when someone asks :)
 
thought the dado was a victorian thing typically at the height of the top of a dining chair so that the wall didnt get damaged every time someone pushed the chair back after dinner ... :RpS_unsure:

another thing being their doors opened into a room so that there will always - were possible - be a wall on the opening side. this gave people who w4anking or copulating or whatever that tiny bit of extra time to get themselves together before being seen .. :RpS_unsure:
 
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