Plastering in a house with no heating?

Plumstead

Hi,

Yesterday the plasterer finished plastering my kitchen. The house is very drafty and cold and has no central heating. He advised me to put some electric heaters in the room to help the plaster but now after searching how long it'll take to dry in order to paint it, I've come across advice that one shouldn't use electric heaters.
Is it bad to use electric heaters when there is no other source of heating in the freshly plastered room?
So far, it's been on since yesterday 5:30pm

Also, any idea on how long it could take to dry? Thank you :money:

keystone

Did he fully plaster it (topcoat over browning/bonding) or was it just a skim?

UNder normal circumstances if the former you are looking at something th the region of six weeks before you can decorate, the latter 24 - 48 hours.

By all means use a little background heat as it will help but don't go mad. Make it like a furnace and it will dry out too quickly and crack. A small dehumidifier (not industrial scale) running in the background will help too.

Cheers

Plumstead

Yeah I think its browning... wow 6 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was hoping to move by the end of the month!!!!!!!!!!!!!
cheers for replying.

keystone

Well you can but the plastered room will be damp and humid and you can't decorate it yet.

macman

What you need is ventilation, not so much heating. the moisture has to be removed-heating does not do that.
Obviously in the current weather it's going to take a lot longer due to the high humidity.

bobthedambuilder

You can certainly move in whenever you want but you shouldn't paint the kitchen until the plaster's dried out. Unfortunately, the normal usage of a kitchen tends to generate moisture, so that's not going to help the drying out process. A case for microwave meals and kettles in another room I think!

Certainly if you're in the house, it will be warmer than just leaving it, so that will help. Keep the kitchen well-ventilated.

If you want to be a bit more technical about this, get a moisture meter (about £20 from Amazon). Wall should be OK for painting when below about 15%.

First coat should be with emulsion thinned by about 25% added water (yes, that'll wet it again, but it'll be binding to the plaster).