Plasterers  or not ?

Status
Not open for further replies.

spreadswells

New Member
if some 1 can only do 1 thing like skim.or board.or do just 1 thing in trade. thy call their self plasterers ?what dose PLASTERER mean? plasterer to me has allway been doing ur loading up labouring aprentis.then u start to become a plasterer.seems now a day eny 1 not doing out borows a trowel and away thy go robing ur work tarnishing ur trade. not long back met 2 machanics boarding away .would thy take sparkys on who only screw box fronts on. whats aloud this to hapen
 
Re: Plasterers  or not ?

i think you need to work alongside a variety of spreads ............then ask yourself the question ;)
 
Re: Plasterers  or not ?

I kind of agree with you if all you can do is board then thats a dryliner so they wouldnt call themselves plasterers but to me a plasterer is someone who can float and set, skim, and screed
 
Re: Plasterers  or not ?

when i served my time in the late 80s, plastering was 'multi skilled' that is to say float,skim, renders, screed, cove etc, now the trade has broken away into alsorts of smaller trades which a lot of people seem to pick up, metalers in my day were into iron maiden not, some jerk who thinks hes better than me, they all seem to think there stand alone trades men now,
wheres me C&G,on the back of the bog door on a nail in case i run out of loo roll. ;D
 
Re: Plasterers  or not ?

how many plumbers do you see doing lead work these days? seems to be happening in all the trades.
 
Re: Plasterers  or not ?

i know old skool plasterers 20/30 yr experience say its all round skim/float/cove/screed etc etc

and they dont look kindly on "skimmers"
 
Re: Plasterers  or not ?

how many plumbers do you see doing lead work these days? seems to be happening in all the trades.


Thats because of the demand for all the individual parts of trades, well atleast there was
 
Re: Plasterers  or not ?

heres a theory...
when i left school, i joined BAe as a fitter...
we were given a broad based engineering training which then specialised in a particular trade...
fitting was manufacturing new parts (anything from a but strap assembly to a wing strut) / assemblies(various parts fixed together) and fitting them to the aircraft... ok?
now, in america, Mcdonnell douglas is roughly the equivalent of BAe...
their people are trained to do one job...
if you fit undercarriages thats all you do, canopy locks, thats all you do, flaming anchor nuts.. yup, thats all you do...
theory being its cheaper to train people...
seein a parallel anyone?
 
Re: Plasterers  or not ?

geez if i was just skimming walls or just boarding etc then id get bored very easily, i enjoy doing a mixture of everything really and i actually quite enjoy floor screeding (s+c)i know theres people that have gone on 5 day mickey mouse courses and have become good spreads doing allsorts of other general plastering work (screeds, float etc) but ofcourse with experience from other spreads. tho it seems theres plenty of chancers hoping to do a 5 day course and do re-skims for a living, maybe they will scrape by but chances are they'll fall by the wayside. i have no idea where im going with this now as im rather pished so im just going to stop before i attempt to sound like i know what im waffling on about ;D
 
Re: Plasterers  or not ?

i do it all and always have internal and external the lads who work wiith me are trained the same way I dont understand how anyone can be called a plasterer if they cant float and skim or render
 
Re: Plasterers  or not ?

well spreadwells thats easy 80%of modern day plasterers are skimmers, either learned on a course or been knocking up for a spread only MOST   wouldnt know where to start float/set, but I suppose most of todays work is skimming

i did a 5 year apprentiship many years ago I thought it took me around 3 years to learn the lot so can anyone tell me how you can become a plasterer on one of these 2/ 4 week courses?, (20 years ago what was called a deiluti plaster was someone that did a 6 month plasterering course full time at a skill centre)
float and set quality and speed is where the skill is in plasterering, with the knowledge to overcome any plastereing related problems
this is the basics of what my apprentiship learnd me

float/set to an expected speed of up to 100m 2/1 squad per day
learn how to use darby and feather edge the correct way as to get your 100m per day (not the modern plasterers way of floating/set a 10m wall with a feather edge)
dot/dab
tacking
skimminig to an expected speed of up to 200m 2/1 squad per day
how to form and plaster arches, bull noses ect.
tiling up to full rooms in swimming baths ect.
tiling floors
screeding house floors/factory floors/ church floors
how to plaster squash courts, walls has to be near perfect
coving fiborues work thats the big old looking stuff and fixing it
learn how to make your own fibourus cove to match up to old buildings
learn how to plaster massive old walls with string lines
damp proof work
learn how to Render the correct way
learn how to dash massive areas 2/1 squad without any joints
and there will be loads i have left out

all of these things can be learned in alot shorter time but to be a tradesman plasterer u had to have top quality of workmanship combined with speed one is no good without the other

but all this is probs not needed in todays world as long as you can skim big areas with quality work you should never be out of work long term

my suggestion to young plasterers with the shortage of work at the moment is to get your level 3 and work as an assesor, there are loads of jobs about at the moment for assors, as by 2010 all plasterers must have a level2 and there will probably be a backload of 2 or 3 years

Find the money and get your underground and railway certificates as they are usually in demand jobs with good money,

learn the Permerock and similar systems/ insulation/render/colour dash game on the tower blocks big money there and allways in demand
 
Re: Plasterers  or not ?

