Grit

[PlasterCraftDundee]

Having only worked with my old man, and never really coming in contact with any other plasterer, with us just doing domestics and work for small builders we would never hear about any newer products or tool. The plasterers forum is great for this! My dad is very old school and doesnt trust or really want to learn new methods or products. I don't know how long grits have been out but yesterday was the first job we had used it, thanks to reading a few threads on here. What a difference! Reskimmed a kitchen with very glossy paint, it felt like the plaster troweled better than on any other background i've went over, including boards. seemed to set alot more uniformed than it would going over pva.

 

[Danny]

 

[carlos]

They are very good. I wonder how we really got on before.

 

[bobski]

Other than micro and wickes version. Anyone use grit that sets quite quick or are most of the others next day jobbies?

Blue grit etc.

 

[Nicm]

Having only worked with my old man, and never really coming in contact with any other plasterer, with us just doing domestics and work for small builders we would never hear about any newer products or tool. The plasterers forum is great for this! My dad is very old school and doesnt trust or really want to learn new methods or products. I don't know how long grits have been out but yesterday was the first job we had used it, thanks to reading a few threads on here. What a difference! Reskimmed a kitchen with very glossy paint, it felt like the plaster troweled better than on any other background i've went over, including boards. seemed to set alot more uniformed than it would going over pva.

It's great stuff once you can get someone to put it on for you.

 

[johniosaif]

It has its place of course, but pva does the majority of my over skims, some like the colours and grit all the time,

 

[Loren]

Having only worked with my old man, and never really coming in contact with any other plasterer, with us just doing domestics and work for small builders we would never hear about any newer products or tool. The plasterers forum is great for this! My dad is very old school and doesnt trust or really want to learn new methods or products. I don't know how long grits have been out but yesterday was the first job we had used it, thanks to reading a few threads on here. What a difference! Reskimmed a kitchen with very glossy paint, it felt like the plaster troweled better than on any other background i've went over, including boards. seemed to set alot more uniformed than it would going over pva.

I'm probably around your Dads age, I'm across the pond & I dig this site because the way you all approach your work is different from a lot of our methods, there's a lot to learn. After reading about the Blue Grit I was impressed, their website said there was some distributors on this side of the pond so when I was at my plaster supply I tried to get them interested, no luck so far.

 

[BigK]

I'm probably around your Dads age, I'm across the pond & I dig this site because the way you all approach your work is different from a lot of our methods, there's a lot to learn. After reading about the Blue Grit I was impressed, their website said there was some distributors on this side of the pond so when I was at my plaster supply I tried to get them interested, no luck so far.

Across the pond where?

 

[Danny]

Across the pond where?

A septic

 

[Loren]

Across the pond where?

Seattle WA USA.

 

[radford]

Different strikes for different folks

 

[radford]

Strokes sorry too much sherry

 

[jamesthefirst]

I'm probably around your Dads age, I'm across the pond & I dig this site because the way you all approach your work is different from a lot of our methods, there's a lot to learn. After reading about the Blue Grit I was impressed, their website said there was some distributors on this side of the pond so when I was at my plaster supply I tried to get them interested, no luck so far.

Loren you have a product called plaster weld which is rolled or brushed on then left to dry before skimming over. Have you tried this?
In the venetian plaster products they have a quartz primer which is applied to various backgrounds including wood for a key, im sure this might work also

 

[PlasterCraftDundee]

I'm probably around your Dads age, I'm across the pond & I dig this site because the way you all approach your work is different from a lot of our methods, there's a lot to learn. After reading about the Blue Grit I was impressed, their website said there was some distributors on this side of the pond so when I was at my plaster supply I tried to get them interested, no luck so far.

I didn't think there was much plastering in the USA, I thought it was all tape and fill. So do you skim walls with a gypsum based plaster aswell? do you do much exterior stuff?

 

[Nicm]

I didn't think there was much plastering in the USA, I thought it was all tape and fill. So do you skim walls with a gypsum based plaster aswell? do you do much exterior stuff?

