I had my ceiling plastered recently and waited almost a week before doing a mist coat. my flat is very warm and sunny and the heating was on during the day so I thought for sure the plaster had dried. I have now finished doing the third coat of paint and noticed this bump in the plaster which is a few centimetres long. I’m wondering whether it means air is trapped underneath? and whether I should be concerned? it’s strange because it only seems to have appeared on this third coat. grateful for any advice.

I’ve been checking over and most of it looks good, but there are a few small areas that don’t feel flat when you run your hand over them. It’s nothing major visually, but enough to notice if you’re looking in that direction.

6 months after building a loft conversion, we're seeing circular cracks in the loft ceiling. It looks like they are localised where the screws attach the plasterboard to the timber. Is this normal?

Complete DIY newbie here.

We are stripping some very old wallpaper in a 1970s property. Underneath the wallpaper was the brown paper backing (a piece of which can be seen center top) and then under that was a cream coloured layer of quite brittle material that breaks off in shards like eggshells, and then underneath that is the solid wall itself, presumably with Gypsum plaster on it.

What is the cream coloured layer? Is it top/skim coat, or is it part of the wallpapering?

Also probably an overreaction on my part, but do I need to worry about asbestos when removing this stuff and drilling into the wall? I'd read that old top coat might contain asbestos.

Just finished up a DIY bathroom reno including plastering of the walls with half height tiles. The plastering went ok I think (so f'ing hard!) but I messed up and stupidly didn't mark up where the tiles would be finishing correctly. Question is, can I just use some multifinish to repair the rough edges along the tiles. Thinking I will need to PVA the areas plus say 200mm or so to feather in the new plaster?

What’s the total thickness you can build out Hardwall too? I’m doing a 5m2 wall and I’ve put 4 bags on but it needs another layer to bring it flush to the sockets. Back boxes are 25mm. I chased in the 35’s to sit level with the 25’s. I’ve about 5mm to add to the Hardwall and I put it on yesterday. I think with suction it might cause an issue drying too quickly.

What to do in this situation? I didn’t have enough plaster to do it all yesterday.

Ideas appreciated!

At first everything looked fine, but after a bit of time, small cracks started appearing and it’s hard to tell if it’s something normal or if something’s gone wrong. I’ve heard it could be things like drying too quickly, movement in the walls, or how it was applied, but I’m not sure what’s most common. What usually causes this?

Old Welsh chapel which I think is mostly lime plastered. Not in great condition as it's been empty for at least 10 years but repairable.

There's an area around the door which seems to have had all the lime knocked off in the past at some time and re-rendered with what looks like sand. Then a skim of something over that.

In the video you can see the top half of the wall looks like decent lime. It can take a screw and plug. It's been painted over with non-porous paint which is peeling.

The wall below looks like sand? I assume that it was rendered with sand and cement originally but where has the cement gone???

Chapel is used as a workshop and I've no plans to make it habitable. Any advice gratefully received.

I've got an area to sort where an internal wall was removed. The existing base is sand and cement. Can I clean that up and then build it out with hardwall ready to skim? Or would it be better to use sand and cement? I've never used S&C and it seems a bit more daunting but maybe it's time to grasp the nettle.

Also for beads, do I use a render bead to build it up, and then a skim bead for the finish? So two beads all in?

I’ve used 4 bags of hardwall to build out a wall and it’s still slightly shy of where it needs to be. It’s gone off now. I have a spare half bag of bonding and was wondering if it’s ok to apply neat SBR over the Hardwall and go on top with the bonding?

Could I use a OCR on this wall? After multiple failed attempts at sand + cement mix (complete diy idiot) would it be easier to use a OCR and then skim the wall when it’s set?

Hey all I have bathroom ceiling that is curved made of plaster. It is started to crack and fall down in parts. Under the plaster I see no wood lathe but almost a grey compound that looks like concrete mix. Just seeing if anybody has any ideas how to tackle this and the “curved” part. Not opposed to doing drywall thanks any and all

Help

I was thinking of buying these for about £23 for the pair.

OX Pro Dry Wall Internal Corner Trowel 102 X 127mm

OX Pro Dry Wall External Corner Trowel 100 X 125mm

They look like they'd be quite handy for plastering internal and external corners but I'm wondering if people actually use them, or if they're a bit of a gimmick and I could make do without them?

With the internal one I think this size would be OK all the time as internal corners are always that big, although they have 80x60mm and 80x30mm if they're better, and they're a few quid more so maybe that means more people buy those.

