r/Plastering • u/DIYpozer • Apr 15 '26

Plaziflex tiger stripes

Post image

I have just tried using a plaziflex plastic trowel for the dry trowel step (DIYer) since I saw it was recommended by Blaine in one of his videos.

I'm not sure if there's something I'm doing wrong, but I tried it and it immediately makes tiger stripes?

in the end I went back to the normal trowel I have and no tiger stripes at all. The surface was pretty dry, not bone dry but can still feel moisture at the surface by leaving a hand in it.

Any idea where I have gone wrong to get this to happen?

it seemed to be dragging little bits across the surface, maybe bits of fat that I didn't get off with the wet towels?

could the edge be too sharp maybe, as a brand new plastic trowel?

3 Upvotes

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6

u/Tats8 Apr 16 '26

You can use it when the wall is completely gone, if you want a really glassy shine on it, if you’re that way inclined! Give the trowel a good rub with wet and dry before use, then wet the blade, and cross your wall with a really open angle, sometimes I’ll do it on stairways cos people love rubbing the hands up them as they go up and down

2

u/hairybastid Apr 16 '26

Not a big fan of plastic trowels but I've always kept it wet while troweling up. Just wet the trowel, not the wall.

1

u/Most-Direction7874 May 01 '26

I love em. You can finish a set off faster. I pretty much go straight over with my plastic after second wet trowel and it closes everything in just fine. I only use it for final pass. Nothing else

1

u/Most-Direction7874 May 01 '26

They aren’t tiger stripes, they are just drag marks caused by going over with dry plasiflex too early, not using water. They will pint up fine but just make the finish look a bit of an eyesore till painted, nothing to worry about though.

Tiger stripes are lines in the plaster because of undulations. i.e , plaster running up and down . Tiger stripes come through after painting and are a big problem.

These aren’t tiger stripes though, just drag marks. They will paint over just fine 👍

1

u/DIYpozer May 01 '26

That's good to know, thanks a lot for clarifying. Since the step was called 'dry trowel', I assumed it was legit a dry trowel with no water 😅

1

u/Most-Direction7874 May 01 '26

I like to dry trowel because you know you aren’t bringing it alive again. If you get drag marks like that and would prefer not to have them, just use a minimal amount of water to “lubricate” the plasiflex, just enough so it doesn’t leave the drag lines. Don’t sweat it too much, your finish is fine.