I was in Boston for a while a few years ago and it was all skimming.There were two brands of plaster,Unical and Blue Diamond if I remember correctly.The joints were filled and when set then skimmed.Only 1 coat.It set in half the time skimcoat does.Both brands were white in colour and there was little or no fat when troweling up.If you did'nt get your first rub good you were in trouble.

 

[Loren]

Loren you have a product called plaster weld which is rolled or brushed on then left to dry before skimming over. Have you tried this?
In the venetian plaster products they have a quartz primer which is applied to various backgrounds including wood for a key, im sure this might work also

James - Yea, I've always used Larsen's Plaster Weld for the interior work and Larsen's Plaster Crete for the outside work. You can leave it on for a few days and it will still re-emulsify when you put mud on it. I've used Plaster Weld over wood when you have to and then I fiberglass over that. Just watched the video that you shared, the person was going to coat over his walls with a drywall compound, normally if need be I'd roll on a coat of a stain blocking primer and then coat it with drywall compound, no real need in that case for the bonder because all-purpose drywall compound has glue in it.

 

[Loren]

I didn't think there was much plastering in the USA, I thought it was all tape and fill. So do you skim walls with a gypsum based plaster aswell? do you do much exterior stuff?

Dundee - There aren't many of us left here in Seattle , the union only has about 25% of the membership that they had in the 1980's when I was a member. Just about all new buildings going up now days use board & tape. I get along okay because of all the old houses that have plaster in them, mostly when they remodel they take out the plaster in the upstairs rooms and replace with sheetrock but they try to restore the plaster in the main floor rooms except kitchens. I just did a veneer plaster job over "blue board" in a living room had to match a pretty funky texture.

 

[Loren]

I was in Boston for a while a few years ago and it was all skimming.There were two brands of plaster,Unical and Blue Diamond if I remember correctly.The joints were filled and when set then skimmed.Only 1 coat.It set in half the time skimcoat does.Both brands were white in colour and there was little or no fat when troweling up.If you did'nt get your first rub good you were in trouble.

I think you got the products mixed up - Unical is like a casting plaster but it's stronger I add it to casting plaster when you want to bump up the strength of the material. We have Diamond Finish and Imperial Veneer Plaster which comes with a base coat in one sack and finish coat in another sack, there are accelerants and retarders that you can add to them depending on how much wall you are putting on. My brother said they had a special veneer plaster that they had to use out of New York that I've never heard of, so there's probably more brands of material on the East Coast. There is a lot more plastering going on in the Eastern part of the US than in the Pacific NW (where I live). There's a lot of stucco going on in the South East like Arizona & Nevada, way to hot down there for my Viking blood. Oh and above you asked if I do much exterior work - yes mostly repair though. ( Got a lot of picts on my website https://www.lorensmedberg.com )

 

[Loren]

I think you got the products mixed up - Unical is like a casting plaster but it's stronger I add it to casting plaster when you want to bump up the strength of the material. We have Diamond Finish and Imperial Veneer Plaster which comes with a base coat in one sack and finish coat in another sack, there are accelerants and retarders that you can add to them depending on how much wall you are putting on. My brother said they had a special veneer plaster that they had to use out of New York that I've never heard of, so there's probably more brands of material on the East Coast. There is a lot more plastering going on in the Eastern part of the US than in the Pacific NW (where I live). There's a lot of stucco going on in the South East like Arizona & Nevada, way to hot down there for my Viking blood. Oh and above you asked if I do much exterior work - yes mostly repair though. ( Got a lot of picts on my website https://www.lorensmedberg.com )

Nicm - you mentioned the veneer plaster is white in color - that's what I'm used to it always amazes me when I see the pictures coming from the UK of brownish colored plasters. Also the scaffolding that you all use.

 

[kgreigh]

Nicm - you mentioned the veneer plaster is white in color - that's what I'm used to it always amazes me when I see the pictures coming from the UK of brownish colored plasters. Also the scaffolding that you all use.

Are the plasters in the us gypsum based or are they made up of some alternative material?what type of scaffold do you use in the states also Loren?interesting to know the differences.

