Is this plaster way off drying?

maurice28

Hi all - quick question on plastering if I may!

We recently had a new extension built that leads off from our kitchen (a wall was knocked through). That has been plastered a few weeks ago and is waiting to be decorated. We are now in the process of getting a new kitchen - fitting is due to start on Thursday and the old kitchen is ripped out.

On Friday, the plasterer from the kitchen company came to do some repairs and patching, and ended up plastering a lot of one of the walls. I'm afraid I'm no expert, but the plaster was applied directly to the bare wall, rather than to plasterboard. He said it would be fine to fit the kitchen onto by the time Thursday came around (I assume he knows best as they do this all the time).

The plaster in the extension has now turned a light, uniform colour (this was applied to plasterboard) but the plaster in the kitchen is still dark brown. I know it's only been a few days but I wondered, do the different types of plaster dry a different colour? I.e. would this plaster in the kitchen be brown even when it is dry and ready to paint/fit the kitchen into? Or is this still way off dry?

Photo below for reference! The plaster on the ceiling which is a lighter colour is from the extension plasterer (it was repairing holes made to reroute cables etc) so done at a different time.

rob7475

The plaster is still drying. If he's plastered onto bare brick, you're going to have 10-15mm of bonding / hardwall plaster as a base coat with 2-3mm of multifinish on top. That will take a couple of week to fully dry at this time of year. Get a bit of heat in the room if you can (not too hot though - aim for a room temperature of about 21).

You should be fine to fit base units to the walls but I'd probably hold off on fitting wall units have they have a smaller void behind them so may affect the plaster drying properly. Don't paint the wall until it's properly dry though

maurice28

Ah, thank you, I thought that might be the case. Trouble is, as part of the kitchen rip out a radiator had to be removed so it is cold in there. Trying to keep it ventilated though, we'll just have to see how it goes!

SaverRate

Try some dehumidifiers or electric heaters to dry it out but you dont want it to dry too quick 

maurice28

SaverRate said:

Try some dehumidifiers or electric heaters to dry it out but you dont want it to dry too quick 

Thank you! Have a dehumidifier running but in the extension, so a distance away from the plastered walls themselves. Aiming to keep the temp up/humidity down in the general space but in a gentle way to avoid cracking etc. Will keep an eye on it.

Forwandert

We used one of those portable oil filled radiators on a low heat when we had ours plastered. 

ka7e

My builder supplied an industrial dehumidifier and we supplemented it with a small fan heater. Plaster was sufficiently dry in a few days for kitchen fitting. I think they can be rented for about £100 per week

DRP

I put a floor standing oscillating fan in our extension, and it really helped even without heating.