Amateur Newbie (apologies)

[Phil B]

Hi All,

I've been reading through some very interesting and informative posts on here and I feel some of them may have already answered my question, but I'm going to ask anyway

I recently moved house and to cut a very long story short the builders pulled a fast one which ended up with me accepting a very uneven garden. With money being tight at the time of moving coupled with an eagerness to learn I set out levelling the garden and building a small retaining wall (circa 800mm high) at the rear of the garden. The wall was a blockwork wall laid on 200mm x 400mm foundations and I managed this without any issues at all. Next step was to render the wall so off I went and bought a series of corner beads and Webber Pral M in white. Not being used to plastering I applied approximately a 15mm base coat of render (I fixed some 15mm lats to the wall and then shuttered the render on, then removed the lats and filled the gap) - I know this isn't the perfect way of doing it, but for me it has given me a decent result but I do have some unevenness. I bought a scratch float and videos online show people scratching to remove any uneven lumps and bumps but when I tried (after a couple of days) the wall was solid and wouldn't budge (even snapping teeth off the float).

I'm wanting to apply a finishing coat to smooth the wall - I can key the wall and apply a top coat, but where am I going wrong. Is my mix too thick which is causing the issues with scratching or am I waiting too long? How long would you expect to wait from applying to scratching (on say a 10 degree dry day).

I watch tutorials like this one () and I should be capable of giving a half decent finish on a garden wall.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Regards
Phil

 

[stuart23]

You left it too long to scratch back mate. If it’s warm you could have done it same day or if it’s cold next day would have been fine.

 

[Phil B]

I thought as much mate. If I apply a top coat all over will I need to grind into the existing render to give a surface for the new render to key into or could I just apply it on top of the current coat (which hasn't been flattened back).

My plan is to apply another coat and the scratch float it to a nice finish.

Thanks for youre reply Stuart

 

[Rigsby]

As said above. You scratch it when it is almost initialially set but still full of water. Just about nearly set is not hard.

Weber is a fast setter so on early as you can and it might be ok 6 hours later.

 

[Phil B]

Many thanks for the kind replies. I'll have a try applying a section this weekend and scratch it back. Out of interest should the mix consistency be similar to cement? Sloppy but with some consistency.

Cheers