Essential Plastering Tips for Beginners

By Peter Stayley Jones

At first glance we may think that getting plaster onto your ceilings and walls is a pretty simple and straightforward task. It is the problem of achieving a smooth and flat finish that presents a serious challenge for most people. This can only be done after sufficient practice. As in all home repair and improvement activities, it is imperative that you allocate sufficient amount of time and effort learning how the task is performed before attempting to start on a real plastering job.

A critical aspect of the preparatory phase of the plastering job involves getting yourself organized by having all the required tools and materials within easy reach while working on the section requiring plastering. You have to account for the fast-setting properties of the skim plaster once it is already applied. This means that you have to immediately work on the applied skim plaster before it hardens and becomes unmanageable.

The only way to correct the plastering as soon as it hardens is through sanding, and your failure to immediately work on the surface the moment the plaster is applied will result to uneven and rough surface. This is the most common culprit in many of the failed plastering jobs by beginners. Thus, you have to ensure that you have all the tools and materials ready before starting the laying-on of the skim plaster. This includes mixing the right amount of skim plaster which is sufficient enough the cover one portion of the ceiling or partition that you are currently working on.

The first thing that beginners must do before starting any plastering job is to practice the proper mixing of the plaster. This is done by experimenting on a smaller amount of the plaster material until you achieve the perfect technique in mixing. In most cases, beginners end up with a poor quality plastering job primarily because of their failure to observe this important aspect in their preparations.

The ideal texture of a plaster mix ought to have the consistency of a thick cream and without any traces of lumping of the plaster. Dont make the mistake of immediately putting the plaster into your mixing bucket as you have to start by putting water first and slowly mixing it with small quantities of the plaster.

Next, thoroughly mix the lime plaster material using a mixing paddle in order to completely remove lumps of the plaster. Continue to add more lime plaster until you achieve the desired proportion of water and plaster mixture. It is vital that you invest in the specific kind of mixing paddle so that you can effectively achieve the right skimming plaster mixture consistency.

It is also crucial that you use the appropriate size of bucket for mixing the plaster. It is recommended that you use buckets that can at least accommodate one bag of skim plaster in one mixing session. This is very important as you definitely wont want to find yourself doing the same mixing process at the middle of a plaster laying-on. This is one of the most common mistakes made by beginners. Further, it is also necessary that you mix the correct amount of plaster sufficient enough to cover an entire section of your ceiling or wall that you are working on.

In mixing the required amount of skim plaster, it is essential that you use water that is clean and cold. Fill one third of the bucket with water and mix the skim plaster following the procedure that is outlined in this article. The ideal volume of the final mixture is usually twice that of the volume of water used.

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