Time between 1st and 2nd skim coat

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andrewp

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Hi,

Can someone give me the optimum time to start laying on the second coat of a skim?

I'm not after times, because I guess it depends how long you take to put the first coat on, but should it firm up first (so to speak!)?

I always wait until the plaster had gone a little, so that when you touched it, it made intentations but wasn't like touching fresh plaster.

Any help would be good. I'm positive I could much improve my plastering by getting these things sorted. For instance, I always flatten off each coat ASAP, but do I hold my nerve and wait? My application looks like Spanish stucco so when I stand back I panic and start flattening it!

Thanks in advance.
 
Put your first coat on then leave it to take up,it depends on what you are skimming as to how long this will take ,then flatten just before you apply second coat just make sure your second is on as neat as possible as this will make it easy'er when troweling.But this is all subjective as to how good your plastering skills are .:RpS_unsure:
 
in an ideal world, you will put on enough gear so that as you start to 2nd coat, your 1st will still be wet and trowelable. therefore your 2nd coat will also flatten in your 1st. but if you cock up your timings and are inexperienced then you will have a tough couple of hours
 
Cheers for the answers. Always knock up two batches - got nothing else to do, cos I'm only doing one wall at a time.

I will try to resist troweling straight away and let it firm up a little first. Just too tempting when you're just waiting and it looks like the chuckle brothers have plastered the wall.

Maybe I should take my time more when putting it on. Try to be smart and get it on quick, but i guess flatness is the key and then quickness will follow.

Cheers again. much appreciated,
 
andrewp said:
Cheers for the answers. Always knock up two batches - got nothing else to do, cos I'm only doing one wall at a time.

I will try to resist troweling straight away and let it firm up a little first. Just too tempting when you're just waiting and it looks like the chuckle brothers have plastered the wall.

Maybe I should take my time more when putting it on. Try to be smart and get it on quick, but i guess flatness is the key and then quickness will follow.

Cheers again. much appreciated,
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haha, i know the feeling my friend. I think that is the number 1 beginners mistake.. playing with it. I'm getting better but I on the first layer if I spot a big trowel mark I have to sort it out :) I've been doing the flattening out right after I put on the first coat so this thread has helped me as next time I will do this before the 2nd.

Another beginner mistake that has bit me in the ass is when waiting I will use the trowel to scrape off the bits of plaster in the corners on the adjacent wall then to find the bits have fallen down onto the wall i'm working on :/
 
andrewp said:
Cheers for the answers. Always knock up two batches - got nothing else to do, cos I'm only doing one wall at a time.

I will try to resist troweling straight away and let it firm up a little first. Just too tempting when you're just waiting and it looks like the chuckle brothers have plastered the wall.

Maybe I should take my time more when putting it on. Try to be smart and get it on quick, but i guess flatness is the key and then quickness will follow.

Cheers again. much appreciated,
Click to expand...
Mate,treat you walls like a woman,the more you play with it the wetter it gets.just don't try to slip the general in a plug cutout though:RpS_crying:
 
andrewp said:
Cheers for the answers. Always knock up two batches - got nothing else to do, cos I'm only doing one wall at a time.

I will try to resist troweling straight away and let it firm up a little first. Just too tempting when you're just waiting and it looks like the chuckle brothers have plastered the wall.

Maybe I should take my time more when putting it on. Try to be smart and get it on quick, but i guess flatness is the key and then quickness will follow.

Cheers again. much appreciated,
Click to expand...

haha, i know the feeling my friend. I think that is the number 1 beginners mistake.. playing with it. I'm getting better but I on the first layer if I spot a big trowel mark I have to sort it out :) I've been doing the flattening out right after I put on the first coat so this thread has helped me as next time I will do this before the 2nd.

Another beginner mistake that has bit me in the ass is when waiting I will use the trowel to scrape off the bits of plaster in the corners on the adjacent wall then to find the bits have fallen down onto the wall i'm working on :/
 
Brilliant, thanks for all the help.

After the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] coat, I’ll resist the urge to flatten immediately (unless it’s started to pull in). Once it’s started to pull in, I’ll do a quick flatten, and then immediately on with the second coat.

I’ll have to flatten it first because there’s no way my first coat is good enough first time around. Some of the trowel marks are 2-3mm thick because I just lay it on quick to get coverage.

