Plaster pulls when wet troweling

[Rugby rich]

I'm a fairly new DIY plasterer, and one of the biggest issues I have, is that during the wet troweling phase, the plaster occasionally "pulls".

I can't for the life of me work out what I'm doing differently when this happens compared to when it doesn't. It seems to do it if I use loads of water, and if I use very little etc.

Has anyone come across this before & can give any tips as to what's causing this & how to avoid it happening in the future?

I've attached a picture of the issue to hopefully explain better.

 

[roughcaster]

What are you plastering onto, new/old plasterboard, a pva'd surface?
The plaster in the photo seems to be very thin, plus you can see the surface underneath, maybe too thin a coat or a suctuon problem.

 

[Rugby rich]

That's the 2nd coat of new multifinish onto new plasterboard.

 

[roughcaster]

Maybe you've got the wrong angle of the trowel when trowelling up.
If the angle of the trowel is wrong, even if the wall has water sprayed onto it, the trowel can "drag" up the wall, rather than "slide" neatly up the wall. Also, make sure the trowel is clean and wet. Using a dirty, dry trowel, will also drag the plaster.

 

[roughcaster]

Don't give up though, you learn from your mistakes, we've all been there.

 

[Rugby rich]

Thanks for the help. I've done 2 full rooms so far & it only happens occasionally. The most infuriating thing is I don't know what's causing it, so don't know what I need to change.

I thought I was keeping the trowel clean & wet, but possibly not enough. I'll keep a closer eye next time & see if it makes a difference.

In terms of angle, which way is more likely to cause this issue? The trowel being too flat, or not flat enough?

 

[roughcaster]

The trowel not being flat enough will cause the plaster to drag. A nice "sharp" trowel angle will glide over the wall, rather than an angle which is not flat enough, and will "scrape and drag". Hard to explain, but I think you know what I mean.

 

[roughcaster]

I've been a plasterer since 1964, still do plastering today, love it.

 

[Rugby rich]

The trowel not being flat enough will cause the plaster to drag. A nice "sharp" trowel angle will glide over the wall, rather than an angle which is not flat enough, and will "scrape and drag". Hard to explain, but I think you know what I mean.

Yea, I understand what you're saying. I'll pay more attention to this next time I'm plastering too then.

Thanks for the pointers.

 

[lostinthelight]

What about. Maybe first coat too dry before the second then too much pressure for the amount of adhesion between them so skidding it off?

 

[Lee dorey]

Looking at that picture dude your exposing the grain so too much water being used or too late as for tearing shouldn’t really happen! Think your troweling too closed and need to read the plaster in terms of stages by the time water is added you should be able to open the trowel right up unless you sponge then closed trowel and open up later on

 

[Lee dorey]

Just trying to help it just looks like your dragging fat over more dryed areas and steel blades cause and draw moisture to the surface just concentrate on timing and open and closed positions as your get there skimming should be easy so if it’s hard something is wrong really, judging by the picture your work probably looks and drys with lines appearing once you crack it the finished colour is completely uniform