First time DIY'er looking to get some muck on my walls.

[Nicm]

I got 30 litres of blue grit so gonna soldier on with with the prep. If there are any bits that are blown out I'll hack it off. If I balls it up I'll hack it off and keep trying until I get a decent finish. I'll get a pro in for the more advanced areas and watch and learn.

A pro will tell you leave him alone till he's finished.And have his money ready.

 

[Optimum]

Ok then pick the wall ur gonna do and get the Chase's bonded and flat then pregrit the wall just do the one wall mate u need to leave the pregrit 24 hours after u put it on before plastering then get everything ready send me a pic when it's pregrited and your all ready to start don't spend loads on the best trowels just get a hawk and trowel ur comfy with for now size of trowel etc and get a plastering sponge float it might just be the thing that saves u and a water spray bottle. If your gonna do this then I will give u all the help I can

 

[Dropsalot]

Remember.....always face the wall you're plastering.
Always start from the left or the right......
Never plaster on a Tuesday......
Learn to whistle.....(it's a useful skill)...
Never push when you should be pulling.....and vice versa....
A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single malt......maybe...

 

[bopper]

And we will all be here to cheer you on every step of the way......won't we men.

 

[grounzero]

A pro will tell you leave him alone till he's finished.And have his money ready.

True, this week I looked after some work experience kids in my day job (software engineer) and actual output has been zero

 

[grounzero]

Ok lads, I managed to get as far as blue gritting over the weekend, It seemed to run down the walls quite a bit so caked it on like a whores makeup.

A 10 litre tub wasn't enough to do the small room as the wall you can't see in the picture isn't yet done and I need to fill in some gaps on the ceiling. I might get an extended roller for that as holding my arm above my head for long periods was pretty tough.

Am I doing ok so far?

 

[aufweder]

Mate it's gonna cost you a fortune in blue grit one tub should do at least three rooms get a tub of pva and put some water in with both keep knocking it together so grit doesn't settle on the bottom, I can't tell you ratios as we've been doing it that long I just mix it together until happy but key is keeping it mixed

 

[aufweder]

Or get a fu......king plasterer

 

[grounzero]

Is there any danger of applying too much blue grit? Am thinking if it gets too much and I need to get a pro in having all the walls pre-gritted would allow them to do the job much faster?

 

[moy83]

Is there any danger of applying too much blue grit? Am thinking if it gets too much and I need to get a pro in having all the walls pre-gritted would allow them to do the job much faster?

No danger , in fact I think having the place blue gritted before getting a price makes it look alot easier for the plasterer . Just have it well done and get it well into dry looking cracks and board edges

 

[Optimum]

Well done mate looks good but go to the floor and get it in the corners

 

[Optimum]

When you thinking of skimming the wall?

 

[Danny]

Ok lads, I managed to get as far as blue gritting over the weekend, It seemed to run down the walls quite a bit so caked it on like a whores makeup.

A 10 litre tub wasn't enough to do the small room as the wall you can't see in the picture isn't yet done and I need to fill in some gaps on the ceiling. I might get an extended roller for that as holding my arm above my head for long periods was pretty tough.

Am I doing ok so far?

that is some coverage.... it all needs to be blue though dont miss anywhere.

 

[grounzero]

Possibly Wednesday if I can I get time off work. I only had a roller so will use a brush to get to the corners. Would liked to have done more over weekend but got stuck on other jobs around the house. I've got one bag of bonding plaster and 1 multi finish. The tiler who's doing my bathroom at the moment has caked my trowels in cement. They were only cheap ones from Robert Dyas but annoying nevertheless. If it doesn't go too well I'll consider getting someone in and hope the prep work I've done gets considered in the quote. I'd regret not giving it a go before though.

 

[Danny]

Possibly Wednesday if I can I get time off work. I only had a roller so will use a brush to get to the corners. Would liked to have done more over weekend but got stuck on other jobs around the house. I've got one bag of bonding plaster and 1 multi finish. The tiler who's doing my bathroom at the moment has caked my trowels in cement. They were only cheap ones from Robert Dyas but annoying nevertheless. If it doesn't go too well I'll consider getting someone in and hope the prep work I've done gets considered in the quote. I'd regret not giving it a go before though.

fair play have a go and and see what it looks like If it looks ok great If it looks pants then get someone in

 

[stuart23]

Should have pva'd it and saved yourself some money.

 

[grounzero]

Should have pva'd it and saved yourself some money.

I did consider this, after some fairly deep reading up I found plaster is best be applied while the pva is still tacky, though reading some of the threads on here would suggest otherwise. Seemed that a lot of spreads are put off by blue grit as they don't want to wait around for it it to dry whereas I've got time to allow for drying and managed to get a reasonable price so thought gritting would be the 'sexier' option when it came to prep work.

