Plastic Population

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Jay 797

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Right then I am fairly open minded & willing to try new & different things (enter your own pun:rolleyes))
I admit I had never heard of plastic trowells until very recently & I am now toying with idea of buying one of these plastic trowells & giving it a try?? What I dont want though is for me to make a right pigs ear of it on a job! So some advice from the 'plastic population' would be very much appreciated.:RpS_thumbup:
Do you trowell up whilst its still very wet, can you polish with them, is there a new way to skim by using them or is it just a case of do everything the same but you are using plastic instead of steel? Basically whats the score with them?
If its all been done to death before then my apologies!
Cheers Jay
 
Do you know I might just do that!! The worst that can happen is I have to pva & reskim it I suppose!!
Is it a case of the bigger the trowell the better or do you go with the same size as you've already got?
 
Jay if ya can skim you will have no probs,just might take a bit of getting used to. If its not going how ya want it to just use your steel trowel. You do get very fine scratches on the finish,nothing to worry about tho. Try a nice flat wall to start with.
 
Ahh that's another point Layiton matey, if your wall isn't flat to start with does the flexibility of the plastic trowell leave the humps & hollows?
Can you polish with them?
 
get 18" lay on with steel, yes you use a new method but its still beeing tested, have ago, join the elite
 
Ahh that's another point Layiton matey, if your wall isn't flat to start with does the flexibility of the plastic trowell leave the humps & hollows?
Can you polish with them?
Yep i know what your saying. The flexibility in the blade does tend to follow bumps a bit. You just got suss ya method out. Any little hollows and stuff try build em out on first coat let it pick up a bit then lay it down with second coat. you'll be fine. Get one ordered,it will arrive within 2 days, so i wanna here your review by the end of the week.
 
Are there any photos of walls finishned by these plastic trowels ? a couple of days after finishing would be good so i can see how even they dry out ?
 
i bought a 16 inch one, and after a bit of experimenting i have found the best way for me is to lay on and flatten with steel trowel and then trowel up with my plastic....in terms of issues they do leave faint scratch marks and they do tend to over pollish.
overall im impressed with them and would give them a go
 
Here is my 2 pennith

Dont like em for layin on just feels a little flimsy. So lay on with normaL steel. However when it comes to flattening off gear its unbeatable. Same for trowelling up- needs no water no plaster dries more uniform in colour and best smoothest finish i have ever had.

Does leave slight scratches in surface which paint out ok.

Never used one on backing coat will just use it for skimming

For the sake of £30 odd quid believe me you wont regret it.

I have used a 16 and bought a 20 for flattening larger walls.

Did see slight tiger stripe on work on wall on fri but that was my fault - should have laid another wall on before using plastic to flatten off when really wet!

Go for it
 
Right then I really want to take the plunge with a plastic fantastic!! I currently use a 14" marshalltown, what size plastic would you recommend I go for? 16" or 18" perhaps?
 
so do u put on one wall at a time and flatten as u go to make sure its always wet? then how many trowels? and how wet etc? i just got an 18" ordered off refina but they have none in stock lol
 
Hello
Would never have contemplated using a plastic trowel if not had used one of Nellys tips from another site (without doubt best tip ever had). Its using a square plastic ducting tube you get from B&Q and then cut into sections, you can cut into any size you want so you end up with little plastic trowels. These can then be used for those little gaps between doors and artrabe infact anywhere that is too small for a trowel, the finish you get from it is perfect, got a box full now. So can see benefits of a plastic trowel. As for size would it not be better getting one same size as the trowel you use
 
so do u put on one wall at a time and flatten as u go to make sure its always wet? then how many trowels? and how wet etc? i just got an 18" ordered off refina but they have none in stock lol

That's a pretty fair question in my eyes! Does anyone have an answer?
 
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