First time plastering

Droolinggimp · 5 Sep 2014 at 14:59

Hi guys. We are in the process of decorating the whole house. Done a few rooms so far and onto the living room currently. I stripped of pretty much all the wall paper and found the walls not 'great'. Paint-able, just.

Anyway, I thought why not have a go at plastering (skimming).

3 flat walls. One with a light switch, one with a plug socket and nothing on the 3rd one. Then the window wall which has windows believe it or not.

How hard can it be? :confused:

Popped to B&Q, picked up a bag of plaster, trowel, that thing that you put plaster on and some paint for later.

I mixed the plaster as per instructions and started to slap it on. Now, the first lot was ok and sorted of smoothed it with a even layer, then it sort of got a bit messy. By the time I reached the end of the first wall it was good again if I say so myself. I left it a bit and did another stage, juts with the trowel and no plaster, it smoothed it off. I left it a bit longer and mixed a bit more but slightly thinner to skim over the little gaps and ridges etc.. Did another skim with a clean trowel and its all nice and smooth.

Just waiting for it to dry to take a proper look and see if I need to do another light coat

For my first attempt I thought it went well. The next wall will be easier as I got the hang of applying it and a bit of a technique

A few pictures.. These were taken before I did final smoothing stage with clean trowel..

I would give myself a 7.5 out of 10 for this effort. It's actually quite rewarding doing this. Certainly going to save a few quid.

Droolinggimp · 5 Sep 2014 at 15:06

ohh thanks.. Yeah I am pretty impressed. Can't wait till the good lady sees it. Doing the other walls over weekend and Tuesday/Wednesday, still got to strip the little bits of paper that are still on other walls, thats a good hours or so work there.

I think it took me 2 maybe 2.5 hours to do that wall. Next one will be quicker I am sure of it.

Droolinggimp · 5 Sep 2014 at 15:28

Kimi said:
If thats before you smoothed it i would say job well done mate, did you put PVA the wall first?

No I didn't put PVA on. I knew about it though. Its fine as it is though after speaking to a plasterer. He said the wall paper paste that is left on wall helps the plaster apparently..

Droolinggimp · 6 Sep 2014 at 08:50

Well. It's been drying over night and just had a quick look.

It's FAB

A few little patches (round the light switch and a few bits where there was a small bit of wallpaper remaining that the trowel slid across the wall) where it will need sanding a little bit but other than that pretty much perfect

. Got to go to a wedding today so wont have time to prep the other 3 walls today but will do it tomorrow. I will post some more before pictures up later and when its all done. The obligatory money shot

Droolinggimp · 6 Sep 2014 at 10:37

King85 said:
I'm about to try to plaster one of the bedrooms in my house this weekend, any tips? Did you watch any good videos before hand?

http://www.diyplastering.co.uk

I went here. Done me good so far. Didn't do the course but has a wealth of info on his site. Plus he has YouTube vids too.

Droolinggimp · 6 Sep 2014 at 11:27

Still a lot to practice before I'm anywhere near proficient. It's like a drug. I need to start the rest of the walls but like I said, can't go to a wedding caked in plaster haha.. Lol

Droolinggimp · 10 Sep 2014 at 17:45

Had a break from plastering as I still have the nursery and another room to decorate so... I have one wall left to plaster and it's the one the TV will be mounted on. I am thinking of chasing the wall for the cables etc and plastering over. Do I need another sort of plaster to fill in before skimming?

Plus I left this wall last as it the most uneven one because it had a fire place in years ago and was filled in and plastered over. Bit of a crap job.

I plonked a bit of emulsion on part of the first wall I did today just to see how it looked and its not too bad. I can see a few crappy bits and was wondering what to do. After a long think I decided to get another bag of plaster next week and do a second coat on all the walls but a thinner one at 1mm. The first was roughly 2mm.

All taking shape any way. I will make a new thread at some point when I have got my carpets all laid and the rest of the rooms finished off.

Droolinggimp · 17 Sep 2014 at 10:20

Hi guys.. Been busy doing other rooms as of late so missed the latest posts in this thread.

I have still got one more wall to do plus a bit of the widow area which I will finish off today. The corners I have not done yet. I have plastered to the corners but not having done the second coat I see no reason to make them finished yet. However the corners I did so far have just been smoothed/levelled with my finger. :-)

then sharpened with the trowel edge.

Something like that anyway. haha.

Its looking good and my best wall so far is the window bay, I applied the plaster a bit thicker than the other walls I have done and it seemed to make it better. So the walls I already done with the first coat will get a slightly more than 1mm skim to smooth them off.

All in all for a first timer, not too bad. Also to add. I wish I took some before shots of all the house as I would have liked to make a thread but hey ho. I may have soon photos knocking around somewhere i'll see if I can find them and make a thread later.

Droolinggimp · 19 Oct 2014 at 18:59

I really must post up my after pics.... The room is all completed and painted and furniture moved in now. I am off work all week now so I will get some close ups and other pics posted.