Pva between coats of finishing?

[Naz83]

Can I get some advice please.

I've plastered a ceiling in my hallway. I used tape on the joints between the boards and applied two coats of pva before starting the plastering. By the time I finished the first coat the plaster had gone hard so I didn't apply the second coat.

Can I wait for the plaster to dry and then pva it and apply the second coat of plaster?

Thanks.

Naz.

 

[roughcaster]

Yes you can plaster over it again. Give the original dried out plaster a coat of PVA to seal it,, let it dry,, say overnight, then tomorrow or whenever, PVA it again, then plaster onto it right away while it's wet/tacky. You really have to make sure you get a move on once you have mixed up the plaster, and make sure all the tools, buckets etc are clean,, especially the water, cold and clean. Practice makes perfect.

 

[Naz83]

Thank you Roughcaster, appreciate your advice.

 

[Richard C]

By the time I finished the first coat the plaster had gone hard so I didn't apply the second coat. Can I wait for the plaster to dry and then pva it and apply the second coat of plaster?

As RC advises it’s not a problem but I think your rather missing the point of the two coats. It’s not about the total thickness of plaster skim, more about working the second coat into a good finish. Don’t get hung up on “2 coats”, I certainly don’t do it every time. It’s not a hard & fast rule but a means of giving you more time to get a perfect & flat finish on some surfaces. You have to work fast enough to get one coat over the top of the other, once the first coat has dried out there is no point in applying the second coat unless your going to have another go at “two coats”. If the skim you’ve already got up there is trowelled off to a finish, no point in applying a second over the top of it tomorrow; in fact it could end up looking a whole lot worse!

 

[1john]

Good point richard, the bigger ceilings in my house are one coat simply because I cannot get it on quick enough from a hop up whilst self labouring and they look fine, I just try and lay on thicker and work it and flat it in one go as it is going off slightly.

 

[roughcaster]

Can I get some advice please.

I've plastered a ceiling in my hallway. I used tape on the joints between the boards and applied two coats of pva before starting the plastering. By the time I finished the first coat the plaster had gone hard so I didn't apply the second coat.

Can I wait for the plaster to dry and then pva it and apply the second coat of plaster?

Ahhh, didn't pick up on that bit in the post.
As Rich says, and i agree,,, you can't/shouldn't put on one coat of finishing today, and then another tomorrow. It's either two coats of multi in quick succession, troweled to a finish,,,, or make the best job you can of a one coat finish. In your case Naz, if your first attempt is not an acceptable finish, pva it to seal it as we said, then pva/go for it again as a quicker 2 coat job.

 

[Micilin]

Good point richard, the bigger ceilings in my house are one coat simply because I cannot get it on quick enough from a hop up whilst self labouring and they look fine, I just try and lay on thicker and work it and flat it in one go as it is going off slightly.

Two coats will give you more time, not less - please don't give up on laying it down with a fresh mix.

If you have time to trowel up one coat, you certainly have time to give it a quick flatten before second coating.

Maybe you are expecting your first coat to be too flat as you go and spend the time doing this?

Do you spend a long time mixing/cleaning out?

Forget about a hop up and use a long bench, then you can do it with fewer moves/less up and down. Ceilings off a hop up are not the way to do things Unless it is a very small ceiling. You need to be able to give it a cross trowel from one end to the other when it has picked up enough. Two hop ups and a short plank even!

So to sum up - rather than not do it properly ie two coats, look at what you are doing now that can be improved to allow you to do two coats.

 

[1john]

I am fairly sure that a good 30% of what was laid on would be too far gone to work if I stopped working it and started another mix. I am happy with the results I have too, I know it could be better but I also know it could be alot worse. Thanks for the advise

 

[plstering]

if you juas ant quick m8 you mite end up making it look like a pig ear if it working time and a good finish you want then use mp75 plaster
longer working time and you get a good finish out of it too and try using
a spray bottle to
a good way of working is half a bag of plaster and half a bucket of water will mix a full bucket of plaster and dont over mix it for too long as that mite play with the seting times a good rule of thumb is i use 4 buckets on the job if im on my tod
1 half full ready for the first mix of the day
2nd half full ready for cleaning of mixing bucket and tools
3rd/4th) buckets full of water ready for the next mixes
and cold clean water in the spray bottle
then get ready to get a sweet on
2 good coats of 4/1 mix of pva will do of wba the night before you said that your going over board is it new or old m8

 

[plstering]

so out of the 3 buckets your going to be using you will get 5 mixes
in turn thats 2 and a half bags of finish how big is the lid your trying to do m8 and the most i now tend to do is 30m2 max on my own then im f****d
dont want too see a bag of plaster for the rest of the week
use a duck run m8 it saves time

 

[Naz83]

Thanks for the advice guys, will give it a go today. (fingers crossed)

 

[Richard C]

Two coats will give you more time, not less

Exactly; the bigger the area the more time you will need & this is where the 2 coats comes in; or should.

 

[NickB_99]

Edit - deleted.
I posted, then noticed my suggestion had been already covered. Sorry!

 

[roughcaster]

Edit - deleted.
I posted, then noticed my suggestion had been already covered. Sorry!

Tut tut Newb' ,,,, now go and stand in the corner,, the taped one!!

 

[Naz83]

I finished the ceiling today and it all looks alright apart from one part of the ceiling where small eggshell like cracks appeared when it started to dry!!!!

The area was above the radiator, would that have something to do with it??
How is this going to affect the plaster??

Naz