Which undercoat plaster?

[sprite1275]

Thanks people.
How hard is it plastering a ceiling compared to walls ? I've only ever done some plastering on walls but not sure whether to do my ceiling.
It's got a very small profile artex on at the moment. If I did do it I take it just do the usual pva ?

you just have to think "wall", and do it exactly the same , it takes some getting used to, but after doing a few of them it becomes easy, google typewriter method, also you could use pva but you will be far better off using a bonding agent such as bondit bluegrit or wba

Thanks for the info. Can I just ask, is it always best to do,2 coats of multi finish ? If so how long inbetween coats do you wait and what thickness should each coat be about.

I've only done bits if plastering in the past so would you advise me to blitz the hole.ceiling or maybe do it in 2 halts ? The ceiling is roughly 4x4.

 

[stevethespreader]

Thanks for the info. Can I just ask, is it always best to do,2 coats of multi finish ? If so how long inbetween coats do you wait and what thickness should each coat be about.

I've only done bits if plastering in the past so would you advise me to blitz the hole.ceiling or maybe do it in 2 halts ? The ceiling is roughly 4x4.

always do 2 coats , some spreads do 1 coat wonders but i always do 2, and you def dont want to be trying to do a 1 coat wonder over artex, the thickness will total 2-3mm in total both coats, how long between coats? this will be determined by a number of things like how fast you are, how fast you have put the first coat up, the conditions weather, is going off quick ect, a lot of spreads including me will lay the second coat on straight after putting on the first 1 espec on big hits.
Do i think you should do the ceiling in 1 hit? whats the biggest wall you have done? because its your first ceiling you may struggle on a 4x4 lid
if you want to split it in 2 run some scrim tape down the middle plaster up to and just over the tape flatten it all in and the rip the tape out this will give you a nice straight line to skim to on the second part

 

[1john]

Do all you can to buy time, i have never tried working to a break line but here is what i would do

1 - deck the room out so you are not up and down off of hop ups

2 - have a mate to help you,

3 - make sure you have lots of buckets ready

For instance if you have 2 trugs and have the water guages ready your mate can mix up for you and even load the hawk for you as you work, if you get say 4/5 of the ceiling done you mate can get a mix on the go straight away in the second bucket so it will be ready to lay on as you finish the first coat and quickly flatten in the ceiling. The second coat will buy you time on the first coat.

PVA on new board can buy you a bit of time although I have never tried it, I have however used blue grit over some really bumpy artex and by the time i had flattened it out with bonding and applied two coats of multo finish it was getting boring waiting around to be able to trowel it up!! (the ceiling was about 3.5mx3.5m and im not a pro plasterer)

I think i have read that a handful of board addy in the mix can buy you time too.

I havent read the whole post through so sorry to any of the guys who may have mentioned all or some of this already!

 

[sprite1275]

Thanks.

I'm going to have a bash at this tomoz but must admit I'm poopin it a bit. I pva'd the ceiling yesterday and it took nearly all day for it to dry, is it best to pva it again and skim when its still damp ? Or don't bother with the pva. Also should I of scraped the artex first? Like I said its only got a profile of about 2/3 mm.

I'm hoping seems the pva took ages to dry, the plaster will aswel and give me time to get it on.

Howerever it goes I will let you know how I got on.

 

[roy c]

You should of took the high spots off the artex first then unibondeed it let it dry then another coat of unibond and thin skim of bonding when unibond is tacky or as you are doing but unibond it let it go tacky then skim it. Never skim on dry unibond...

 

[huddsspread]

Thanks people.
How hard is it plastering a ceiling compared to walls ? I've only ever done some plastering on walls but not sure whether to do my ceiling.
It's got a very small profile artex on at the moment. If I did do it I take it just do the usual pva ?

Your arms will tell you how hard it is plastering a ceiling compared to a wall.

I still get bad arm ache when skimming ceilings, and ive been doing it 17 years!

 

[sprite1275]

Thanks people.
How hard is it plastering a ceiling compared to walls ? I've only ever done some plastering on walls but not sure whether to do my ceiling.
It's got a very small profile artex on at the moment. If I did do it I take it just do the usual pva ?

