help needed for beginner

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Ianoliver

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hi all, new to this site and had a look around and pretty impressed with what i've seen. Just after a bit of advice. I'm a novice plasterer, been working for a general builders now for 4 years and have slowly progressed from labouring to doing a bit of everything now. Done plenty of plastering onto plasterboard with board finish and am fairly competent at that and can get a nice tidy finish. However a family friend has asked me if i could have a look at skimming their hall and stairs for them. Obviously no plasterboard involved this time, skimming straight onto existing walls. A couple of things really got me thinking.
1. What do i need to do to the walls to prep them. The existing surface is pretty sound, nothing loose, all paper stripped off. (i did read somewhere about a strong pva mix should give me plenty of working time on the wall).
2. How many coats should i put on?
3. What is the best type of plaster to use? Multi finish?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
hello mate, welcome to the forum. first thing you need to do is obviously get all the wallpaper off, every last bit. then you need to give the walls a chemical key. either PVA or wickes bonding agent (WBA) or bond-it. WBA and bond it need to be put on the day before, only one coat is needed and can be skimmed once dry. with PVA you need to mix it to the ratios stated on the tub, give all the walls and ceilings one coat, let it dry and then give the walls you want to skim a second coat and apply the plaster when its tacky. i personally only use PVA but others on here only use WBA or bond-it. Multi-finish tends to take a little longer to set, giving you longer if your not the fastest plasterer. although alot of plasterers on here including myself use board finish for everything.
 
thanks for the swift reply. I'm not the quickest plasterer so want to have as much working time on the wall as possible. I'll prob go with the multi finish but would you think that the pva would give me longer working time as opposed to wba or bond it? I know most pva recommends mixing 5 to 1 but i did read somewhere to mix it 2 to 1 to enable longer working time. What do you think?
 
hello m8te first youll need to sheet up proper. And if there is paint on the walls the i use a wire brush rub it up then.
Its a coat of pva the night before it helps then try 2 coats of pva let the first one go then when the next is tacky start plastering. I use muilti finish for reskim's but i know some plasterers use board finish too if it helps tape up the wood work just too cover it up.
if your in a open soace then use a spot board
or a trowelhawk use it some times 8)
use a spray bottle rether then a splash brush if your working in a lived in house
 
mixing it stronger certainly wouldnt hurt. I've only used Bond-it a couple of times and i personally didnt notice much difference to PVA, others may have a different opinion. and PVA is alot cheaper. one thing i will say is if you mix the pva stronger it will take a little longer to get tacky, and theres nothing worse than trying to skim onto wet pva, it slides all over the place.
 
carping said:
do what it says on the tub m8te i like board finish its more creamy the muilti finish but it duz let you play more
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it says on the tub to do 2 coats of pva though, and you said you do 3?
 
Carm down carm down...... some backgrounds need 1 coat, some need 2 poss 3, depends on suction control required.
No right or wrong way really.Whatever gets the job done!!!
 
cheers guys for the sound advice. I'll prob go for a strong pva mix, and quality advice with the water spray bottle as splash brush does get everywhere! Helped put my mind a rest a little now. Thanks. I'm sure i'll have a few more questions and hopefully you can help.
 
good luck mate, take your time and it might be worth getting someone to help you do the stairway wall if your not confident enough.
 
cheers steve. 1 more thing, when you say plaster when the pva is tacky, would there be any harm in plastering if the pva had gone off?
 
it needs to be tacky as a key for the plaster if its dry ther is no key if its a strong mix then yoll ne plastering on ice rink m8te 8)
 
i know lads that only plaster onto dry pva, while i dont, theyve never had comebacks. the moistness of the skim livens up the pva again. and lads, no sniggering at the word moistness! especially FBS or bruce!
 
one last tip........think long and hard bout taking on an artex hsl for friends or family......ugh the stuff of nightmares :'(
 
steve cov said:
i know lads that only plaster onto dry pva, while i dont, theyve never had comebacks. the moistness of the skim livens up the pva again. and lads, no sniggering at the word moistness! especially FBS or bruce!
Click to expand...
moistness is a word m8 ask carping ;D
 
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