Types of plastering

By Bob Henry / November 7, 2017

Plaster is a common construction material, and it’s been around for centuries trespassing various modifications until we’ve finally got a wide range of plaster types for different uses we have today. Since plaster is mostly used for internal walls nowadays, its variations are designed to enhance attaching between surface and plaster and enable better painting and decoration of the interior. Some modern types of plaster used in the construction industry are designed to strengthen elements of wall and ceiling. There are several types of commonly used plasters that provide the high quality coating and finishing, and the most popular are Multi-Finish. This type of plaster is perfect for insufficiently coated walls.

Hardwall

Hardwall plaster is another type of plaster used in construction industry designed to be placed as the first coat or backing plaster. The name derives from its specific trait to dry into the hard finish, which is a perfect coating for surfaces that need to withstand high mechanical pressure and resistance.

Multifinishing plaster is rather flexible and designed to be applied over any underlying surface, including directly onto plasterboard. The average layers need to meet a certain thickness criterion before you smooth it and polish it.

Browning plaster

Browning plaster used to be frequently utilized in the construction industry until Hardwall and Bonding types of plaster replaced it. It’s not abandoned completely because it has some of its feature that is specific and useful. For example, it is perfect for applying it, as the first coat to the finishing plaster, onto various large and rough surfaces, such as bricks. When applied in total thickness about 10mm, browning plaster is strong bonding material for other construction materials. Bonding plaster resembles browning plaster in some properties, and it is, also, quite sticky and adaptable to pretty much any underlying uneven background, including non-absorbent surfaces.

This refers to bricks particularly. It is, also, the perfect choice for poorly built and constructed walls if you apply it in several layers. Finally, metal lathing plaster is designed specifically for application onto metal lathing. Classic or Victorian plaster is a common form of plaster usually applied in residential houses and smaller commercial office buildings. It has some drawback that doesn’t make it quite a good choice for large industrial premises.

Plastering methods

By Bob Henry / October 25, 2017

The skilled plasterer will probably provide both plastering and drywall systems, so the decision between these two will come down to many other aspects, the pros, and cons of each option and preferences of the homeowner. When it comes to external walls, you’ll opt for plastering. However, covering and designing of the internal wall of the residential house or commercial building might be done in an old-fashioned manner with plastering or in the more modern method of applying drywall.

Plastering methods

The traditional plastering methods include preparation of the surface before application of plaster. Plastering materials have to meet certain criteria and quality, and the final result depends on a lot of the plasterer’s skills and experience. The background has to be well watered before applying the first layer of plaster to prevent sucking water from plaster itself. It requires a significant amount of time because each layer has to dry properly before adding the next one. Also, plastering includes installing decorative moldingsand quite often repairing of various defects.

On the other hand, drywall systems are getting more popular as an interior building material due to many advantages compared to plastering. Drywall is calcined gypsum mixed with water, squeezed and flattened and finally placed between two paper layers. The face side is smooth, and the back one is rough and back side will be placed on the background. Installation of drywall is far easier and quicker than classic plastering. Once fully prepared drywall boards, they are simply placed at the surface of corner bead attached to the corners. The walls are taped with fiberglass-mesh tape at the joints, and joint compound is usually added in three layers.

The drawbacks

One of the biggest drawbacks of drywall systems is their susceptibility to moisture and mold. In the case of high levels of moisture around over the long period, drywall will deteriorate significantly. On the other hand, compared to plastering, drywall is far easier to install, quite flexible and durable material, requires less or none repairs and it is perfect material for spacious premises. It also provides noise reduction, and it possesses fire-resistant characteristic due to the accumulated water within it. Finally, some newer models are paperless and specially designed to resist even the higher levels of moisture.

Plastering defects

By Bob Henry / October 15, 2017

Various factors influence the definite quality of plaster work and the quality of procedure and your skills are just one of them. There are several other common causes of defects in plaster work. Improper curing of plaster will dry it out and possibly cause cracking. Using low-quality sand or wrong proportion with too much sand will, also, cause plaster cracking. While applying plaster, you should stick to background tightly and always leave the new layer to dry before you apply the next one to prevent defects. These are the most frequent reasons, and there are ways to avoid these mistakes, but if the defects occur nevertheless, it doesn’t have to be definite damage. Neither you have to peel it all off and do the whole procedure again. Here is just some useful advice on how to minimize the defects in plaster work and make it look smooth and quality.

Use free-salt water

Before you begin actual plastering, use water free from salts to water the surface you will plaster. This will enhance the attaching of plastering material and prevent the surface from sucking the water out of the plaster. Now, the concrete surface you are planning to plaster should be hacked properly to prevent peeling later on. There are two main methods for this. One refers to applying water and acid in several layers, waiting for a solution to make an effect and wash the acid off. Another method is spatter dash key. Either way, avoid excessive rubbing in an attempt to smoothen the surface.

One of the essential factors effecting the final result is the quality of bricks used for masonry work. Use high-quality bricks and let the professionals conduct the majority of the process. If you’ve failed to avoid efflorescence during plastering, use hydrochloric acid and sulphuric acid mixed with clean water. Apply it on the surface with efflorescence and use brushes to rub the defect thoroughly. Do not apply water afterward to clean it off. Apply layers of paint only after you have removed all the efflorescence.

Quality Plastering

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By Bob Henry / October 9, 2017

To achieve good quality in plastering work and avoid consequential defects and necessary repairs, you will need high-quality material for sure, but experience, skills of a plasterer and applying of a couple of tricks are essential. If you are the first timer or simply were dissatisfied with the quality you’ve been achieving so far, here are some tips and tricks you might find useful.

The most important skill is the skill of troweling. The trowel is the dominant tool you will use to apply the plaster onto the surface, smooth it and flatten it, repair flaws and efflorescence and finally polish the plaster. Trowels, even those of high-quality production, are not expensive, thus invest into a proper trowel and keep it in good condition. This means to keep it clean and polished and to practice wearing it in properly. Depending on the skills you possess and how good you are at maneuvering trowel, pick the adequate size of it. The bigger ones are harder to control.

Use water spray gun

Since plastering requires watering of a surface prior applying plaster on it, another useful trick is to use water spray gun instead of splash brush to apply water. Wide splashing brush will do just fine work, but the whole procedure is more complicated and less convenient due to frequent bending down and having both hands occupied. Water spray with wide misty spraying is a lot better option, and the results are equal or even better.

If you conduct properly all phases of wet and dry troweling with the final dry trowel polishing phase, you should achieve a perfectly smooth finish on your walls. This only should be enough to prevent rather troubling and unnecessary sanding down the plaster. The plaster is rather rough to sandpaper making it smooth too easily before it has achieved any visible correction of the mere plaster. If you try to sand it down, you’ll spend tons of sandpaper and equally huge amount of time, and the definite results still might not suffice the desired quality. So, it far better to go back and do some of the major steps and phases again, if you have happened to do it poorly, then to do it all poorly in a rush and rely on sanding it down at the very ending phase.