Not welding.. plastering

[robwizard]

So I took out the gas fire in the living room and replaced it with an open fire, which is awesome! Lots of fun getting ash everywhere and heating little bits of metal up bright red

Despite how awesome the open fire is it has left me with a problem, the old gas fire surround was enormous and as a result of removing it the lower half of the chimney breast now needs to be re-plastered. I have tried a few plasterers I know but nobody wants to do it, probably because it's such a small job.. so I thought I might have a bash! its going to be papered anyway so the finish don't have to be amazing..

Any advice before I get on with it? when I was younger I worked on a job gutting houses and I remember the plaster washing the wall down with PVA water mix, to stop the brick being so porous? then putting a gloopy cement mix down with loads of lines scored in it.. I assume to give the final coat something to grip to? sort of like keying for paint? and then the plaster.

I realize it's not an easy thing to learn but I might as well give it a bash..

tips tips tips? other than "get a plasterer to do it"

 

[Windy Miller]

How thick do you need to build up?

The final coat of plaster must be no more than 2 mm thick. Don't be tempted to slop it on too thick or it will crack ar maybe sag as it dries.

That stuff you buy in Wickes is great as a base coat as you can lay it on up to about 20mm. Not really convinced on their claims of 50 mm thickness though.

Have a look on askthetrades.com (or was it .co.uk?). They should be able to give you some good advice there.

Oh, and make sure you get a good quality finishing plaster - own brand stuff is only any good for base coats, and will be a ****** to polish properly!

YouTube might also be a good source of reference

Have fun!

 

[Sean]

what thickness /depth is the hole?

if its got much build up your going to have to use bonding coat which is a slightly more built up gypsum plaster - mix it to the concistency of warm margarine and spread it on the walls to about 4mm below finish - let it go off but not dry out then go over with the finish pink stuff. again soft marg concistency spread it on as if you were buttering the wall thin layers rather than one thick one dont work it yet you just want it to cover the repair to slightly proud of finished level

once its gone off to a sort of cheesy concistency use the trowel at a steeper angle and flatten it off- brush water over the surface and the surface will work up clean the pinky soft "Glut" thats accumulating on the trowel into the tub

let it set for a bit wet and take the trowel over it again each time you are taking a slight skim off it, you can allow the glut to fill any slight low points in your finish. Plaster should look a bit speckly where its being cut back.

Once its gone quite hard wet and trowel again putting some force in to it which will give it a polish

its all a bit tequniquey like trying to tell someone how to lay a bead of weld or spray a panel - main secret is not to slap too much on at any time just build up layers slowly and dont overwork the plaster on the wall as itll get in a right state

whats the worst that can happen - youll have to sand it back and use a diy pollyfiller stuff to get it flat.

 

[robwizard]

My thoughts exactly ^^

It's about an inch thick to level with the rest of the plaster so I guess a base coat is in order!

Thanks guys!!

 

[cumbriasteve]

Have recently done up my daughters new house, in the back bedroom a fair chunk of plaster dropped off with the wallpaper, I think there must have been a chimney fire in the past and the heat blew it loose.

I am about as skillful at plastering as I am brain surgery, a mate told me to get a tub of B&Q ready mix plaster.

I have tried similar stuff before and found it yukky to use but mate kept telling me it was the business...so

I did and it is fantastic stuff, real easy to apply and to finish off I simply wet the float and polished it, amazed myself with the finish and how well it joined into the existing good plaster.

Can't praise it enough and although the true plasterers will probably pull it to bits it worked for me, wall is now papered and impossible to see the repair.

 

[brightspark]

backing coat can be bonding coat but its heavy and stodgy best stuff to use is called hardwall backing plaster then finish off with wall finish . or board finish both simlar stuff but board finish takes slightly longer to go off . or u could use multi finish

 

[Hitch]

On the odd occasion i have done a bit of patching up plastering, i have just used the wickes one coat patching stuff. It doesn't seem quite as hard as the proper finishing plaster.

Its pretty easy to use too, and sands well

 

[madkayaker]

The way a sparkey does it is to get bag of bonding coat and add finish paster and handful on concrete powder in the mix, mix it all up fill the hole and smooth it over. That will fill 30mm plus no bother.

 

[Sean]

The way a sparkey does it is to get bag of bonding coat and add finish paster and handful on concrete powder in the mix, mix it all up fill the hole and smooth it over. That will fill 30mm plus no bother.