However, on the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] coat I’ll try to take my time a little more and get a more even coat. Like you say, this is the important step.

Cheers.
 
Trowel marks could be either down to technique, the trowel isn't broken in or a combination of both. With time and practice they'll become fewer.
 
Cool.

Would you still wait until the 1st coat has tightened up before laying the second coat on? Does it matter when you put the second coat on, ie suction, etc?
 
for the beginner may i suggest someone posts some big words as to describe the molecular structure of plaster and how and why we achieve the optimum reaction between guages:RpS_thumbup:
 
andrewp said:
Cheers for the answers. Always knock up two batches - got nothing else to do, cos I'm only doing one wall at a time.

^^^^^^^^ have I read right, you are knocking both your mixes up at the same time . . .???? If you're doing that this won't help you as your laying down coat is going off at the same rate as the first coat. When you say you have nothing else to do, that may also be part of the problem, you have time to spare so you're tempted to start messing with it. Mix up enough to put the wall on, clean you bucket out whisk etc, give it a flatten off working forwards all the time, don't be tempted to do abit here do abit there, start at one end and work progressively to the other end. Then mix your next load up and lay it down in a nice neat pass. Clean your tools again and start to trowel it up. If you see marks or imperfections in the wall deal with them as you get to them, so you are covering the wall in a methodical way, therefore there's less chance of things getting missed. Hope that makes some sense.
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Hi.

No, I don't mix both up at the same time! I'm not that stupid (well, maybe I am actually).

Thanks though.

Tried at it the weekend, and it was fine for small walls, but I did a big wall and had to start flattening straight off as I spent too much time laying it on :(
 
NRM2007 said:
andrewp said:
Cheers for the answers. Always knock up two batches - got nothing else to do, cos I'm only doing one wall at a time.

^^^^^^^^ have I read right, you are knocking both your mixes up at the same time . . .???? If you're doing that this won't help you as your laying down coat is going off at the same rate as the first coat. When you say you have nothing else to do, that may also be part of the problem, you have time to spare so you're tempted to start messing with it. Mix up enough to put the wall on, clean you bucket out whisk etc, give it a flatten off working forwards all the time, don't be tempted to do abit here do abit there, start at one end and work progressively to the other end. Then mix your next load up and lay it down in a nice neat pass. Clean your tools again and start to trowel it up. If you see marks or imperfections in the wall deal with them as you get to them, so you are covering the wall in a methodical way, therefore there's less chance of things getting missed. Hope that makes some sense.
Click to expand...

whats the point in flattening the first coat before knocking up another batch to lay it all in??. if he's already struggling to get it all on he would be wasting time flattening when he could be knocking up his next gauge...IMO
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If he's struggling to get it flat in the first place and as he says there's 2 to 3 mm lines etc in it what chance has he got of laying it down nice and neat with a second coat when the first one isn't over good. Surely he would be better sticking to smaller guages and working in building it up with better technique. Let's be right how many average houses have got 1 wall in them that you couldn't get on easily in one go.
 
Cheers for all the replies.

Big by my standards is probably laughable by yours: 4m long. But my problem is the speed of laying it on as it throws out everything else. But that only comes with time.

I had to flatten it out before putting the second coat, otherwise like you say it would have been a disaster!

Turned out alright though in the end. If I can be arsed, I'll post a picture at some point.

Cheers again. I've now got a lot more theory to apply. I did a couple of small walls the day before the biggun and they turned out pretty cool.
 
i would say tackle the problem like this.
just think that your plastering 2 walls(actualy just 1)
put the first coat on,nice and thick,when it starts to tighten flatten,filling all holoes etc,making sure all edges are brushed in.2nd mix just under half of what you used for first coat and apply a nice tightish coat.trowel up as normal.....no rush,no panik...work the material not the material work you:RpS_thumbup:
 
Thanks for this. Really good advice. :RpS_thumbup:

Any ideas for not getting the finish to be like a mirror? I'm trowelling to flatten, and use water sparingly. I guess I must be over-trowelling it, but I can't see where because I feel I need to, to get the wall flat. Touching the wall - it's smooth, not at all grainy.

I sand it lightly anyway, so it's not a big problem.
 
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