worth investing?

izzieprest

Hiya, my partner and i just bought our first house and may i add we were ripped off royally lol. 93k for a 3 bed end terrist in an okayish area.... needs so much work doing to it due to shoddy work in the past

but thats not the point...


right. we were wodnering if one of those week long teach yourself to plaster courses would be worth it instead of paying out for a plasterer to do the 3 rooms we need doing (full rooms) and odd bits here and there
and then 1 ceiling in the bathroom.

or should we just shop around for a good quote.

xxxx

Doozergirl

I don't believe that plastering is something you can really teach yourself to do properly in a week. There is an art to it. It's not really something you can take your time over because plaster goes off that uick, you'll see joins. With big walls, it's a race to get it all done in one go to get a flawless finish.

We have a few plasterers and you can very clearly tell by each wall who has been doing it the longest, who has been doing it a while and who is training. The trainee we let do the ceiling in the cellar simply for practice and a wall in the bathroom that was being papered over anyway. We wouldn't put his work on show.

If I was going to teach myself anything, it would be plumbing. Not gas stuff, obviously.

Canucklehead

Hi: I agree with DG, plastering is a fine art and the one thing we don't do ourselves. GSI.

Canucklehead

izzieprest

cool:D thanks. this renavating thing is very confusing. we saw one of the courses on a tv show where some diy expert taught ppl how to completely do it yourself, a man did his own loft conversion but i think ill take your advice and hire someone in xxxxx

SailorSam

I'll try doing anything myself rather than get a professional in, but plastering ...... especially a ceiling.
You'd be very lucky to get a good finish.
I did the porch at the back of my house but nobody ever sees that,but i wouldn't do anything important that's on show.

kevsan

It can be done - but as has been suggested, it will take you a long time to get a flawless finish.... If you have the time.

I did a course myself and have done smaller elements -fireplace, downstairs loo etc and the result is good, but it is a very large jump to a room and lots of rooms.

From a ROI perspective, given the amount of time and effort you will have to put in, getting a pro in is a no brainer. If you want to learn a new skill and are happy to wait and practice to get results then go for it.

If you go for a pro and once hes started work, you could ask for some pointers or add on an afternoons pay for a masterclass etc.

Alan_M_2

You can learn the prinicpals of plastering in a week, its the years of practice to get it to a fine art you won't ever manage.

Leif

If you intend to stay in the house, and don't care too much about cosmetics, go for it. But I'd pay the professional. It is worth it, and plastering is a skill acquired over years.

What sort of state are the walls in? If you have minor cosmetic damage, or even a few 6" holes, you can repair that yourself. For small holes, use Easifill, and sand. I have patched 4 rooms, plus a few walls professionally skimmed, and it is a lot of work to patch a wall, but you can get a good end result for little money.

If you have wallpaper, DON'T use a steamer, it might blow plaster. Mine did!

phill99

The plasterer I use did a 2 week course on plastering. It was then a year before he set himself up as a plasterer as he spent evary weekend plastering his freinds and families houses to get his techbique right. Apply plaster is easy, but hetting a good finish will take you ages.

MaggieBaking

My brother is recently retraining into a 'handy-man'. He's very competent, and a perfectionist so his work is always to a very high standard. Even when working full time in a professional environment he did a lot of work on building an extension, he plastered a chunk of his lounge (did a great job!) and so on.

Recently he's just finished a 10 day plastering course. He's happy to admit that compared to a professional plasterer his work is not as good, and can find flaws. It's physically exhausting work (dripping with sweat literally). The professionals who have had years of experience really show through in the quality of their work.

You might be surprised at the prices offered. I know of a fantastic local plasterer (not my brother!) who is charging £130 inc materials for a reasonable sized double room. I reckon the cost of the course will equal the cost of the plasterer and your work will be significantly inferior, and very physically demanding when you already have a lot to do in renovation.

owls

130 for a double room? 2 day job including ceiling

so materials ,plaster, pva ,beads etc are going to be a good 50 quid for a double room. Then you have to prep and bead, lay dustsheets everwhere.

so hes working for around 40 quid a day minus tax [if hes legit] and fuel etc liability insurance yep, he sounds really good, that will be why hes busy then, cos hes working for peanuts
a good plasterer will be on 150 a day minimum if there worth there salt and theyll get work all day long at that.