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Got a small domestic job to price where two flats are separated by single skin brickwork do sound travels through. Have told him best option would be to install a stud wall independent of brick wall, using sounds batts between studs and board with sound lock or even just double board it with...

Always planned to do the cellar conversion this winter/new year and had job cancelled on me the other week which would have seen me through to mid jan, so it's time to crack on! The cellar is in a mid terrace and is back to earth on one wall-wi visible penetrating damp, other walls have...

Right then... I have been asked to price a job where a chemical dampcourse has been installed in to a cottage with solid stone walls. The plasterers who followed the damp course guys on have applied limelite Reno to 1m high and not bothered skimming over the top as customer is messing around...

Spoke to another plasterer the other day who recommended priming walls with and then chucking some sbr in the mix for reskims. Anyone ever done this approach instead of pva-ing up the walls?

if money was no concern which company/product/system would you use for a cellar conversion in a stone outer/brick inner terraced house.

Hi guys, I've just bought a victorian terraces house which has lovely original cornicing and ceiling rose in the living room. I want to strip all the existing paint off it to really bring out the original mould. Obviously i dont want to damage the mould in doing so. Can anyone advise as...

Hi guys, I have got to strip the paint off some timber perlins before re-boarding an skimming. I have tried ??nitro-mors?? in the past which was rubbish, also tried sanding them with a belt sander, which worked, but cost a fortune in sandpaper cos it got clogged up with paint every 2...

i've got an external solid brick wall to patch and plaster back. The thing is the area that needs patching is where the old chimney breast used to be. There's a bit of old soot etc that'll need scratching off, but what backing plaster should i use? On soid brick walls i'd usually use a...

I've been asked for a meterage price for labour only base coat and skim over mainly block work. Never had to do this on this scale before, but really want the job so can you guys please give me a rough idea of what the absolute minimum i could charge would be and also what the maximum would...

Looking at getting a new van at the moment. I have seen a 58 plate SWB panel van which i am interested in, but before i go any futher with it i wanted to know if a SWB of this age could fit an 8x4 in the back laid down on the floor? I have this idea to put a false floor in so when i need to...

I have a stairwell to do which is originally a black lime base coat, topped with lime and then at some point has been artexed and then painted with some hideous high sheen paint. The PVA is running off the Walls, but some is clinging on. Do I... A) leave pva to dry and apply another thick...

Apparently its a slurry you can put on after putting chemical damp course in allowing you to then dot and dab on top of it? Seems too good to be true. Has anyone heard of it?

The old building company i used to work for always hilti nailed slate latts to the beams, then fireboarded them. Now i'm on my own i can't see the point in buying a hilti nailer for a seldom occuring task. Other plasterers i have spoken to have mentioned painting thistle bond-it on to the...

always used my makita sds 110v hammer drill to chisel off old plaster etc, but it has recently snapped every chisel that has gone near it. Not wanting to do the same thing again i would like to know what you guys use to hack plaster AND render off. Cheers

Can anyone recommend a good belt sander to buy? Need one to sand some old Beams down. Is it better to get a smaller sized belt one (around 3inch) or to go for a 4inch? Sorry it's not directly to do with plastering!!! Any advice appreciated.

I need to take a mold of some intricate artex plaster work so that I can replicate it. I have never done this before, and don't know where to start. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Apart from sitting on your hands waiting for the phone to ring what do you guys do if you haven't any work on? The only reason I ask is because this is my first year in business and the quietest time of the year is just around the corner. I'm ok up until Christmas at the mo, but wouldn't...

A mate of mine has just bought a solid stone cottage. The survey highlighted a small amount of damp on the external walls. The house has had a chemical damp course installed, but the guarantee for which has nearly expired. The current walls have been plastered with an artex plaster. He wants...

Has anyone used this before? Is it any good? If so what mix for scratch and top over stone would you do? Thanks

Hi guys I have a patch repair job where I have the match the existing style. I don't have a picture unfortunately, so was hoping one of you guys might hazard a guess as to what tools to use to create the following... It looks to be a brushed/wavey style in quite wide circles. The bands in the...

I have always managed with a ladder and plank, but im on a job where the staircase is around 5ft wide and there are double height pitched ceilings above with no real way of propping a 2nd ladder to accept a scaffold plank and form the typical 2 ladder & plank method. Obviously going to need to...

I usually make sure the walls are dust free and damped down before dabbing. A fellow plasterer always puts weak pva on. What do you do?

Hi guys. Have just bought a makita screwgun and want to buy a bulk-load of collated screws in. Do i have to buy the expensive makita ones, or can i buy the cheap ones off t'ebay? e.g-...

Simple question... Is the 18v worth the extra 120squids? Cheers guys!

Patched a solid lime plastered external wall last week with limelite base coat and left 2mm and a mech key with the idea to finish in high impact lime plaster this week. decorator has stripped the wall paper off and (kindly) persuaded the owners to re-skim the entire wall through. tarmac say...

