Recent content by cupoftea

Did it come out ok?

The biggest mistake I made was starting at about 3 in the afternoon and not taking into account fading daylight in a room that is already fairly dark. And then i had to rely on two bedside lights for light which was not adequate at all. I wont be starting that late again.

How do you define experience? I have done many plastering jobs for firends, relatives and some private work and I take on board what more experience plasterers say. That's experience. And it says on the British Gympsum webiste that setting times can be 90 minutes or longer depending on...

I mean I can only speak from experience but I find plaster is still playable for much longer than 45 minutes Once I have put the second coat on I keep a bit spare to fill in any scratches or dents and find it is still easy to plaster in for much longer than 45 minutes. It's sort soft wet hard...

Thanks TCD

It took ages to set, i think because it was a cool day and it was quite a wet mix. I've done a lot of research online. Some plasterers say it's ok; some say it's not. I've never been in this situtaion so surely the best way to learn is to ask other plasterers what they would do? Isn't that...

Think it took about 4 hours. I made the mix wetter than normal because it's a flat roof and last time I did one of them it dried very quickly, so this one took a bit longer than normal and by the time it came to wet trowelling it was getting dark, too dark to see small marks that stick out like...

Well the overall message seems to be one coat won't work, so i'll either sand or redo it. It's not that bad, the main problems is the lines left from when I did the wet troweling to finish it off. because it was dark i didn't manage to get them out.

That;s why I am asking experienced plastered for advice.

It was an nvq level 2 course taught by profressional plasterers. I don't want to be a professional plasterer, just a good DIY one, which i am, despite one bad ceiling. Even the pros have bad days. I don't want to take a short cut, I am asking if I can take one. I am happy to do two coats...

I use to work as a labourer for plasterers so I've done all that. I can plaster, not as good as a pro but Im alright. This is the first ceiling I've done that hasn't gone to plan. I just wonder why some seem to be against a single skim.

lesson learned :)

Thanks for the replies The poor result was really down to poor lighting. I've done ceilings before they've come out ok. I did a 3 week plastering course so Im not doing it from watching Youtube videos. Is there a reason why a single skim on top would not be a good idea? I think i'd rather...

Hi all, I am a DIY plasterer and yesterday I did my first ceiling in 6 years for a relative. It's about 12 by 12 foot. Unfortunately it's come out rougher than I would have liked, mainly because light was fading fast so I had trouble wet and dry trowelling to finish it. Im thinking about...

Hey, thanks for the advice. I have taken the ceiling down now and already out a new one up but there are other ceilings to do so I may try using pva on them, i have seen other people recommend doing that.