Hi all
I'd like to start improving my plastering technique to increase speed and reduce the 'fiddle' factor over tidying where I've been before!
The diag below helps describe roughly how I tackle a wall - but I think there is much room for improvement.
I'm left handed and prefer to work from top to bottom (as start with a hop-up and I'd rather have more freedom at the end of the mix as I'm at the bottom).
From this, I'd start in top right corner and then work along the top edge filling out area 1.
Then pop over to right hand edge of area 2 and follow across again working right to left.
Then same for area 3 as a reverse of the top with area 1.
The arrows kind of show initial direction - I try to work smooth on an arc motion.
A couple of main difficulties I find:
When I'm in the middle part of area 2 and away from the sides, it usally gets a bit difficult. I find it difficult to avoid uneven coverage, due to starting away from an edge. And esp also on second coat, it also becomes harder to see where you've been.
I've seen some spreads on videos etc applying the plaster, then flipping the trowel onto it's other edge and going back over the same bit as the 'out stroke'.
I don't do this as I invariably get my trowel too flat and stuck! So I tend to just go in one direction, but I do yhen leave quite a lot of plaster on the trowel still.
Any tips appreciated to improve!
I'd like to start improving my plastering technique to increase speed and reduce the 'fiddle' factor over tidying where I've been before!
The diag below helps describe roughly how I tackle a wall - but I think there is much room for improvement.
I'm left handed and prefer to work from top to bottom (as start with a hop-up and I'd rather have more freedom at the end of the mix as I'm at the bottom).
From this, I'd start in top right corner and then work along the top edge filling out area 1.
Then pop over to right hand edge of area 2 and follow across again working right to left.
Then same for area 3 as a reverse of the top with area 1.
The arrows kind of show initial direction - I try to work smooth on an arc motion.
A couple of main difficulties I find:
When I'm in the middle part of area 2 and away from the sides, it usally gets a bit difficult. I find it difficult to avoid uneven coverage, due to starting away from an edge. And esp also on second coat, it also becomes harder to see where you've been.
I've seen some spreads on videos etc applying the plaster, then flipping the trowel onto it's other edge and going back over the same bit as the 'out stroke'.
I don't do this as I invariably get my trowel too flat and stuck! So I tend to just go in one direction, but I do yhen leave quite a lot of plaster on the trowel still.
Any tips appreciated to improve!
