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  1. S

    Baffled

    I'm after doing a few sample panels at home here with traditional sand and cement. 1st mix was 5 sand 1 cem and half lime with 200ml evoplast waterproofer mixed into a 10 litre bucket of water 2nd mix was 4 1/2 sand 1 cem and half lime to 200ml waterproofer mixed into 10 litre bucket of water...
  2. S

    Cement strength

    Hi all. Here in Ireland for as many years as I can remember it was always irish cement that was used for plastering/blocklaying etc. Irish cement has 32.5 Newton strength. There's a load of new cement producers (mannok,o briens etc) appearing in building providers and offering their cement at a...
  3. S

    Flaking roughcast

    Hi all. Did a school last year and got a call today from builder who says roughcast is "crumbling" under wall copings on a boundary wall we did. I called to investigate and it seems 6 to 8 inches under the copings has gone crumbly/ flaky. The rest of the wall below the 6 to 8 inches is solid...
  4. S

    Dot+dab on thermalites

    Hi all. Just wondering if thermalites (quinnlite blocks) should be primed or sealed before gypsum plasterboard adhesive compound is applied for dot+dab purposes? Many thanks
  5. S

    Stir the pot

    Hi all I was talking to a spread this morning who has a few years on me in the plastering game and he said he doesn't use waterproofer in external traditional rendering at all. Plaz in both coats he said with some lime in the top coat. How many of you agree with this????
  6. S

    Sealing traditional render

    Hi all Can traditional sand cement render be sealed with sbr. Client wants to keep the render finish look and not paint. Would sbr be something that would do the job. Roll/paint on...
  7. S

    White cement

    Why is 52.5 Newton white cement predominantly sold and used in the rendering game and causing unbelievable confusion about ratios when 32.5 Newton white cement is also made and sold. Opc is 32.5 Newton predominantly sold and used so why do merchants not sell 32.5 Newton white cement.....
  8. S

    Roughcasting

    Is it OK to roughcast over white sand white cement mixed at 6-1 with plasticiser(no lime) It's let to dry for 3 or 4 days but it's dampened down before wet dashing. Wet dashing mixed at 7-1 (7 soured mix to 1 white cement)
  9. S

    Limestone sand white cement mixes

    Used this stuff last week. Mixed at 6-1. Lord Jesus does it set fast. The white cement was 52N. Have any of ye much experience with this stuff. Just hope 6-1 wasn't too strong.....
  10. S

    Any difference/preference

    hi all Just wondering if there's any difference between limestone white rendering sand and granite white rendering sand(besides the obvious difference in stone) Which would usually be the preference
  11. S

    Covering granite

    Hi all. We have to Tyrolean a big fancy house in the new year and there's granite bands around windows and doors,granite bands all around the house half way up on each elevation and granite plinth. Is there any sticky cling film on the market to cover all these (or some other product). They...
  12. S

    Plastering pump

    Hi all,whats the best plastering machine for pumping traditional sand+cement mix. Cheers
  13. S

    Reciever ya or nay

    When wet dashing/roughcasting who prefers to apply a scratch coat,let it dry and then dash to a wet reciever coat. No.2: who prefers to give 2 scratch coats let dry and then dash.
  14. S

    Pink grip or plasterboard adhesive

    Got a job with an assload of insulated plasterboard. Any1 use the pinkgrip over the bagged adhesive. Is the foam any good. It seems to be quicker......saves mixing washing etc. What are the thoughts?
  15. S

    Wet dash

    If wet dashing with white sand and white cement onto grey cement brown sand background would anyone use a white sand white cement receiver coat or just dash straight onto the grey coat. Obviously if tiny bits are missed the grey bits would be visible. But if confident enough to cover every...
  16. S

    More crazing

    In ye're opinion why has this crazing happened. Napped finish about 2 years ago
  17. S

    What happened here

  18. S

    Rendagrip

    Hi all Can rendagrip be applied to cement board. Back of tub says it can be applied to block,brick etc. No mention of cem board..... Sand cement going on over it. Cheers
  19. S