Got sold by the idea off my old boss because he said you could get a grant for £2000(ish) for taking one on. Have been looking around, and may have found a possible apprentice, but he hasn't left school yet, and infact leaves in mid-june. Apparently you need to find someone who has been...

Need some little triples for doing stairwells etc. Have looked at ZARGES, but can't find any that don't have the stabiliser bar on the bottom. Need the overall width at the base to be less than 30". Any tips? Thanks ps - Don't mind spending the money for quality tackle.

decided to invest in a decent straight edge. the one i use at the mo is my old boss's and he rightly wants it back! it's a perfect 2.4m with a 30mm box section. can't find anything like it apart from the refina's... http://www.refina.co.uk/acatalog/Straight_Edges.html can't decide between 2m...

I'm an sbr newby... Have been using sbr up to a meter high on solid stone Walls after injecting dampcourse, then the gaffa wAnts the Walls dabbed and skimmed. Have been finding it pretty hard to get the sbr to stick to the stone when the Walls are all over the place. Have brushed off and wet...

Got to repair a water damaged cornice. There's not much wrong with it, there's just a bit of filling to do inbetween the cornice and ceiling (like a fillet of plaster) and the old paint just needs stripping off and re-doing. This isn't my normal line of work, so just wondered if one of you guys...

Went to have a look at a Barn conversion job today. The owner said he'd already had prices in from other companies and every one priced to dot n dab everywhere including external Walls. Was always taught not to dot n dab external stone Walls with infilled cavities. Is this just me or is there...

On a job next week where the boss said we'll be hacking walls back and banging a slurry coat on then plaster back. Have never done this type of thing before... Just wondering if anyone could talk me through what it is we'll be doing, at what thicknesses, drying times etc etc. Just so I can...

Does anyone know where i can get these from? Thanks

need one sharpish... any suggestions...? ;D

Plastering: An Encylopaedia by Brian Pegg (Author), W. D. Stagg (Author) or Plastering Level 2 Student Book: Fresh, Practical Resources for Students and Tutors, Perfectly Pitched to Meet the Needs of the Level 2 Learner: ... Crafts NVQ and Technical Certificate) by Arthur Watkins...

anyopne got one of these...?? usually just use a square bit of plasterboard to get windows to line up right when dot and dabbing. what do you use?

got a job coming up where the gaffa is keen for me to use a lab. have never used one before, and can't see how i can make one pay to be honest. just recon that i'll be paying someone to stand around while i'm sweating my tits off. any tips? also i'm being paid squ/m and have heard the 1 and 1...

as above...

Looking at the possibility of installing a gypframe suspended ceiling in a 15 x 5 meter domestic lounge. The current ceiling is shot, lined with wall paper, up-down-and all over the place, therefore undrawing it isn't really an option. I think i already know the answer to this one, but is it...

This may have been discussed before, but do you pva brickwork/blockwork before dabbing on to it? I was tought to wet the wall down, but not to pva. If you do pva what strangth do you use??

Can anyone recomment a good 240 / 110 heater. Need one for a domestic renovation job where the central heating is turned off... Thanks

Have got an internal brick wall to re-skim, however half of it has been hacked off back to brick and the owner wants to leave the other half on the wall. I'm thinking of bonding out the brick half (too tight to dab), taping the join between old and new plaster, pva-ing the old and skimming the...

Hi guys. I got trained up by a builder and combined that knowledge with my NVQ course to get to the stage i am at today. A normal days skimming for me would be two sets of around 25 sq.m each lasting around 4 hours per set. If i mix more than 25sq.m the plaster tends to go off in the tub...

hi guys... i know this isn't directly related to plastering, but just wondered if you could help... a mate of mine has had his tiles done in his brandspanking, freshly plastered bathroom by a ''builder''. Quite a few of the tiles sounded hollow/not keyed to the wall, so he pulled off the...

Hi guys! I'm looking to buy a new whisk and paddle for mainly domestic jobs. I like the one my boss has which is a makita ut120 with a 4inch orange refina paddle. Just wondered what you guys would recommend? Thanks.

Hi guys. A customer wants a solid stone external wall dot&dabbed along with the rest of a room. I have always limelighted external walls or thrown up a false cavity if required, however extreme time pressures mean that limelighting/solid plastering is not possible. Just wondering if it might...

Have been plastering for 3 years. Just got my qualification through the other month, and looking for a good book as a point of reference for the future. Could do with one that particularly focusses on 2coat work. Noticed the Plastering: An Encylopaedia by Brian Pegg and W. D. Stagg. Any...

I have an annoying little job coming up where i have to reskim 1 wall over painted surface. I want to be in and out asap whilst maintaining a good finish. Do you have any advice on what i should use to prime/key the plaster and more importantly how i can speed up the set time...? (i already...

Hi everyone! I'm new to the forum, and have had a quick look through all the topics raised, and found all the responses in-depth and very helpful - Some guys really know their stuff!! :) I have a problem which comes with around 5% of the work i do... and i don't know why it happens! Really...