Filler for chases

[Si_]

Can anybody recommend a filler for chases and filling of old socket recesses up to 70mm? Other than the ready-to-use fillers, which work OK but are hugely expensive, I haven't been able to find anything. I was recommended Easifill 60 but on receiving it and and reading the package I see it's only suitable for layering up to 5mm, which is completely useless to me.

 

[Wayners]

SBR the masonry and give that an hour to dry.
Buy a bag of bonding plaster and a bag of multi finish.
Fill water to just under half a black bucket.
Using both hands drop two loads off bonding in water..
Add multi finish to thicken up.
Fill chases.
We call it a magic mix.
Use a damp sponge to keep edges tidy.
Splash water on and smooth over as its setting.
Will take 4 days to dry.
You can sand and use decorators filler to finish off

 

[foxhole]

Quick dry bonding followed by standard filler to finish .

 

[Si_]

Thanks.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Other than the ready-to-use fillers, which work OK but are hugely expensive,

I've always used Thistle.

 

[richw]

I filled some chases and some old backbones (now unused!) the other day. For the first time, I bought some bonding plaster - it's a total revelation. Easy to mix and apply, and you can slap in in very thick.

I was all set to get some EasiFill 60, but had a several-years-old tub of Wickes ready-mixed equivalent, which I couldn't justify wasting. That stuff also worked well as a thing skim on top of the bonding.

 

[robinbanks]

Fill water to just under half a black bucket.

How big is the bucket?

Using both hands drop two loads off bonding in water..

How big are the hands?

Honestly, we have containers with measures on these days..

I've always used Thistle.

Thistle is a brand. Which products do you recommend, specifically?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Thistle is a brand. Which products do you recommend, specifically?

If you walk in any building supply company, and simply ask for a bag of Thistle plaster, the default Thistle, and most common is the 'Multi-Finish' - that is what you would be presented with on the counter. If instead, you go to Wicks/B&Q, etc., likely you will find that Thistle Mult-Finish is the only type stocked.

 

[Wayners]

@robinbanks

25kg plaster will mix two normal buckets or one plasters bucket.
Depends on the consistency you require and if you try and measure it out it won't work.
You have to adjust the final mixing.

As for being a accurate with mixing, scales are better I find especially thining paint ect
Just weigh it

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Depends on the consistency you require and if you try and measure it out it won't work.
You have to adjust the final mixing.

I have never needed to measure plaster, or the water added. You just mix, and add, until you get the consistence you want, to suit the job. Making mortar, you measure the sand, and cement proportions, but again just add water to suit the job.

 

[opps]

One of my best mates is a plasterer. He used to get, somewhat, animated when I referred to the base coat as being bonding (rather than browning). According to him, the former is used for low suction substrates such as concrete.

I dunno. I just fill the chase with whichever of the two that I have to hand and then face fill will with a sandable filler once the base coat has dried.

As per @Wayners ' post, I normally use SBR. I just want to reduce the level of suction. I guess that a proper plasterer might use PVA (possibly wet on wet).

Off the top of my head, a filler such as Toupret TX110 might be sufficient (it is cement based) but it would be significantly more expensive to use as a bulk filler. Because it is cement based, I would expect it to harden faster than a gypsum based product, but I have never needed to measure curing times.

 

[robinbanks]

If instead, you go to Wicks/B&Q, etc., likely you will find that Thistle Mult-Finish is the only type stocked.

I have never needed …

You just …

Well, we can’t all be as legendary as you Harry; do have some empathy for the people you’re giving advice to - DIY newcomers that don’t have an innate feel for how to mix cementitious product X to a consistency suitable for a job they’ve never undertaken before

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Well, we can’t all be as legendary as you Harry; do have some empathy for the people you’re giving advice to - DIY newcomers that don’t have an innate feel for how to mix cementitious product X to a consistency suitable for a job they’ve never undertaken before

Sometimes, you just have to engage common sense - if it falls off the float, it's too wet, if you cannot work it, it's not wet enough. No amount of weighing/measuring, will ever get the perfect mix. Sometimes, you just have to engage common sense, this is one of those occaisions.

You've rather shot yourself in the foot there - which one, obviously sells twice as much?

 

[robinbanks]

you just have to engage common sense

Hmm.. I think it’s not really a solution

DIYnoob: “Dear DIYnot people, I want to build a wall, how do it do it?”
Pro Elite Helpful Person: “well, you just use common sense”
DIYnoob: “OK, it seems like I need bricks and mortar. How do I make mortar?”
Pro Elite Helpful Person: “well, obviously you just use common sense for that too”

People come asking for advice, I’m calling out that you’ve been vague and not too helpful here, and you’ve said you don’t have a problem doing what they want to do because your vast array of experience lets you tackle any job and complete it with excellence, just because you already have an expert feel for it

None of that is helpful to someone who does not know the first thing. Wind yourself back to when you were a clueless teenager, and imagine your current self is giving that former self detailed advice so he can learn all you now know ..

Hopefully you’ll see the gulf of information you left out of your post with the hand wavy “well you just know you know?”

If you could add that info in, tell em the filler should have the consistency of Philadelphia cheese or something, relate it to what they might reasonably know, that would be grand

You've rather shot yourself in the foot there - which one, obviously sells twice as much?

But you didn’t say “go into the builders merchant and buy the thistle that sells twice as much” nor “go and buy the cheapest thistle, it’s bound to be what you need” nor “buy the first one in the list, it’s perfect”, nor “buy the one that gets used in the greatest quantities in other applications unrelated to what you’re asking for”

You said there is only one. I showed you 7. 7 is not 1; you were very, very wrong because you’re rushing snippets of useless information out in some feigned display of knowledge superiority

Come on, stop being a smart ass and use your experience and friendly, empathetic demeanour to help out..

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

People come asking for advice, I’m calling out that you’ve been vague and not too helpful here, and you’ve said you don’t have a problem doing what they want to do because your vast array of experience lets you tackle any job and complete it with excellence, just because you already have an expert feel for it

Which they were given, and perfectly adequate advice, until RB arrived in the thread, absolutely desperate, to score points. Now grow up!