    Skim cement board

    Builder has fixed cement board to bathroom walls. We're meant to be tiled floor to ceiling but now client wants to tile half way up and skim the rest. I was thinking thistlebonding-it or betokontakt first and then skim. Just wondering if thistle/beto will be OK to use on cement board?
  20. S

    Tyrolean on cement board

    Hi all,doing an extension to a pub currently. Old pub walls(all internal)fronted with gypliner system and cement board fixed on. Architect wants a Tyrolean finish and he's wondering if it's possible to prepare all the joints with mesh+filler and Tyrolean straight onto the cement board without...
  21. S

    Window scratch repair

    Hi all. Knob of a labourer is after giving the aluminum window frame a nice tear with the Stanley knife cutting off the protective film in a retail shop we're doing. It's pretty deep. Is there any way to sort this before client/builder sees it. It's about 6 inches long at head height....
  22. S

    Aquapanel with sand+cement

    Doing a job for a builder in a 1930's house. Old brick walls with lime render on them in a big old "conservatory". Customer wants walls done in sand+cement,sponge finish. Builder has an idea of fixing on aqua panel boards,fill joints with filler and mesh,scud coat with sbr and then float finish...
  23. S

    Refina 8mm nozzle

    Looked on refina site for an 8mm spray nozzle but couldn't find anything. Anyone know where to get one. I have a 4mm,5mm,6mm. I might just turn the 5mm into an 8mm by drilling it
  24. S

    Customer changed his mind

    Wall keyed/prepared for wet dash. Now he wants sponge finish throughout. What way going forward would be best to prepare it for sponge finish. A tight scud of 2-1 with sbr mixed in? Rendergrip,rendaid???
  25. S

    What's going on here?

    Passed a warehouse the other day and saw this....WTF
  26. S

    Adhesive or not

    Iv to stick/fix on 12m2 of 50mm polystyrene sheets to a concrete soffit. Would I still have to apply adhesive to the sheets or would the nylon mushrooms alone do the trick. The concrete soffit is 100% flat and level. Would the adhesive be overkill ?
  27. S

    Blockwork against I beam

    Blockwork sitting on top of I beam. Iv tried filling the void with timbers at every 300-400 covering with building paper/roofing felt and covering again with riblathe. All joints crossed at least 400mm. We have tried filling the void with cement board aswell doing thin coat with mesh and topped...
  28. S

    f**k**g revenue

    Have to pay 3k corporation tax on last year's intake. Not that happy about it but.... I said its not too bad as Iv 3k VAT coming back from the last 2 month's. Accounts secretary rings me today and tells me that I probably won't get back the VAT as the revenue will probably take it because I owe...
  29. S

    Thin coat render basecoat

    Anyone know what temp thincoat render can withstand. Fireplace is floated with sand cement. I don't want to skim as is it will crack/blow off. I f**k**g hate using victas s**t. I was thinking of putting a tight skim of basecoat over the sand cement (steel trowel finish) would it survive..?
  30. S

    Rendering problem

    Hi all. Rendering a newly built house the past week or so. Scudded 2-1. Scratched 4-1 with evoplast waterproofer. Nap finish at 5-1-1/2 with evostik plaz. Scud and scratch went fine but the finish is baffling. Scratch would be wet down the evening before a couple of times and again in the...
  31. S

    Blunt snips

    Anyone any tips for sharpening up a snips which is slightly blunt. It's gone a bit stubborn when I need to snip the wings on mini mesh...
  32. S

    A few of me external render pics

    House we did during Jan/Feb. We had to battle through the weather with this 1.
  33. S

    Reasons for this happening

    Any of ye know the causes/reasons for this happening....?
  34. S

    Sponge finish tomorrow

    Laid on a sand/cement external elevation today. A foot above bellcast never pulled in enough to float up 100% so we floated it as well as we could and all we could do is return in the morning float it up again and sponge it off. Small problem though is a foot down from the soffit the wall will...
  35. S

    Best excuses....

