Thistle UniFinish Q&A

Status
Not open for further replies.
BG, why dont you come out to a few jobs, bring the Unifinnish and watch people use it, i used some the other, only 6 m2, got a good finnish, but only because i went straight on with the 2nd coat and sponged it straight over, then finnished as normal
 
Can you imagine if bg recalled all multi until further notice, now that really would give all moaners something to moan about, I'm pretty sure back in the day they all said who needs sliced bread mobile phones will not take off, embrace new ideas fellas instead of biting the hand that feeds you
 
kebab king said:
BG, why dont you come out to a few jobs, bring the Unifinnish and watch people use it, i used some the other, only 6 m2, got a good finnish, but only because i went straight on with the 2nd coat and sponged it straight over, then finnished as normal
Click to expand...
Some years ago now Knauf sent one of their people out to come and show us how to use their FP90, he picked the smallest wall in the house, no beads or sockets on it, put it on, drank his flask, told us how easy it was, then drove to McDonald's and bought us all a breakfast lol
 
just seems negative all the time tho Danny... ok, the unifinish is not the best thing BG produced, but everything else is good..
 
cassie said:
just seems negative all the time tho Danny... ok, the unifinish is not the best thing BG produced, but everything else is good..
Click to expand...

Uni finish 1 was s failure

By most accounts mk2 is horrible to use

The whole bag situation is joke and is far from fixed. What other company would sell a product in inadequate packaging. Imagine coke cans leaking when you touched them...

Magnetic plaster COULD take off but they've priced it out of the market. Its hardly a niche product like venetian or micro cement. The skill set is exactly the same as normal skimming.

The main thing is their general lack of communication with both the customer and builders merchants. I know several places who say they've never had a BG rep step foot in their shop as theyre too difficult to get hold of and finally the way they come on here and deal with complaints is comical . They know people are forced into a corner regarding choice of manufacturer so make an effort to ask for details to discuss things further. What comes of it? Fu.ck all. They're Always dodging questions regarding the bad quality of their products. And deep down what is some fella in the office who's never seen a trowel let alone used one going to know about plastering itself, not just plaster.
 
So come on, let's turn it more positive for BG, what's your favourite BG products then? For me it's got to be the bonding coat, love using the stuff
Thistle UniFinish Q&A
 
theclemo said:
Ok ill go first. What is causing tiger stripes
Click to expand...

Hi @theclemo - this is a tricky one – there is no single cause so no “magic bullet” to stop it. It tends to be more likely if:

1) The site weather is cold

2) The plaster is mixed much more than necessary

3) More water is used during trowelling up

4) The final trowel is done with a high trowel angle (some call this a “cutting” action – the opposite of a flat angle)

The best way to avoid it, e.g. in cold weather, is to try to work neatly and get the surface flat early, so there is less need to move material around later – it’s this that seems to make it show up. Hope this helps!
 
Fatarm said:
I'll go second then....why do bonding bags fall apart now?? The multi/board finish bags seem fine?
Many thanks in advance:rebotando:
Click to expand...

Hi @Fatarm,

On the topic of bags, we know this has been taking a while but we’re changing the way we secure the bag to the pallet which should prevent them ripping and we are looking to change the bag, but this means ripping out our packing machines and building new lines – so I’m afraid that all takes a significant amount of time, but we’re working on it!
 
BritishGypsum said:
Hi @theclemo - this is a tricky one – there is no single cause so no “magic bullet” to stop it. It tends to be more likely if:

1) The site weather is cold

2) The plaster is mixed much more than necessary

3) More water is used during trowelling up

4) The final trowel is done with a high trowel angle (some call this a “cutting” action – the opposite of a flat angle)

The best way to avoid it, e.g. in cold weather, is to try to work neatly and get the surface flat early, so there is less need to move material around later – it’s this that seems to make it show up. Hope this helps!
Click to expand...
So it's user error rather than material problem? Some plasterers have told me that bg reps have told them that bg call it ribbing and its the materials fault....

I personally have always put it down to operator error
 
johniosaif said:
Lots have felt that multi finish has been tampered with and is not as good as It was,?
When can we have carlite finish back?(I miss it)
Loads believe unifinish 1 has been a PR disaster for BG
Most believe this new one will go the same way, too expensive and not fit for purpose is the general feeling.
Click to expand...