 

[Loren]

Are the plasters in the us gypsum based or are they made up of some alternative material?what type of scaffold do you use in the states also Loren?interesting to know the differences.

kgreigh - My material supplier (Salmon Bay Sand & Gravel) for the traditional plastering products they sell US Gypsum products https://www.usg.com/content/usgcom/en/products-solutions/products/finishes/plasters.html . I notice you all have British Gypsum over there, I wonder if they're a big happy family? From their line I mostly use Structolite, Imperial Basecoat & Finish , Keenes Cement Plaster, and Gauging Plaster. My material supplier also just switched their EIFS product line over to the Dryvit System. They had just switched to Parex 1 1/2 years ago and there were a lot of complaints from plasterers on the workability of the finishes + some UV and color issues. I also have been using a pretty amazing product called Eisen Wall for stucco patching smaller areas Link Removed. For regular Stucco I used to mix cement, masonry cement & sand, now they have sacks with everything premixed & with shredded fiberglass fibers in one sack, been using that for quite a while now. Back when I was a kid working for my Dads company they used to have a lot of different recipes for mixing different plasters, not so much anymore. Scaffolding - These guys have typical scaffolding jobs from our area on their home page…. (broken link removed)

 

[kgreigh]

kgreigh - My material supplier (Salmon Bay Sand & Gravel) for the traditional plastering products they sell US Gypsum products https://www.usg.com/content/usgcom/en/products-solutions/products/finishes/plasters.html . I notice you all have British Gypsum over there, I wonder if they're a big happy family? From their line I mostly use Structolite, Imperial Basecoat & Finish , Keenes Cement Plaster, and Gauging Plaster. My material supplier also just switched their EIFS product line over to the Dryvit System. They had just switched to Parex 1 1/2 years ago and there were a lot of complaints from plasterers on the workability of the finishes + some UV and color issues. I also have been using a pretty amazing product called Eisen Wall for stucco patching smaller areas Link Removed. For regular Stucco I used to mix cement, masonry cement & sand, now they have sacks with everything premixed & with shredded fiberglass fibers in one sack, been using that for quite a while now. Back when I was a kid working for my Dads company they used to have a lot of different recipes for mixing different plasters, not so much anymore. Scaffolding - These guys have typical scaffolding jobs from our area on their home page…. (broken link removed)

I was curious about the internal plasters white colour and why we don't have it over here,I'm sure it would take paint better,does it dry a uniform white colour or is the uniformity down to the plasterers skill?the other products are similar over here just under different names/manufacturers except parex as we have it over here and is very popular.i see what you mean about the scaffold

 

[Loren]

I was curious about the internal plasters white colour and why we don't have it over here,I'm sure it would take paint better,does it dry a uniform white colour or is the uniformity down to the plasterers skill?the other products are similar over here just under different names/manufacturers except parex as we have it over here and is very popular.i see what you mean about the scaffold

It's about uniformly white as yours is uniformly brownish. Probably coming from different gypsum mines or else ours is cooked differently is the reason they're a different color. I've seen some different types of sheetrock (maybe it was the water resistant type) that had a brown colored gypsum sandwiched between the paper. How about your Lime - that's probably white isn't it?

 

[Loren]

I think you got the products mixed up - Unical is like a casting plaster but it's stronger I add it to casting plaster when you want to bump up the strength of the material. We have Diamond Finish and Imperial Veneer Plaster which comes with a base coat in one sack and finish coat in another sack, there are accelerants and retarders that you can add to them depending on how much wall you are putting on. My brother said they had a special veneer plaster that they had to use out of New York that I've never heard of, so there's probably more brands of material on the East Coast. There is a lot more plastering going on in the Eastern part of the US than in the Pacific NW (where I live). There's a lot of stucco going on in the South East like Arizona & Nevada, way to hot down there for my Viking blood. Oh and above you asked if I do much exterior work - yes mostly repair though. ( Got a lot of picts on my website https://www.lorensmedberg.com )

Actually I got it wrong there is a Unical Veneer Plaster they use on the east coast the product I was thinking of is called Hydrocal.