    Come on people,what are the excuses ye use to let down customers who are expecting you tomorrow. We are waiting on a painter for a few days now at my own gaff.Meant to be on Monday but he said he got held up due to wet weather last week,said he'd b on tomorrow but just reminded by the wife she...
  36. S

    Paying employee's

    Wondering what way all you employers pay ye're workers. Is it by the hour or just by the days worked. Iv 1 out of the 12 fellas with me and lately hes not playing ball. Over the summer months he used to drop his son to work in the morning before he arrived on site 3 mornings a week and collect...
  37. S

    Best wood render systems

    Anyone ever use the best wood render products.
  38. S

    Silo sand+cement mixes

    Hi all. Pricing up a big project and qs tells me to differentiate between them supplying the render by silo against me having my labourer mix it in the mixer. I don't see much of a cost saving on his side but my real question is have any of ye used the gear from a silo before. The external spec...
  39. S

    Preparation for finish

    We scratched the external of a house last Feb at 40 sand to 2 bags of cement for each bin with 200ml evoplast waterproofer. 5 months later and it's now ready to finish. Mix at 27 sand,1 bag cement,2 shovels of lime and 80ml evostik plasticiser. The same load of sand is there since Feb and I'm...
  40. S

    What are the causes

    Friend of a friend closed up his shed door and put in 2 windows instead. New blockwork has to be matched in to existing which was plastered a few years ago by another. On hosing down the wall today all these crack like features appeared as the water dispersed. A plasterers nightmare I suppose. I...
  41. S

    Different newton in bockwork

    Hi all,started a job the other day. Got set up to scratch a gable. The bottom half of the gable is built from 7newton concrete blocks and the top half is built from 5newton blocks. We wet down the gable as usual,scratched at 4-1 with plasticiser and holy fcuk the top half of the gable pulled in...
  42. S

    A bit of info please.

    Hi all. I bought a mixer off a friend of mine who doesn't work in the trade anymore about 3 weeks ago. I paid him 160 by company cheque. He isn't working and receiving benefits. The social welfare called to him last week and he is being investigated for working and receiving benefits. I know he...
  43. S

    efflorescence removal

    hi all,im looking for the best way to permanently remove efflorescence from new blockwork before scratch coat is applied. it was scudded laat week and when i saw the walls today there was a considerable amount of efflorescence present.
  44. S

    plywood against blockwork

    Hi all. Iv to plaster a new build in the next few weeks.There are a couple of areas externally where plywood is flush with the blockwork.The spec is smooth sand/cement finish.The reason why the plywood is meeting the blockwork flush is because the chippy erected a flat roof finished in...
  45. S

    Best hammer action drill

    Hi all,iv a job got with a a lot of insulated plasterboard fixing to concrete background. I have 2 bosch professional GBH2-23RE hammer action drills.They do the job for drilling holes for the mushroom fixings in your average extension/renovation but realistically they are not the most powerfull...
  46. S

    Painted blockwork

    Any tips on how to remove paint from blockwork.The paint gets rightly into the nooks and crannys and realistically 75-80% of the paint would want to be removed followed by a god scabble. i have to plaster this wall with a napp finish when it is ready but the builder in charge of this job has his...
  47. S

    porous chimney

    Hi all,looked at a job today.3 newly built brick chimneys back in august.House owners started noticing damp areas in the ceiling and upon investigation it seems the chimneys are extremely porous and a savage amount of water is coming in through the chimneys.An engineer was called and his report...
  48. S

    House Of cracks

    Went to look at a 2 storey house today built about 25 years.Red brick up as far as 1st floor level and normal blockwork with traditional s&c render the rest of the way up. The west and south facing gables are destroyed in vertical and horizontal cracks. Some follow the "L" shape of the...
  49. S

    victas heat resistant plaster cracked

    Oh jesus what fooking kind of s**t is this stuff.Used this stuff onto heat resistant plasterboard from victas. These boards were fixed onto MF studwork where a gas fire was incorporated.Boards were pva'd as insttructed,joints caulked with victas plaster and scrimmed with 'heat resistant scrim'.I...
  50. S

    2nd basecoat

    Hi all just wondering if it's ok to directly apply the second basecoat to the 1st coat when the 1st has dried more or less completely. I applied the first 3 to 4 mm trowled it off but then it lashed rain so had to cover over and leave. This was last Thursday and Friday lashed rain aswell. It...
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