Your arms will tell you how hard it is plastering a ceiling compared to a wall.

I still get bad arm ache when skimming ceilings, and ive been doing it 17 years!

yep, my arm was killing after a 1/4 of the way through the fist coat. Well I managed to do the whole ceiling in one shot with 2 mixes, it was a close one because the plaster was going off towards the end of each mix.
For my first ceiling I'm well chuffed with it, its not perfect with a few dinks in it but nothing a bit of filler won't sort.

I've booked next week off so I can finish the rest of the room and start the spare room.
Once again thanks to everyone for the input.

 

[huddsspread]

dont use filler, go and buy yourself a bag of EASI FILL. Use that for filling, and get some 120 paper, itll sound down perfect.

 

[sprite1275]

Hi, all rooms are plastered now and Im ready to fill all the little dinks that I've left.

I've got some easi fill to use but just wondered does this go straight onto the bare plaster ?

I plan on white washing walls afterwards with 50/50 water & emulsion.

 

[darrington]

Hi, all rooms are plastered now and Im ready to fill all the little dinks that I've left.

I've got some easi fill to use but just wondered does this go straight onto the bare plaster ?

I plan on white washing walls afterwards with 50/50 water & emulsion.

Give your walls 2 mist coats of watered down "emulsion first",, let it dry, then fill any blemishes in the plaster. When you've filled the blemishes and they've dried out, give them a light sand down with a "very fine", 150 grit sandpaper. If the sandpapers too rough, it'll scratch the plaster. An old piece is the best.
Be careful filling the blemishes, the neater you do the filling, the less sanding down you'll have.

 

[NickB_99]

Give your walls 2 mist coats of watered down "emulsion first",, let it dry, then fill any blemishes in the plaster. When you've filled the blemishes and they've dried out, give them a light sand down with a "very fine", 150 grit sandpaper. If the sandpapers too rough, it'll scratch the plaster. An old piece is the best.
Be careful filling the blemishes, the neater you do the filling, the less sanding down you'll have.

I'd also add make sure you use a block with the sandpaper - don't just hold a strip in your fingers.
A block will ensure a more uniform finish (I tend to use an offcut of plywood or something rather than buying anything special).

 

[sprite1275]

Give your walls 2 mist coats of watered down "emulsion first",, let it dry, then fill any blemishes in the plaster. When you've filled the blemishes and they've dried out, give them a light sand down with a "very fine", 150 grit sandpaper. If the sandpapers too rough, it'll scratch the plaster. An old piece is the best.
Be careful filling the blemishes, the neater you do the filling, the less sanding down you'll have.

I'd also add make sure you use a block with the sandpaper - don't just hold a strip in your fingers.
A block will ensure a more uniform finish (I tend to use an offcut of plywood or something rather than buying anything special).

Went and bought me a proper sanding head that fits on my roller pole. Worth every penny, I've got quite a bit of sanding and this makes it so much easier.

Just got to paint now then put the skirting & archtrave on, put new rad up and that's one room finished.

Let's see what my plastering is like once painted

 

[james19000]

You should of took the high spots off the artex first then unibondeed it let it dry then another coat of unibond and thin skim of bonding when unibond is tacky or as you are doing but unibond it let it go tacky then skim it. Never skim on dry unibond...

reawakening an old post, just reading up before attempting my first undercoat plaster.

I've got blue grit to go on to the bare red brick walls of my 1900 house.

reading Roy C's post kind of confuses me, cause I thought the whole idea of bondit, blue grit etc was that you painted it the night before let it dry and then plastered...

am I right in thinking you must plaster onto dry pva, cause the new plaster wont have suction to the dry pva surface causing it to fail later on.

 

[roughcaster]

You never, ever plaster onto dry PVA. Always plaster onto it while it's wet or tacky. If the PVA dries out before you plaster onto it, go over it again with more pva. Plastering onto dry pva will fail.

 

[james19000]

You never, ever plaster onto dry PVA. Always plaster onto it while it's wet or tacky. If the PVA dries out before you plaster onto it, go over it again with more pva. Plastering onto dry pva will fail.

phew... thanks for confirming....