Plastering Courses

Kiran

Plastering is an art that you need to practice to get good at. If you do decide you want to give it a go, buy yourself a 6x3 plasterboard sheet and a bag of skim and practice in the garden. That will be the easiest surface you will ever get to plaster. If you aren't hating your life after that then give it a go for real. I can plaster, I am just about competent, but I am also realistic. In the 2 days that it would take me to do a job I could get a plasterer for a few hours and put my 2 days into another job that needs doing

ThisIsWeird

Kiran said:

Plastering is an art that you need to practice to get good at. If you do decide you want to give it a go, buy yourself a 6x3 plasterboard sheet and a bag of skim and practice in the garden. That will be the easiest surface you will ever get to plaster. If you aren't hating your life after that then give it a go for real. I can plaster, I am just about competent, but I am also realistic. In the 2 days that it would take me to do a job I could get a plasterer for a few hours and put my 2 days into another job that needs doing

It's undoubtedly a skill that can be honed, but most 'practical' folk can make a decent fist of it very quickly. Yes, the result will likely require some finishing - sanding of highs, even filling of lows - but the cost savings are considerable, and the satisfaction pretty immense.

I would say that a propped-up sheet of p'board in your garden could very well be the worst possible surface to practice on, being almost certainly either slightly concave or 'vex - both a 'mare  

FreeBear

ThisIsWeird said: I would say that a propped-up sheet of p'board in your garden could very well be the worst possible surface to practice on, being almost certainly either slightly concave or 'vex - both a 'mare  

Yup. On the course I did, there were studs nailed to the wall on 400mm centres as I recall. the plasterboard was then fixed to these studs prior to being plastered.

If one were to practice at home, a similar sort of arrangement could be set up inside a garage or similar work area.

stuart45

That's the advantage of running a bricklaying course. You can reuse the bricks and mortar again many times.
I'm surprised a lot of these plasterers on YouTube are taking the plaster out of the bucket on to the hawk, instead of using a stand and spot board.

FreeBear

stuart45 said: I'm surprised a lot of these plasterers on YouTube are taking the plaster out of the bucket on to the hawk, instead of using a stand and spot board.

The course I did, we used a stand & board. Back home, I just scoop it out of the bucket - Most of the time, a stand would get in the way, and it is one less thing to clean afterwards.

stuart45

I normally use a stand and spot board, unless it's a small job. For a whole room it's faster working from a board. Cleaning the board is a quick scrape off and rinse. When working from a bucket I'd use a plaster scoop, rather than a bucket trowel.

jonnydeppiwish!

I did a course just before I left my old job for 3 days - unfortunately I definitely don’t have the patience to do it to a level that an experienced plastered could do.

stuart45

Plastering used to be a 5 year apprenticeship, so you'd expect  time served tradesmen to produce better quality work.

travis-powers

It’s totally worth it! 

Freebear is a prime example, what you do may need a bit of sanding and a bit of filler but you will save yourself a lot of money, in my experience all the really good plasterers are working on site, the domestic market is dominated by people who have done a 3 day course and calling themselves tradesmen.

Floopy2009

Cheers everyone for your comments much appreciated. Had a think and I am going to book one in just to gain a bit of knowledge and experience.

I will let you know how i get on