First time DIY'er looking to get some muck on my walls.

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grounzero

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I have a 1930's house where I've removed the wallpaper and chased out the walls for first fix electrics and plumbing. There are a mixture of surfaces that need plastering, bare brick, sand and cement, matt paint which has been washed down and the original lime plaster. Some of it has fallen off due to all the wall chasing but it mostly appears to be strong. Should I hack all the plaster off and start from the bare brick? Tools I have so far are an sds hammer drill with chisel bits and sds whisk for mixing, a plastic hawk and a set of cheap draper trowels. Am looking to get a decent worn in trowel and a 600mm speedskim ST and SF with pole attachment and a water sprayer. Would this be a wise purchase? Would I need any other tools to get started? What is the best type of plaster to use for a nice matte finish?
 
What you need matey, is a box set of vids by rwf60784.....
Feet up, big bag of doritos, and a can of beer.....pay attention and in no time at all you'll be an accomplished plasterer....
It's what I did....;)
 
Hi grounzero , hopefully I can help u here pic one of the rooms preferably a small bedroom to start with and if the walls are sound i.e. solid no blown plaster and the ceiling is sound and no cracks in it then let me know and I can talk u through it
 
Dont think it will go well to be honest but at least get a Marshall town pre worn trowel and spend an hour running it on an oilstone to sharpen it up a bit, have you ever plastered before
 
Dont think it will go well to be honest but at least get a Marshall town pre worn trowel and spend an hour running it on an oilstone to sharpen it up a bit, have you ever plastered before
Never tried it before. Have figured it would be wiser to do it in stages based on the electrical circuits. I'm prepared for getting it wrong first time and don't mind hacking it all off and starting again as long as the rubble removal doesn't get too expensive.
 
Hi grounzero , hopefully I can help u here pic one of the rooms preferably a small bedroom to start with and if the walls are sound i.e. solid no blown plaster and the ceiling is sound and no cracks in it then let me know and I can talk u through it

I have a the smallest bedroom in mind. The ceiling is lath and plaster with textured paint (not artex as I had it tested for asbestos) and apart from being a bit grubby the ceiling is structurally sound. I've removed the wallpaper from the walls which revealed a shiny matte paint which became scratched from the wallpaper scraper and has a few channels dug in (about 20mm) where the new electrical wiring has been installed with back boxes. Also some of the original plaster has come off where I removed the skirting boards. I was going to cake the walls and ceiling in blue grit and then pva it. It's just knowing how long to leave the pva before applying the pink stuff. I have bonding plaster and multi finish. Looking to spend about £100 on trowels. Maybe a sup3rfl3x and a speedskim. Some people say Marshaltown pre worn in are for old school boys. I have some cheap ones already but for a final finish I think it would be a worthwhile investment.
 
Put some pictures on of the room it all helps.
I would have said at least go on a course if you're thinking of tackling a good bit of your house..
These sound like horror stories to plasterers .. when someone with zero experience of even holding a trowel asks for help .. but I'm try help you because I'm in a good mood.
 
I have a 1930's house where I've removed the wallpaper and chased out the walls for first fix electrics and plumbing. There are a mixture of surfaces that need plastering, bare brick, sand and cement, matt paint which has been washed down and the original lime plaster. Some of it has fallen off due to all the wall chasing but it mostly appears to be strong. Should I hack all the plaster off and start from the bare brick? Tools I have so far are an sds hammer drill with chisel bits and sds whisk for mixing, a plastic hawk and a set of cheap draper trowels. Am looking to get a decent worn in trowel and a 600mm speedskim ST and SF with pole attachment and a water sprayer. Would this be a wise purchase? Would I need any other tools to get started? What is the best type of plaster to use for a nice matte finish?
Maybe better off battening it out and dry lining it instead of f**k**g up every thing I doubt you will get one line straight or a square room jumping straight into wet plastering.
 
Put some pictures on of the room it all helps.
I would have said at least go on a course if you're thinking of tackling a good bit of your house..
These sound like horror stories to plasterers .. when someone with zero experience of even holding a trowel asks for help .. but I'm try help you because I'm in a good mood.

Cheers, I'll get some pictures tonight when I get back from work.
 
Maybe better off battening it out and dry lining it instead of f**k**g up every thing I doubt you will get one line straight or a square room jumping straight into wet plastering.

Have thought about that but sq metres are a premium. The tiler I got in named a product that I can't remember the name of that allowed you to stick the board straight to the wall and said that may be better esp for the parts where there is a mixture of bare brick, sand and cement, paint and lime plaster all on the same wall.
 
Dont get a s*p*r*lex or speedskim, they're not magic and you dont know how to use them so stick to a trowel. If your putting blue grit on the walls you dont need to PVA, blue grit is like PVA with sand in it coloured so you can see where its been applied. Get a good trowel and apply in two coats, second coat when the first has firmed up a bit about 30 mins. Flatten second coat a couple of times and as its going firm trowel with a bit of water when it needs it. Once your starting to see a bit of brown cross trowel it. It still won't go well but best of luck
 
That's great grounzero, small room, best place to start . So firstly apply the pregrit to all the walls in a very thick coat using a brush as u get proper coverage. I think we should start with a wall first to get the hang of using hawk and trowel. Pick a flat wall to begin with get your buckets, mixing drill, trowels and plaster ready and let's fill a bucket with 10 ltrs of clean water a gorilla tub is ideal so do that and let me know
 
That's great grounzero, small room, best place to start . So firstly apply the pregrit to all the walls in a very thick coat using a brush as u get proper coverage. I think we should start with a wall first to get the hang of using hawk and trowel. Pick a flat wall to begin with get your buckets, mixing drill, trowels and plaster ready and let's fill a bucket with 10 ltrs of clean water a gorilla tub is ideal so do that and let me know

Am looking at febond blue grit (£15/10L) or thistle bond-it (£50/10L) is there anything I should be aware of that justifies such a price difference?
 
