bathroom advice needed please

Am in process of preparing bathroom for complete refit. Have taken off painted lining paper and in some places on the internal walls a little of the top plaster coat (a few mm thick) has come away too. On the external wall, the majority of this layer was very loose so I've taken it all down. The base plaster seems pretty sound in most places. The house was built c1910 and still has original plaster & lath internal walls. Both layers of plaster on internal & external walls are a light brown "sandy" type. How best to prepare what I can see now ready for applying a new top coat of plaster ? Was thinking of brushing off as much loose material as poss first then using PVA bond. Will prob use ready-mix universal stuff as have a little experience of plastering but am certainly no expert. Would love to get pro in but am short of funds so no choice but to attempt myself. Any help much appreciated. Thanks.

 

Hi Seabird,

Remove all loose plaster (which it seems you've already done).

I wouldn't really start brushing away at the surface because you'll find that you're continually brushing away sand until there's no more plaster on the wall! As long as the plaster is sound then leave it well alone.

To prep the walls, mix PVA with about 3 to 5 parts water and apply to wall (if you're filling a patch then also apply to surrounding area). Once dry (won't take long on those walls), mix up a slightly stonger solution (more PVA, less water) and apply to walls.

Don't use ready mixed stuff and don't use one coat plaster - they're useless and to be honest, probably harder to work with). Use Multi Finish.

The rest isn't so simple but you basically need to mix your plaster to a lumpy gravy consistency and then whisk until smooth and lump free.

The forst step is to get the skim on the wall. A nice thin layer - don't worry about how it looks but make sure the whole wall is covered. Then stick a second layer on, again, don't worry about how it looks at this stage - you just wnt the stuff on the wall evenly.

Now wait for the plaster to stiffen up slightly and lightly flatten it out with your trowel. Wait again for it to stiffen further (when you touch it it should feel tacky and your finger shouldn't sink into it) then splash with water and trowel it again. Repeat again a short while later.

A short while later again, trowel it over again without splashing but making sure your trowel is wet.

It's a tough task if you've never seen it done but there is only really one way to learn and that's to try it.

If you really stuff it up make sure you scrape it all off the wall before it dries - it'll be much easier when wet.

Good luck

Fred

 

Thanks very much Fred, that's really helpful.

 

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