DIY plastering success stories - there must be some?

ijrwe

From other forums and people I've spoken to it seems that all DIY is fair game except for plastering, and any attempt is certain to result in your house value falling by £10,000 per wall attempted. I tend to feel that a lot of the talk is from plasterers trying to "protect" their trade - and while I'm sure it takes a great deal of skill and is something that one gets much better at over time, I fail to see how a DIY attempt at applying some modern backing plaster (such as Hardwall) can really go too badly wrong. All you get is a load of winks and "show us pics afterwurds, m8, lol gd luck" with no clear reasons as to why this can't be done by people who aren't getting paid for it.

Does anyone here have success stories of plastering other than putting up plasterboard? For logistical reasons I may not be able to use plasterboard, and I'm quite happy to have a go applying a scratch coat of something or other, and then skimming it with multifinish.

Surely some of you have done this before. How did it go?

Bettie

I had blown plaster in my living room. I started taking it off and ended up with nearly the whole wall needing replastering. My neighbour told me what to buy and showed me how to plaster by doing a small bit on and around a corner in another room then left me to it. it was a flat wall so relatively easy and when I had finished I couldn't tell where I had plastered. That was 10 years ago and it has stayed up with no cracks.

Kaz2904

We've plastered our entire house. It does take a bit of a knack to get the plaster from the hawk onto the wall without flinging it everywhere and working it to a nice smooth finish can be a sod but it's worth the time spent to get a good finish.
Good luck if you decide to do it yourself, perhaps start somewhere not too obvious though .

VoucherMan

I had a go at plastering in my cellar (very uneven stone walls).

By the second wall I'd managed to get quite a good finish in places. I'm sure if I'd persevered I could have got a much better finish but as I was expecting the plaster to fall off the week after I didn't bother. Five years later it's still fine.

Whether I'd have managed a 'professional' finish I'll never know as I decided plastering is one job I'm happy to pay someone for.

ey_up

There is no reason.just have a go. I admit it's difficult to get a good finish especially when you first set out but it does improve with practice. some will depend on your final finish. if you are papering with liner first a few sins will be hidden.if you intend to paint then a bit more important that it's smooth. personally I kept leaving trowel lines in it whereas father in law is a diyer and now does pretty good job at plastering after quite a bit of practice. watch a few vids and give it a go. you can always get a pro in to skim if needed and you don't leave a horrendous mess

jonnyb1978

Perfectly possible although I wouldnt do a room at the first go. Practise in a cupboard or the loft incase it goes wrong.

Ive done a bit although not done much and as long as you take your time, research and practice and have a bit of commen sense about you, you will be fine. Dont cut corners and make sure you have correct equipment. Thats half the battle.If uour just skimming mix your plaster to correct consistency and away you. Cover the wall and dont worry about trowel marks. The more you try and smooth at this stage will just pull the plaster off the wall. Leave to set and come back when its tacky then smooth, you will notice the trowel marks level out into nice smooth wall. Leave a bit longer then either spraying lightly the wall or trowel smooth again and this will give it a nice polish.

Obviously there is more to it than that but equipment, preperation are the most important to getting it right.

al69

Ive done 3 rooms so far and more than happy with the results especially with the cost saving.

Its the little tips that make the difference between maiking it easy or hard.I was shown by an explaster so it made life a lot easier.

First up you need to break the trowel in, if you see a decent plasters trowel it has a knife edge to it.This is very important,you dont have to have as sharp as a cooks knife but it does need the square edge removing.It will sharpen up the more you use it anyway.

The reall trick is knowing when to walk away from it and leave it alone.for me that is the reall skill.Some walls suck the moisture out of the mix really quickly and you find you are trying to spread a thicker and thicker mix.
Best to walk away and start again with more pva on the wall to slow it up.


Finally if it isnt a brilliant finish then a bag of easifill will save the day.Messy and dusty but worth it for the finish.

I know im not a great plaster but i nvested in a dust free sanding system and can overcome any of my messups with it and easifill.The sander wasnt cheap but with a large house to replaster (rewired) its cost effective.Ive broke even already with the saving on the 3 rooms ive already done even with the outlay of the £360 sander.

A plasterer round here would have wanted £700 plus for the work ive done.

ijrwe

Thanks for the replies. I'm not entirely sure whether some of those stories are full plastering from brickwork, or "just" skimming - but still it's good to hear them. I think it's worth having a go on one wall with some Hardwall and if it goes wrong I'll just hack it off again. I've already done several days of that recently and it's not the end of the world if I have to clear one more wall.

Now, without a car how do I get the stuff back from Wickes? Hmm...

jonnyb1978

ijrwe wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. I'm not entirely sure whether some of those stories are full plastering from brickwork, or "just" skimming - but still it's good to hear them. I think it's worth having a go on one wall with some Hardwall and if it goes wrong I'll just hack it off again. I've already done several days of that recently and it's not the end of the world if I have to clear one more wall.

Now, without a car how do I get the stuff back from Wickes? Hmm...

Well from brick you dont need to smooth it so its a lot easier. I alway put the first coat on and then with corner of trowel slash it diagnally both ways to create a key for the finishing coat I.e the skim.

If from brick you can always temporary screw in thin batterns down the length of wall at certain distances. Then you will know the wall has the same thickness of plaster on it and is even. Take batterns off and fill in once plaster has mostly dried.

smashingyour...

al69 wrote: »

Ive done 3 rooms so far and more than happy with the results especially with the cost saving.

Its the little tips that make the difference between maiking it easy or hard.I was shown by an explaster so it made life a lot easier.

First up you need to break the trowel in, if you see a decent plasters trowel it has a knife edge to it.This is very important,you dont have to have as sharp as a cooks knife but it does need the square edge removing.It will sharpen up the more you use it anyway.

The reall trick is knowing when to walk away from it and leave it alone.for me that is the reall skill.Some walls suck the moisture out of the mix really quickly and you find you are trying to spread a thicker and thicker mix.
Best to walk away and start again with more pva on the wall to slow it up.


Finally if it isnt a brilliant finish then a bag of easifill will save the day.Messy and dusty but worth it for the finish.

I know im not a great plaster but i nvested in a dust free sanding system and can overcome any of my messups with it and easifill.The sander wasnt cheap but with a large house to replaster (rewired) its cost effective.Ive broke even already with the saving on the 3 rooms ive already done even with the outlay of the £360 sander.

A plasterer round here would have wanted £700 plus for the work ive done.

What sanding system did you go for?

Looby_Lou

B&Q do plastering as one of their DIY classes. I found it was really useful, you got a chance to try and just to see how plaster should look and feel. It taught me that although I'm happy to do small areas (like after rewiring) I'm happier getting someone in for full rooms!