Don't waste your cash on expensive speedskims and the like, @Lodan is right, they are not magic.
Buy plenty of sandpaper.
Take small steps.
Don't worry.
Good luck.
 
Hi grounzero , hopefully I can help u here pic one of the rooms preferably a small bedroom to start with and if the walls are sound i.e. solid no blown plaster and the ceiling is sound and no cracks in it then let me know and I can talk u through it

Pictures of small bedroom as promised. Had to wait until this morning to get the best light. Most of the bedrooms have a mixture of a eggshell paint texture which was scratched by the wallpaper scraper or bare plaster.


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If that all goes ok then because of all the different textures I imagine this would probably be the most advanced surface in the house I think.
 
Look grounzero, if uve not plastered before and want to try it then I'm happy to give u some help and advise but I'm going to be totally honest with u .your going to go out and buy the plaster and tools your going to prep the walls not knowing what your looking for while u prep your then going to mix the plaster probly have a nightmare keeping it on the hawk and then when u put it on the wall your going to realise your way out of your depth ( not having a dig I see this all the time )the best advise I can give is save your money and get a time-served English plasterer your house will look a million times better and you only need it plastered once for the entire time you live there try your hand at the plumbing,carpentry painting and decorating but let the plasterer come in and do his magic you then have a lovely blank canvas to do what you want with. f**k the plastering up and your home will look s**t forever ! Trust me I've seen it so many times it takes years to become good at plastering it takes 10000 + hours to master a trade like what we do it's never going to happen in a couple of days
 
Look grounzero, if uve not plastered before and want to try it then I'm happy to give u some help and advise but I'm going to be totally honest with u .your going to go out and buy the plaster and tools your going to prep the walls not knowing what your looking for while u prep your then going to mix the plaster probly have a nightmare keeping it on the hawk and then when u put it on the wall your going to realise your way out of your depth ( not having a dig I see this all the time )the best advise I can give is save your money and get a time-served English plasterer your house will look a million times better and you only need it plastered once for the entire time you live there try your hand at the plumbing,carpentry painting and decorating but let the plasterer come in and do his magic you then have a lovely blank canvas to do what you want with. f**k the plastering up and your home will look s**t forever ! Trust me I've seen it so many times it takes years to become good at plastering it takes 10000 + hours to master a trade like what we do it's never going to happen in a couple of days


Tell 'em, Pilgrim. @groundzero - Optimum has been at it forty year and he still can't do it so you're f**k*d.
 
Look grounzero, if uve not plastered before and want to try it then I'm happy to give u some help and advise but I'm going to be totally honest with u .your going to go out and buy the plaster and tools your going to prep the walls not knowing what your looking for while u prep your then going to mix the plaster probly have a nightmare keeping it on the hawk and then when u put it on the wall your going to realise your way out of your depth ( not having a dig I see this all the time )the best advise I can give is save your money and get a time-served English plasterer your house will look a million times better and you only need it plastered once for the entire time you live there try your hand at the plumbing,carpentry painting and decorating but let the plasterer come in and do his magic you then have a lovely blank canvas to do what you want with. f**k the plastering up and your home will look s**t forever ! Trust me I've seen it so many times it takes years to become good at plastering it takes 10000 + hours to master a trade like what we do it's never going to happen in a couple of days

Tell 'em, Pilgrim. @groundzero - Optimum has been at it forty year and he still can't do it so you're f**k*d.

He who dares wins
 
He who dares usually ends up with more plaster on himself than his ceiling and paying a proper spread to hack it off as well as do it again properly.

I got 30 litres of blue grit so gonna soldier on with with the prep. If there are any bits that are blown out I'll hack it off. If I balls it up I'll hack it off and keep trying until I get a decent finish. I'll get a pro in for the more advanced areas and watch and learn.
 
One thing mate is a must wear some goggles because if you do a ceiling you will get some in your eye and trust me it's painfull or worse you can lose an eye , but take advice from what others have said get a plasterer in I've had apprentices that have been with me for over a year and only just good enough to put on a small ceiling or wall because plastering is not like other trades if you make a mistake on ie brickying or joinery you can generally rectify but plastering you can't . You can't keep skimming the ceiling if your not happy with it cos before long you will have to limbo dance to get in the room
 
One thing mate is a must wear some goggles because if you do a ceiling you will get some in your eye and trust me it's painfull or worse you can lose an eye , but take advice from what others have said get a plasterer in I've had apprentices that have been with me for over a year and only just good enough to put on a small ceiling or wall because plastering is not like other trades if you make a mistake on ie brickying or joinery you can generally rectify but plastering you can't . You can't keep skimming the ceiling if your not happy with it cos before long you will have to limbo dance to get in the room

Or look like a 9/11 survivor after pulling the whole lot down :D
 
Bond the curve on the ceiling so your trowel can run over it easier.
 
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