I agree ther is a fair few chancers out there just the other day some guy that had done a 2 day course was skimming a room on a job we were on because we didn't have the time and he asked if we had "any of those metal things for the angles" i was shocked  :-? he made an arse of it trowel marks galore. I work for my dad and uncle and they r old skool, on my 4th year just now enjoying gettin taught properly very much  :P
 
Re: Plasterers  or not ?

roof to plasterer

you can get level 3 at college but I think you got to pay, you need level2 to do it, but lets face it level 2 is a farce, I covererd for my labourer and got him through, and he got his level2 in wet plastereing

as long as you have it on paper your a plasterer, and thats all you need a pice of paper, the assesors come out and do written work with you ,take photos of you applying plaster or should i say holding a trowel ,sticking a board and tacking a board they build up a potfolio of you , to become an assosr I would think you need to be fairly bright good comminication skills good writern work and decent with a camera or and you need level 3, but for the next couple of years there will be loads of asseors required, look into it m8 think it pays around 24k a year plus car allowence with all the perks paid holls pension ect,

I would have gone for it but as you can see with my gramma i wouldnt get through the first day lol
 
Re: Plasterers  or not ?

AH yes... there is a difference between a scimmer and a PLAISTERER. that should throw yers
 
Re: Plasterers  or not ?

i can Borad and Skim quite well ,Patch and Dot and Dab and am currently learning rendering and can tile paint and do stud work general handy kiddy. i advertise as a plasterer and think that's OK cuz i never need to back out hole rooms or render big houses ect id like to no how and will one day but i dont think there is a need for it all.
 
Re: Plasterers  or not ?

In my book i suppose Its better to have a skill and not need it than to need a skill and not have it
 
Re: Plasterers  or not ?

there is clearly a need for it all what your saying is you dont see the need to know it all and I think I know what you mean but who knows not you for sure ask simps hell know or spunkyhell definaatly know you know
 
Re: Plasterers  or not ?

true id love to have more skills but there aint much i can do about it? any rendering jobs that people have iv said i will work for free to learn.. to 2 be fair i take home over £600 most weeks with the skills i have.
 
Re: Plasterers  or not ?

ive never layed a screed so i cant be a plasterer but i dont care cos i still get paid for plastering ;D ;D
 
Re: Plasterers  or not ?

why do they call floor screeders 'plasterers'?
when was the last time a plumber did the step flashing on a roof?
how many people understood that last question?
 
Re: Plasterers  or not ?

I do screed but prefer not to plus screeders are alot faster than your average spread they can bang it down at a phenomenal rate :o
 
Re: Plasterers  or not ?

Chris W said:
why do they call floor screeders 'plasterers'?
when was the last time a plumber did the step flashing on a roof?
how many people understood that last question?

floor screeding is technicaly a plasterers job i was trained as a floor screeder in my apprenticeship but to be honest ive not done any for years but its worth knowing how to.
 
Re: Plasterers  or not ?

there y go, like mur says, bit like leadwork is technically a plumbers job.. all of it... flashings, vent slates, lead rolls, gutters the lot...
the roofers do it these days...
sign of the times i reckon....
wont be long before 'plastering' gets split up into all the different disciplines...
krend (alright, 1 coat polymer stylie stuff (trade on its own i reckon?))
skimming
sand and cement render
trad lime
floor screeding
and everything else...
or has it already got that far? people are arguing about it already?
 
Re: Plasterers  or not ?

i scim ,hardwall dab at a push .........bits of rendering.................but jesus i can talk a good one ;D
 
Re: Plasterers  or not ?

I do everything you can call me a plastathelite using the machine next week then i will have all disciplines to compete in next years plastering olympics ;)
 
Re: Plasterers  or not ?

If I couldn't cover all the aspects of the trade I wouldn't feel comfortable of taking whole jobs on, the times I've been let down by a screeder and just grabbed my tools and laid the bloody thing myself, once you do this they don't tend to let you down again for a while because they know the work isn't just waiting for them. Or a spread goes walkabout for a few days when there's a rush job on, I jump in and get some floating done to keep the job on track. Mind you I've just priced a job with a 200m2 suspended ceiling and I can't do that....oh crap now I'm worrying.
 
Re: Plasterers  or not ?

when pvc windows first came out, fot the next ten years you were supposed to be a 'joiner', basically cos windows used to be a joiners job, especially bay windows and window boards..
now look at it.. every dickhead in the land is a 'window fitter' and most of em dont know their arse from their elbow?
 
Re: Plasterers  or not ?

I love this one because we have been down this road before, but on reflection things have changed so what is a plasterer nowadays, as long as you can go out and get paid for a decent job whats the problem but in my book being an old git mind you should be able to do the lot.
Lucius.
 
Re: Plasterers  or not ?

thats just the point of the question though isnt it? years ago an aircraft 'fitter' pretty much put the aircraft together from bits...
not now... everyone has there own little job... been like that for years in america..
theres something on the back of a banknote (or used to be) about the 'division of labour in pin manufacturing'.. which basically states that dividing the skills up means you pay less money for each individual job rather than paying 'craftmans rates' for the same job because a 'craftman' had to be able to do every job...
it makes sound financial sense...
makes you a bit sick if you wanna go on site but a happy man if your the guy factoring the labour in..
 
Re: Plasterers  or not ?

essexandy said:
If I couldn't cover all the aspects of the trade I wouldn't feel comfortable of taking whole jobs on, the times I've been let down by a screeder and just grabbed my tools and laid the bloody thing myself, once you do this they don't tend to let you down again for a while because they know the work isn't just waiting for them. Or a spread goes walkabout for a few days when there's a rush job on, I jump in and get some floating done to keep the job on track. Mind you I've just priced a job with a 200m2 suspended ceiling and I can't do that....oh crap now I'm worrying.

Dont worry andy suspended ceilings are a piece of piss get yourself a lazer level and go on knauf or BG website unlike plastering this can be learnt out of a book appart from all the little tricks and short cuts but 200m will give you experience.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top