One-coat plaster or multi?

[VickyBH]

Hi all,

I ma looking to plaster my kitchen walls that were previously double tiled. 75% of skim coat came off with the tiles so I thought I hacked off the rest. the wall is now left with grey base coat with many indentation.

I am thinking there are 2 ways of doing it:
1. PVA twice, 1st coat with zombie mix (bonding+multi), 2nd coat with multi.
2. Use thistle Bond-it twice, then 1 coat of Thistle one-coat plaster.

I prefer the 2nd way because I only have to spread once, however, here aren't many info on one-coat so I wonder if they are no good or has some obvious disadvantage? Will the end result be the same as multi if I am looking to paint the wall afterwards?

Thanks in advance.

 

[23vc]

Why first coat with bonding + multi mix?, I’d do bonding coat then skim with multi a few hours later.
Have you used one coat before? Have you used multi before? They’re a bit different in terms of technique to get right. So if you want a decent finish I’d do whatever you’ve done before. One coat goes off slower and tends to get sponge floated.. multi is normally 2 coats, flattened, troweled out etc. Give a bit of a clue on your capability/experience and you’ll probably get more accurate advice

 

[VickyBH]

Thanks 23vc.

I had been to a plastering course and have done bonding and skimming so I am quite happy tackle a straight forward plastering. Never tried one coat before, I had imagined it to be like bonding?

I wanted to use zombie mix because I have to avoid putting too much thickness on current plaster. It’s vital the wall doesn’t end up too thick because my current kitchen plan is just about to have enough place to avoid appliance door clashing.

 

[23vc]

I’d give it a very tight coat of zombie then and second coat with skim. I don’t think you’d get it any thinner if you 1 coated it, not to any noticeable degree anyway, and assuming your course taught you how to finish with multi, then I would steer clear of the one coat as like I said it’s a different beast to get looking decent. I don’t think many people use it compared to multi/board finish.

 

[VickyBH]

Thx. forget about one-coat then.

Will I get a better result with 1st coat of bonding rather than zombie mix if I spread it thin?

I am a bit worried it’ll craze, 2/3 of the wall will have nothing on, just painted, Will bond-it instead of PVA a better choice?

 

[23vc]

If you use bonding, then it’s a 2 coat skim over the top. That’s what I’d do. Plasterers use the bonding/multi first coat method as a time saver, it doesn’t make any difference to the overall thickness, which’ll be probably 6-8mm whatever method you use.
I always use PVA, never had an issue with it so never had need for bondit. Personal choice tho. Just do whatever you’re most confident of getting a decent finish with. No risk of crazing unless you do something very bad like not PVAing the wall first enough times to control the suction. Skim within a couple of hours of bonding going on, if you’re doing it that way.