Interesting stuff guys,yeh im always lookin for ways to speed my gauges up. Tomcat,you were saying you cant get your 3 gauges in,do you work by yourself? and are you on site or you do private?
If your doin private,then theres always a s**t load more preppin up to do,i only do private for the fast cash,il put my quote in high,if i get the job great,if i dont i dont care!
I work on my own,my boss just puts me on the skimmin,gets the houses boarded ahead of me (what a guy ;D )
As you know,plastering is a great deal about preparation,when i 1st get in a house,il quickly lash on 2 gauges by 1:30 say (after all the titty'n around on your 1st day in a new house) then i stay till like 3:00 puttin every single bead on,gettin all my plaster upstairs etc water the lot.scrim up the whole of upstairs (closing all windows so they dont blow off) then thats a shed load of time saved,now you can concentrate of skimmin away like a good'n.
as of yesterday,ive been tryin a 1 coat method,and its literally saving me 30 mins a gauge (which in gauge time is quite alot) im down to roughly 2 hours 15/20 a guage ( i dont use a stopwatch!i jus always check the time the second i mix up,like when a runner presses their watch on the start line,time=money

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1stly,it does depend how much your throwin on and how much your prepared to sweat and run around like a madman......depending on how much money you want and how soon you want to be in your grave.your lookin at 2 bags a gauge,so 6 bags a day,6 days a week= nice little earner.
put it on quite thick,not crazy thick but jus.........thick!

where usualy one trowel ful would be your sweep,make it a trowelful and a half. then its 2 quick flatteners in quick succession,your 1st one is a light flattner (still wet) your second is GOOD AMOUNT OF PRESSURE,realy gettin it down,no 2nd chances on this one,you gotta squeeze it goooooooooood ;D nice an flat,then by the time youve come full circle again,no hangin round,lash the water on (dont hose it like but u no...) then anuva water,then you can either give it a 3rd water (if your not 100% ITS ALL DOWN) if you are jus dry trowel it till it looks nice an pretty!
IF YOUR PREPARED AND ON THE BALL,3 GAUGES IS A FULL DAYS WORK BUT VERY ACHIEVABLE!! BRING LOADS OF FOOD AND YOU'RE LAFFIN!