Cream of Tartar

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Arti

Arti

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Alreet lads, Got a tip a few month back and was wondering if anybody else has tried it. An old boy on a building site told me that you can use Cream of tartar as a retarder for skimming
So i gave it a go a couple of months back when me and me marra had to skim 2- 65m2 ceilings and rather than split them up and take 4 hits we used the Cream of tartar and we managed to chuck one on in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Was a bit of a killer but we made some canny coin.

Went to have alook at the ceilings today out of curiousity and they still look mustard.

Anybody else used it ??? Its only a quid a tub from asda!!!!
 
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I just fill the lid of the tub with powder and add it to every bag of finish
 
After laying in the ceiling i was expecting to be on the go for the full gauge but we had a good 10 - 15 mins between trowels to get the blood back in our arms.
 
i tried it and it didnt seem any different-was in the summer though so heat might of been a factor-ive been told a capful of freeflo is good in skim,but only in first coat and then a nice tight second coat-geezer that told me reckons 60m piece of piss
 
Artisan998 said:
Alreet lads, Got a tip a few month back and was wondering if anybody else has tried it. An old boy on a building site told me that you can use Cream of tartar as a retarder for skimming
So i gave it a go a couple of months back when me and me marra had to skim 2- 50m2 ceilings and rather than split them up and take 4 hits we used the Cream of tartar and we managed to chuck one on in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Was a bit of a killer but we made some canny coin.

Went to have alook at the ceilings today out of curiousity and they still look mustard.

Anybody else used it ??? Its only a quid a tub from asda!!!!
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i would not have thought two of you would need it
 
It was still a canny shift 4 me and the youngin, we've not been plastering that long in trade terms, but still got time to get some old school speed up though. They were the biggest ceilings iv done
 
Cheers chaps I've heard of this but chap wudnt say wot e used : ( e sed uses 6 bags a day 2 sets then off home so it must work we'll try it tmoz & c wot happens lol watch this space !
 
cream of tartar, we use to use it about 30 years ago in sirapite plaster it would kill it dead. putting the sirapite through a cement mixer you could put the whole house on one day and trowell up the next day. we stopped that because it weakened the plasters final set
 
heard cream of tartar works.old boy on site also told me hand full of multi in your pva for skimming on to ie gloss painted walls
works a treat also dries pva quicker and turns pva pink so you know were you have rolle,rd with paint roller plus ment be good on artex .cream or tarter friday morning mix loveing that spunky :RpS_thumbsup: ...
 
Have heard of the tartar mix a lot of times from older plasterers , I have never ventured into into it tho, if I feel the area is to big for one hit, I split it up into sections. On the forum recently tomato sauce has the desired effect on retarding the set by 2-3 days u can do 2 rooms including lids and come back to next day to flatten off and polish, I have not ventured into this either, but it must be worth a try, lol:RpS_thumbsup:
 
DannyMac said:
I like to rub cream of tartar into my nipples in an anti-clockwise motion, is that r******d?
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Depends where u r danny, if ya naked outside the local school at hometime maybe saying ya r******d might stop u going to jail........:RpS_thumbup: but if its just to woo your lass it could possibly b classed as erotic......:RpS_wink:. if ya dip ya length in a tub of tartar it might give ya and extra couple of minutes on the nest.......:RpS_thumbsup:
 
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I also heard this on site, it does work but I prefer to stick to what I know, i can get enuff on and make a lovely job of it, never had a problem with skimming. On average I can do 10-12 bags a day no prob so no need for this retarder rubbish :).
 
Rpc73 said:
I also heard this on site, it does work but I prefer to stick to what I know, i can get enuff on and make a lovely job of it, never had a problem with skimming. On average I can do 10-12 bags a day no prob so no need for this retarder rubbish :).
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So you average 120m2 a day? No problem.
 
What I did notice from those that used the Creme of TarTar was that the surface of plastering didnt seem to close in as well as without it.
 
Blowing that trumpet again

Some people are just looking for any excuse to start bragging, what was constructive about hearing what he thinks he can get on a wall? Or how many bags he gets on? Nothing at all. I have never seen a bragger thats a good spread in 20 odd years.
 
120m a day is that 3 gauges of 4 bags or 4 gauges of 3 bags?? Either way its a canny shift. Was doing a conservatory the other day and the customer was telling me how he used to be a spread on site." put on 20 bags of browning in the morning & skimmed them in the afternoon". Asked him why he wasn't doing his own conservatory and he says he's on incapacity with a bad back. Av not been on site much so dont know if he's bullshitting or what he said is achievable. Sounded a dick anyway
 
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Hahaha tis funny to read comments slating my post, I thought it would ruffle a few feathers after reading posts of people saying six bags was a gd days work. my post was of course for site work and on plasterboard, it is true but it wasnt that I was trying to brag, it was I just couldnt believe that soo many people would think that 5-6 bags was alot to do in a day or people saying that you should do 2 bags in a hit.

What you should do is what you can handle, a good plasterer is one that knows where his limits are and what he can handle. Learning this lesson helps you do a better job and the more you do the same amount whatever that is eventually you will get faster. Those moaning about my apparent brag are either jealous or embarrassed, I wasnt trying to piss anyone off but dont slate someone that can clearly handle more than you. When on site I worked hard and fast, always on my own knocking up, never had help. Float and set once i would get into my rhythm I could average 15-17 bags float and set on my own.

Back to skimming to achiever them said meters I would do 2 5 bag hits picking off the big areas(rooms that is) and then usually would do a third hit of around 2 bags picking off cupboards and small awkward areas. Right now i am usually doing more domestic work and the hint of too many hard days usually some site work my bad back would rear its ugly head or my neck or elbow problems and yet I am only 39.

On site I had met people that could do more than me also without the creme of tartar, so dont bitch bout me coz its true and yes people can do more than that, although I found that there standard of work couldnt come close to mine.
 
Good answer mate all i can say to that is that you are lving proof that all sitework and large areas should be machined on had that been the case your body wouldnt be fcuked at 39.
 
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