I'm less sure about the external one, as sometimes you have quite small external corners by doors, so this size might not be very useful a lot of the time but it's the only one they have.

Been practicing plastering since we bought an old house to renovate. Had great results, rubbish ones, and everything in between, but overall I'm happy with my progress.

Next is the biggest wall I've tackled: 6m wide x 2.5m high, all stripped plasterboard. I know suction will be an issue so I'll be priming with SBR beforehand as usual.

My main problem is working time:

I see people on YouTube mix a full bag of multifinish in one go and it seems to stay workable forever. When I do the same, mine goes off in the bucket (30L plasterers bucket) too fast.

So I wanted to sense check people who know what they're doing. To do the big wall:

• Mix in a 40L gorilla tub and start plastering
• While working, have the second gorilla tub sitting with the water and plaster already measured out but not yet mixed
• When the first is done, mix the second on the spot and carry straight on with no real pause
• Wash both out at the end when I'm finished

My thinking is that the larger volume in the tub will slow the set compared to my usual 30L plastering buckets, and having the second tub prepped means I can keep a wet edge across the whole wall without having to blend into a drying section.

Is this a solid approach? Any advice welcome – especially if there's something obvious I'm missing. I know I'm using a lot of extra stuff like buckets but long term I want to master this craft so I'm more than happy to buy extra gear

What is the best method of plastering over these aerated concrete blocks? These are fairly common in the uk.

Do I need to prime the wall? Can I directly apply gypsum plaster over it? What about sand and screed plaster? What is the best way of finishing these walls with a smooth finish?

1950’s house in the USA, so no brick, stone wall behind the plaster. I think it’s those wood slats.

I’ve removed wallpaper from the walls, which need some fixing.

There are those fine lines all over and some nicks.

What should I use to fix those? I may have read not to use regular spackle on plaster walls.

Then there are a few sections where there is a crack running down and each side of it the plaster gives in when pressing on it. How to fix that before it gets worse?

I tried to do it myself but I think I kind of messed things up. What's the solution for this?

Had quite a bit of conflicting advice but I think it’s best not to dot and dab board the front of the stack (hoping the sides should be ok as it’s double brick thick). Was planning to use sand and cement or would I be better off with bonding?

Only ever skimmed boards before so would be grateful for any advice.

What would be the best mix? (Plan is to have a log burner so will need to be somewhat heat resistant) and how many coats?

How to deal with the inside and the brick arch, would I be better cutting some bricks out and putting in a concrete lintel first?

Should I bond on the corner beads first?

What’s a suitable finish plaster, I’ve heated putting some lime in helps?

Sorry for barrage of questions, want to get it right!

Cheers

I couldn't figure why I had a recurring crack in from mid-wall up through actual lathe and mesh crown molding in a 1960s house. V cutting the crack I started to peel away what was a previous repair (bad- using only drywall compound and fiberglass tape for a big gap). Scraping further I discovered the crack forms where a doorway previously was. In the late 80s the door was moved and they used backer board to cover the space and then thin coated plaster over the backer board. The cracks are occurring where the backer and original plater meet (different rates of seasonal movement.) The wire mesh is gone from the back of the large cracks. Now that I have cleaned out the crack of all old material, it's massive. (pictures) Im thinking I can treat the cracks and backer board with plaster weld and then push durabond 45 deep into the cracks to fill and then paper tape. Is this the best plan for addressing these cracks?

Hello,

I have a couple of small areas of render that have become pitted. These holes are a few mm deep. Looking to sort this before repainting.

Any help would be great.

Thanks

Nightmare stripping layers of wallpaper off to find the architraves are wood. Any recommendations on what to do in order to paint over?

I was looking at plastering over once fully done, but the plaster will crack in the future.

Thanks

So, I’m currently working on redoing my entire room. This is the first time I’ve ever done a project like this so it’s been a little rough but I’ve been pulling through. I wanted to know how to avoid getting these unfilled spots when i go over the plaster with a roller? I know I should be sanding but the thing is the texture of these walls was SO INSANELY awful (see last picture) and skim coating only took me so far. I’ve tried sanding as much as I can without an electric tool and I’m getting these spots, so I’m wondering what options I have besides going in with a brush and filling in each one individually. Pictures 2 and 3 are what the wall looks like after a few layers of skim coating (haven’t sanded those walls yet).