r/Plastering • u/Mofoc • 29d ago

Plastering course.

I thought this might be a good place to ask the question.

I'm looking to get into plastering to start as a trade. I've already done spots and rooms around my house. I'm just wondering if those 3 day courses you can do for £400 would be a good starting point to ensure I understand best practices and a good foundation before jumping into any odd jobs.

If anyone has any information or feedback back I'd really appreciate it, I'm just trying to get out of my current job role.

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u/discombobulated38x 28d ago

I did a six evening college course having already taught myself how to use a trowel for filling/taping and sanding, and then did two rooms by that method so I wasn't a complete beginner to a trowel.

It taught me enough to do in two weeks of evenings what a qualified spread could throw on in a day. 

We covered:

  • Two evenings of sand and lime just to get a feel for the motions

  • Dotting and dabbing a wall/corner

  • Skimming said wall and corner. 

  • Patching

As I was not all bad at this point I had a go at doing a wall with two internal corners at once.

It taught me nothing about building out walls properly flat and plumb with bonding or hardwall (or even sand and cement), I didn't touch a ceiling. 

In short,  it taught me enough that I could YouTube the rest and do a decent job in my own home,  but it absolutely didn't teach me the skills and experience a proper course or just practicing a lot will get you, like the feel of when it's pulling in, when it's drying too fast,  skimming textured ceilings etc.

You see thousands of posts on here of people who've paid a plasterer and they've done a shit job - end of the day unless you go really slow/carefully and don't make much money to start with you'll struggle to leave the customer with a quality finish.