Newbie Here!

NullaDave

New Member
Hi All,

I'm new to the forum and to plastering but I've found so much useful information on here already.

I've done a great plastering course in Coventry and have now started doing a few little jobs for friends and family. I'm not getting paid other than for materials as I just want to improve my skills at this stage.

Anyway, my mate wants me to skim a wall in his house and I wasn't really sure how to tackle it. I'll be on my own so will be doing all the mixing and laying on myself. I'm not very quick yet, so I can't get massive sections done as quick as you guys and gals!

So do I work in; say, three sections and try to feather it in or will you always see joins? It will be painted but being the main feature wall, I imagine that any overlap or joins will be noticeable.

Or do I try to get one coat over the whole wall, mix up again and get a second coat on? My problem here is timing. The PVA will be dry at the far end by the time I get to it and the first coat will be going off before I hit it with the second coat. I was taught to get a second coat on straight after the first coat so I don't need to worry about getting rid of marks and lines but on a wall this size, I'd have to work very quickly to be on the second coat before the first has gone past the point where I can wet trowel it and get rid of the lines.

My thought is to put one coat on, wet trowel it to get rid of the worst lines and then go with the second coat. But will I need to PVA it again or will there still be enough moisture in the first coat? Will I drag the first coat off when I put the second coat on if it has gone off?

Any advise for a Newbie will be most appreciated!
 
Get a speedskim will be your best friend. Just the plastic blade. Pva is best to skim when dry anyways but if it’s your friend maybe use grit that kills some more suction. First coat, speedskim fresh second speedskim, speedskim again then trowel as you wish. Good luck pal
 
My
Hi All,

I'm new to the forum and to plastering but I've found so much useful information on here already.

I've done a great plastering course in Coventry and have now started doing a few little jobs for friends and family. I'm not getting paid other than for materials as I just want to improve my skills at this stage.

Anyway, my mate wants me to skim a wall in his house and I wasn't really sure how to tackle it. I'll be on my own so will be doing all the mixing and laying on myself. I'm not very quick yet, so I can't get massive sections done as quick as you guys and gals!

So do I work in; say, three sections and try to feather it in or will you always see joins? It will be painted but being the main feature wall, I imagine that any overlap or joins will be noticeable.

Or do I try to get one coat over the whole wall, mix up again and get a second coat on? My problem here is timing. The PVA will be dry at the far end by the time I get to it and the first coat will be going off before I hit it with the second coat. I was taught to get a second coat on straight after the first coat so I don't need to worry about getting rid of marks and lines but on a wall this size, I'd have to work very quickly to be on the second coat before the first has gone past the point where I can wet trowel it and get rid of the lines.

My thought is to put one coat on, wet trowel it to get rid of the worst lines and then go with the second coat. But will I need to PVA it again or will there still be enough moisture in the first coat? Will I drag the first coat off when I put the second coat on if it has gone off?

Any advise for a Newbie will be most appreciated!
My Advice is if you don't think you can do it to a good standard then don't do it especially as it's going to be the feature wall. Doing a wall in 3 sections is a bad idea and you'll get in a right mess.

How I skim is get the first coat on, trowel it to get any lines out, then wait till it goes off abit and mix up the second coat ( I usually mix up the second coat roughly an hour after I mixed up the first). Trowel that twice, then wait till it's firmed up, spray some water on then trowel again. One final trowel 5minutes later to get rid of any slight water marks. But everyone does it different.

To be honest if you just want practice I'd put a few sheets of board up somewhere in your house and just keep skimming them. Messing up a mates wall isn't a great way to get practice in my opinion
 
There shouldn’t be any reason to join a wall . It would have to be 30m long . If you can’t manage even one complete wall I’d be looking at another career.
 
Hi All,

I'm new to the forum and to plastering but I've found so much useful information on here already.

I've done a great plastering course in Coventry and have now started doing a few little jobs for friends and family. I'm not getting paid other than for materials as I just want to improve my skills at this stage.

Anyway, my mate wants me to skim a wall in his house and I wasn't really sure how to tackle it. I'll be on my own so will be doing all the mixing and laying on myself. I'm not very quick yet, so I can't get massive sections done as quick as you guys and gals!

So do I work in; say, three sections and try to feather it in or will you always see joins? It will be painted but being the main feature wall, I imagine that any overlap or joins will be noticeable.

Or do I try to get one coat over the whole wall, mix up again and get a second coat on? My problem here is timing. The PVA will be dry at the far end by the time I get to it and the first coat will be going off before I hit it with the second coat. I was taught to get a second coat on straight after the first coat so I don't need to worry about getting rid of marks and lines but on a wall this size, I'd have to work very quickly to be on the second coat before the first has gone past the point where I can wet trowel it and get rid of the lines.

My thought is to put one coat on, wet trowel it to get rid of the worst lines and then go with the second coat. But will I need to PVA it again or will there still be enough moisture in the first coat? Will I drag the first coat off when I put the second coat on if it has gone off?

Any advise for a Newbie will be most appreciated!

Assuming that this isn't a Monday night funny - mate, patching is a little skill all on its own. If you can't bung on a living room wall in one hit, then you're very unlikely to be able to patch it in properly.

If you're determined to put it on, then get yourself some retarder - extra time, I think it's called. Do it that way.

Joining will not end well for you.
 
Close the doors to the room , open windows, turn rads off, cool the room down , close windows , you will get loads more on .

At college did they discuss jointing boards mid joist by any chance?
 
Pva it twice if needed. Let pva dry . Chuck it on . You be surprised how much time you have if you dont start panicking over it.
Failing that if you do joint it use scrim for joint. Less to sand
 
Hi All,

I'm new to the forum and to plastering but I've found so much useful information on here already.

I've done a great plastering course in Coventry and have now started doing a few little jobs for friends and family. I'm not getting paid other than for materials as I just want to improve my skills at this stage.

Anyway, my mate wants me to skim a wall in his house and I wasn't really sure how to tackle it. I'll be on my own so will be doing all the mixing and laying on myself. I'm not very quick yet, so I can't get massive sections done as quick as you guys and gals!

So do I work in; say, three sections and try to feather it in or will you always see joins? It will be painted but being the main feature wall, I imagine that any overlap or joins will be noticeable.

Or do I try to get one coat over the whole wall, mix up again and get a second coat on? My problem here is timing. The PVA will be dry at the far end by the time I get to it and the first coat will be going off before I hit it with the second coat. I was taught to get a second coat on straight after the first coat so I don't need to worry about getting rid of marks and lines but on a wall this size, I'd have to work very quickly to be on the second coat before the first has gone past the point where I can wet trowel it and get rid of the lines.

My thought is to put one coat on, wet trowel it to get rid of the worst lines and then go with the second coat. But will I need to PVA it again or will there still be enough moisture in the first coat? Will I drag the first coat off when I put the second coat on if it has gone off?

Any advise for a Newbie will be most appreciated!

U got lab?
 
How long is the fecking wall for feck sake.
The entire length of Mexico's boarder?
Just don't feck about with it. sling it on and sand down the next day.
 
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