Hey Brits! Can ya help a yank out?

[RobY]

Hi All, Been searching the web for some plaster answers and ran into you guys. Maybe you can help.
here's the deal-
I'm a painter (29 yrs) in the midwest of USA, and the older homes here ( which is my turf) are mostly plaster. All newer (from 60's on) are sheetrocked. Very few actual plasterers left.
I occasionally need to do a patch in a wall that was plastered with a sandfinish. Fairly large sand , not too dense.
I called in the local "best" plaster guy to match it up for me, and he ended up rolling on a small silca sand mix and blending it with a brush. Jeese, If I wanted a hack job I could do that! lol.
So I know there's a way to float this finish, and I also know that the products you and we have are very different. It is really hard to find any plaster products here, just setting style muds.
My best guess is to sift sand to the right size ( because we can't get graded sand) , mix it in the only real plaster product I know of ( Diamond- here's a link for info [url]http://www.designerpages.com/products/32888-DIAMOND-Brand-Interior-Finish-Plaster)[/url] ) and use a foam float to wipe plaster away to reveal the sand. Am I on the right track?
Thanks for any help and I'll be spending time reading over this place!
- Rob Y the Paint Guy- Minnesota

 

[spunkybum]

if it's all been painted do you do the direct bond method with board? you could dab it and feather the joints with a jointing compound .....might be miles out but hey ho ...and a very merry christmas to yourselves in the states

 

[RobY]

In my present case there were sections of wall cut totally away to get at pipes. If I was going to fix it, I would have pieced in sheetrock ( instead of the metal lathe that the other guy did), brought it up almost to flush with setting mud ( here its a USG product called easysand and then a minute set time, from 5-90) , Then try to use the plaster float I mentioned above.
The other guy did more like you suggest.