 

[stuart23]

I did consider this, after some fairly deep reading up I found plaster is best be applied while the pva is still tacky, though reading some of the threads on here would suggest otherwise. Seemed that a lot of spreads are put off by blue grit as they don't want to wait around for it it to dry whereas I've got time to allow for drying and managed to get a reasonable price so thought gritting would be the 'sexier' option when it came to prep work.

Replace 'sexier' with 'expensive' lol

It's up to you mate, not as if your doing anything wrong. I've just never bought into the grit stuff, in 12 years of plastering I've used it twice.

 

[Optimum]

Stick with the grit if you've not plastered before it will be easier with the timing ,will give u more time to get across the wall and get a clean trowel for it don't use a dirty trowel good clean one and keep it clean

 

[Optimum]

You've gone quiet grounzero ? Have u f**k*d it up?

 

[grounzero]

You've gone quiet grounzero ? Have u f**k*d it up?

Hey, been busy with the day job. I tooled up and bought a marshaltown 11 inch beginners trowel (the stainless steel gold one) and a 14 inch s*p*r*lex. Got a good price but that meant waiting for delivery.

At the moment I'm still on the prep as I want to get it as good as I can. Yesterday I removed an internal window opening that was originally there to let light into the stairs and blocked it up with engineering bricks (pic attached). I could have studded it but thought this would add better soundproofing.

Should I grit the bricks as well? Would need layering up as the opening is about 2cm back from the original lime plaster. It seems pretty solid but not sure whether I should have toothed it in at the sides rather than chop the end ones? To get the top row I either need to chop a couple of bricks length ways or remove the ceiling laths and bang the top row into place from the loft as it took quite a bit of mortar.

 

[Optimum]

Don't grit the bricks mate

 

[Optimum]

I think if you've set them back enough you could plasterboard over them if not get some bonding over them nice and flat then u could grit the bonding once it's dry

 

[Clint chapman]

Look grounzero, if uve not plastered before and want to try it then I'm happy to give u some help and advise but I'm going to be totally honest with u .your going to go out and buy the plaster and tools your going to prep the walls not knowing what your looking for while u prep your then going to mix the plaster probly have a nightmare keeping it on the hawk and then when u put it on the wall your going to realise your way out of your depth ( not having a dig I see this all the time )the best advise I can give is save your money and get a time-served English plasterer your house will look a million times better and you only need it plastered once for the entire time you live there try your hand at the plumbing,carpentry painting and decorating but let the plasterer come in and do his magic you then have a lovely blank canvas to do what you want with. f**k the plastering up and your home will look s**t forever ! Trust me I've seen it so many times it takes years to become good at plastering it takes 10000 + hours to master a trade like what we do it's never going to happen in a couple of days

or get a non time served refugee who can do anything once would Only take him half a day lol to be serious tho you have many different backgrounds so your going to need a proper proper spread who can handle the walls pulling in at different times unless you set it you would have all the time in the world to finish it proper old school speed to do that I'm afraid unless you go on a two week course you'll be able to lay a room a time I know I've seen their work when I was re skimming it don't waste money and get a professional spread in m8

 

[Optimum]

I think he died !

 

[grounzero]

Ok I ended up getting a pro in. Not a plasterer by trade but a mate who's a blockworker and does a lot of external rendering. Have to say the finish is unreal. There are a few bits that need sanding down as the weather changed and the largest ceiling started going off before it was fully spread. Guy was an absolute pro, at times we had 2 buckets of skim on the go so he could second coat one panel while first coating the next. Had him stay with me for 10 days and got 3 bedrooms and upstairs part of hallway done for £1100 plus food and a few extras which I don't think is bad for London. I had a go at a couple of small panels and reveals, he said he's seen worse from people working in the trade but I wanted a nice finish. I let him take my s*p*r*lex as a memoir as he said it was a nice tool. He wasn't interested in the marshaltown I had as he reckoned his battered old thing works better for him.

 

[grounzero]

Went through 26 bags of skim. Paid a quid each for them as I noticed they were out of date and got a reduction. Apparently he preferred older skim so a no brainer really.

 

[Danny]

Ok I ended up getting a pro in. Not a plasterer by trade but a mate who's a blockworker and does a lot of external rendering. Have to say the finish is unreal. There are a few bits that need sanding down as the weather changed and the largest ceiling started going off before it was fully spread. Guy was an absolute pro, at times we had 2 buckets of skim on the go so he could second coat one panel while first coating the next. Had him stay with me for 10 days and got 3 bedrooms and upstairs part of hallway done for £1100 plus food and a few extras which I don't think is bad for London. I had a go at a couple of small panels and reveals, he said he's seen worse from people working in the trade but I wanted a nice finish. I let him take my s*p*r*lex as a memoir as he said it was a nice tool. He wasn't interested in the marshaltown I had as he reckoned his battered old thing works better for him.

glad it came out all good