Hi @johniosaif,

Okay, a few answers for you:

Carlite - We don’t have to plans to reintroduce it but we’d be all ears to find out what you liked about it!
MultiFinish - Yes we are aware of this and are looking into the root causes as there is nothing obvious that has changed. We would ask all Forum Members to give us as much feedback as possible in terms of exactly what is wrong with it and if possible with the detail on the side of the bags, so we know when it was made and which mine it has come from.
UniFinish - Thistle UniFinish is more expensive that Thistle MultiFinish, but this is because it contains some very expensive additives and takes longer to make. It isn’t a replacement for MultiFinish, it’s an alternative – which you can use if you want to save time and have less mess and hassle associated with having to pre-treat (with PVA) the walls or ceilings before you plaster.
 
Danny said:
So it's user error rather than material problem? Some plasterers have told me that bg reps have told them that bg call it ribbing and its the materials fault....

I personally have always put it down to operator error
Click to expand...

Hi @Danny,

It’s a combination of all these: if it was a simple material problem we would be able to fix it but unfortunately it’s usually a complex mix of things including the environment and site conditions – it wouldn’t just be down to user error
 
gps said:
Seeing as it's a unifinish q&a ill ask a question about that,

How do you expect it to take off if it's not readily available ? As it is surely aimed at the domestic market should it not be in wickes/b&q because I refuse to go to travis/jewsons etc because they just have your pants down on price
Click to expand...

Hi @gps,

UniFinish is available at Travis Perkins and a number of other stockists – if you’d like to try it give us a call and we’ll find your nearest (we can give you some options if you don’t want to go to certain ones!) We have done trials with B&Q and hope it will be available there soon – it would do us a favour if you could ask your preferred supplier to stock it!
 
jamesthefirst said:
How is durafinish different to unifinish as they are both able to adhere to smooth surfaces with no need of pva but durafinish cannot go onto a well keyed browning or hardwall without the need for gyprime?!
Can unifinish be applied to a painted surface flattened but second coated with multi or board finish?
Click to expand...

Hi @jamesthefirst ,

Durafinish is formulated for a tough surface, and the additives that do this give it good adhesion. They don’t help with suction resistance though, so it doesn’t have the suction resistance that UniFinish has, hence the GypPrime recommendation for Durafinish but not UniFinish.
 
zombie said:
@bg

1) Can you tell us what product you put into "Unifinish" that isn't in "Multifinish" that will make it adhere to the background.

2) I for 1 would actualy love this product to work as I detest having to pva and wait till dry....however zero confidence and also not a single merchant stocks it!!!

3) What changes to "Unifinish 2" have you made that makes it any different to "Unifinish 1" ???

Thanks Zombie
Click to expand...

Hi @zombie,

1. No! Trade secret – sorry! ;) Essentially it has polymer additives and some other stuff to make it work with different backgrounds.

2. If you give us a call we can get you in touch with your nearest stockists, we'd love you to try it too!

3. When we looked at the first UniFinish batches we realised some didn’t have enough polymer additives in, so we’ve added more of these. We’ve also reformulated it slightly so it works on the particular paint that it failed on before. Obviously that begs the question ‘Why wasn’t it tested properly?’ and, simply put, we thought it had been, but it’s definitely been a lesson learnt for us
 
thebearbeef said:
Serious questions-

1) can i have a job making up products that real life plasterers might actually want and do so in an affordable way for them. £10+ for a bag of uni that nobody trusts isn't going to happen.

2) can you send me 5 bags of magnetic plaster because i'd love it in my house but like alot of people ( i'd imagine) i'm not willing to spend £80+ a bag on it. Thats when i can use it myself. The chances of it becoming a mass used product for average joe are zero at your current price point. In my opinion.

Steve.
Click to expand...

Hi @thebearbeef

Magnetic is, as you say, more expensive but it’s a specialist product. That’s good feedback though that we can take back to the development teams so we appreciate the point being made.
 
dustydave said:
More interested in finding out whats wrong the the quality of multi finish lately.
like others have stated the unifinish has not reached the shelves of wickes or b+q so not had a chance to try it.
Click to expand...

Hi @dustydave,

Thanks for the question, we've heard about this but there's nothing obvious that has changed so we'd appreciate it if you could let us know the exact issues including the detail on the side of the bags, so we know when it was made and which mine it has come from.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Share this page

Back
Top