"yeah painter'll catch that"

>sound of van door slamming - wheelspin <

 

[gaz1]

if you had said how big of the job it was it would have been much better if 4ft x 3ft dryline it or 6 x 3

dryline it is the new way quick and easy to do

buy plaster board comes in different sizes thoe so you choose
buy the multifinish plaster as will do all the jobs you need

a warning thoe as plastering is over the old fireplace soak the job area and not just one coat of water 10/15 coats as the bricks stones are so dry it will suck out all the water in the plaster
last coat of water if lucky you have a small amount of pva wood glue around if not just get a small tube mix it with water and wet the wall with it

cut the board to size mix the plaster put blobs on back of the board and stick to the wall

soon after wet the joints between old plaster and new board as they will be dry and clean any wallpaper around it plaster brings it straight off
now with same plaster make a mix

and plaster it up on the joints these will dry quickly thoe from the board wet these often until the board plaster starts to go off press a finger in gently and when it starts to turn go hard

then flick water from the brush onto the wall not much thoe enough to coat th working area and float off at a nearly flat edge full float nearly touching too much and you bring the plaster off you will figure it out thoe

at edges more water needed here and float to the old wall and downward of the joint as this smoothes it off

float up enough dont polish it as you can do easily the less water used the better but the joints will need the water more so brush them out in doing so thins it out and float over again until near on level

good luck thoe lol

 

[brightspark]

The way a sparkey does it is to get bag of bonding coat and add finish paster and handful on concrete powder in the mix, mix it all up fill the hole and smooth it over. That will fill 30mm plus no bother.

adding cement to plaster makes it brittle the only reason SOME plasterers aka bodgers do it is to make it go off fast. the proper stuff to add is a small amout of lime if u want to make it go off faster .

 

[brightspark]

if you had said how big of the job it was it would have been much better if 4ft x 3ft dryline it or 6 x 3

dryline it is the new way quick and easy to do

buy plaster board comes in different sizes thoe so you choose
buy the multifinish plaster as will do all the jobs you need

a warning thoe as plastering is over the old fireplace soak the job area and not just one coat of water 10/15 coats as the bricks stones are so dry it will suck out all the water in the plaster
last coat of water if lucky you have a small amount of pva wood glue around if not just get a small tube mix it with water and wet the wall with it

cut the board to size mix the plaster put blobs on back of the board and stick to the wall

soon after wet the joints between old plaster and new board as they will be dry and clean any wallpaper around it plaster brings it straight off
now with same plaster make a mix

and plaster it up on the joints these will dry quickly thoe from the board wet these often until the board plaster starts to go off press a finger in gently and when it starts to turn go hard

then flick water from the brush onto the wall not much thoe enough to coat th working area and float off at a nearly flat edge full float nearly touching too much and you bring the plaster off you will figure it out thoe

at edges more water needed here and float to the old wall and downward of the joint as this smoothes it off

float up enough dont polish it as you can do easily the less water used the better but the joints will need the water more so brush them out in doing so thins it out and float over again until near on level

good luck thoe lol

dont use multifinish to dot and dab the boards on. u need dry lining adhesive the multifinish is softer and doesnt bond to the bricks or blocks as well and it shrinks ive seen it all in the last 40 years on site http://www.building-supplies-online.co.uk/plasterboard--plaster-adhesive-70-c.asp

 

[madkayaker]

Well its always worked for me. If your going to paper anyway doesn't need to be that brilliant a job

 

[brightspark]

Well its always worked for me. If your going to paper anyway doesn't need to be that brilliant a job

on top of my work i do all my own plastering and do it for plumbers and even do patching plastering on sites where the main plasterers wont do it as there on price per square yard and i can score 22 quid an hour for doing it

 

[pidgeon chit welder]

Have some of you guys done a plastering job in Ammanford South Wales or Peterborough by any chance ..???/

In Peterborough I stripped off wall paper only to find six sheets of flour paste and newspaper covering blocked off unvented fire opening .

In thre same place Foil backed plaster board supposedly stuck on to cover big areas where the internal wall skin has been severely damaged by the double glazing fitters .

Tghis place In now live none keyed in dry stacked breeze blocks faced in DIY quick cover where a door has been blocked up and made level on one side with the rest of the wall .

Oh the British working man never ceases to amaze me.

O/ P go down the local working pub about 17.00 and look for a mucky looking plasterer and ask if he can help with a proper job that will match the rest of the house instead of one of Bodget and Scarpers master pieces .

I say this cos if he is local he'll not worry about having to do two visits to do the job properly instead of using a Messers Bodget and Scarpers solution that comes in big expensive cans all day long every day

 

[drjim]

I had a load of plastering done around my new woodburning stove in November.

If you are doing surfaces that will be exposed to direct heat gypsum cracks, so my plasterer did the recess for the stove in sand/cement.

Standard drywall will not be happy getting hot either so they used fireline board around the recess, then standard board once further away from the heat.

Depends what sort of fire you have, and what the hole is like I suppose.

 

[Glyn]

If it's just a small area, do as mad kayaker says. 50-50 mix, bonding and multi finish. Don't bother with the cement. Make sure the area is well wet, bonding is for low suction backgrounds and will shrink and crack if it's dry. Get a flat bit of wood and rule off the existing plaster. Wait till it starts to set and trowel up to get a finish. If your not too far from Wigan, I've probably got some part bags in the garage.

 

[robwizard]

Hmmm... I think it would be best if I took a picture to provide a bit more information.. and so I will do! But not until tomorrow.. because now it's bedtime.

Cheers guys!

 

[normspanners]

Just a point if there is any soot from a previous fire that has gone up the front or through the morter lines, sand n cement or plaster of any kind wont stick to it, it is a b*****d you will have to wire brush it then try pva over it.

 

[drjim]

Now you mention it I remember wire brushing my fire recess. Spray with water then cup brush on grinder. Nice and messy!