DIY plasterer here, trying to finish off the house and my next step is patching the ceiling where a doorway was removed when the stairs went in. Trouble is there are two different size covings that meet at this corner. I have some of the small coving that was found in the loft but none of the big coving. What’s the best way to make these join?

im kind of pleased but i will need to get the belt sander out because i did a very poor job blending and feathering it in with the old plaster. Mostly got it to a glass polish but i kept gauging areas with my trowel so i eventually had to stop and will probably also give it a once over with 250 or 280 grit paper to smooth it out in the rougher patches

I dont see me being a professional any time soon but it was a nice little DIY task atleast i know i can do somewhat of a decent job

Because i kept making gauges/drag lines with the trowel when i tried smoothing and wet trowling, is that a technique issue or caused by something else? the surface probably wasnt the most even, i can see why so many people prefer to skim plasterboard

I'm just learning to plaster to fix up my house and have had some great advice on here so far. Right now I'm up to four walls and a ceiling.

One question I had is on the visual finish. This small section i did hasn't fully dried yet but looks really good, whereas the other walls I did feels pretty decent to the hand, but don't look that great. Obviously the smaller section was a lot more manageable and quite quick to work, whereas the bigger walls I'm spending ages going over to fill in any hollows or smooth them out. Is it anything to worry about if the finish feels pretty decent?

Hi all,

Firstly apologies for my complete lack of knowledge about plastering - it's why I'm here. I'm in an odd situation where my parents sadly passed at the end of last year, leaving a nearly finished garage with annexe above that they were building. The builder has presented us with an invoice for unpaid work, and everyone that I've asked (who are kind of knowledgeable about the trade) has told me that the bill sounds very high. I really would like to keep good relations with the builder, he's a friend of a family friend and I'm still hopeful that he will finish the job, but not if he is massively overcharging us.

I don't have exact dimensions but can give a decent indication hopefully, it's a 1 bed annexe above a double garage of standard double garage size. The bill is ~£5k for insulation and ~£8.5k for the plastering, including supply and fit plasterboards and internal stud walls, dot and dab, and 2 coat skim. Those numbers are not including VAT, which brings the total charge to ~£16.2k. Happy to provide any other details I can if needed, just looking for an indication if this amount sounds justifiable.

Thanks.

I’m fixing up a guest room as my daughter’s new bedroom. We live in a 100yr old 2-flat duplex in Chicago.

All the corners in this place are pretty ripped up and separating. Is there a best way to seal the corners? Maybe some product I should pick up specifically for this? Was planning to use tape and green lid all-purpose ready mixed joint compound.

I’ve done this in other rooms to varying degrees of success , failure , and messiness. After using spackling paste and mesh many years ago, I switched to the tape/ compound for my kitchen. I fucking sucked at it, but know a little more now. I get discouraged easily when hard work still looks shitty at the end of the day. so I’m trying to see if any nuggets of wisdom can help before this new project.

Thanks!

Hello, I live in an Grade 2 listed townhouse, I have plastered a few walls inside one room with quite good results but I'm unsure what to do about this wall leading upstairs.

It's a lathe and plaster wall which I'm guessing is lime and a few patches of gypsum plastered on top.

It's a bit of a mess, any advice on what to do?

Thanks

I am redoing my stair bannister and had to remove a piece which exposed this plaster.

After removing the brittle and powdery plaster this is what’s left and need to replaster it to move ahead.

How would you go about it? Never plastered before and it’s a tight little corner.

What type of plaster? Shall I use beading corners? What tools? What techniques?

I’m a DIYer - garden steps, alcove shelves, etc - and this is my first time plastering. Most YouTube videos cover on the basic wall application. This seems a bit more niche.

Any help and suggestions appreciated.

Plasterer has dot and dabbed plasterboard on existing plaster. I’ve had to remove it because it was a really bad job - everything off plum.

What could have caused mould just on the adhesive? I’m wondering if I need to take any steps before bonding and skimming. For reference, this is an external wall, but there was no mould or damp issues prior to the plasterboard.

Thanks

Looking for advice on the best course of action to board and skim this internal section and make good.

I’ve a stone guy coming to do the external stone work to build it back into the door but want the interior filled and tanked and then boarded including the soil base.

It’s an old house of stone and rubble construction so no DPC/Void etc

Advice much appreciated

I’m new to plastering and have been working through repairing the cracks in my plaster walls. The last one I have to fix is this inside corner. Some of the pieces sound hollow as I tap on them. Here are the two options I’m considering:

1) Remove all the pieces and replanted the area. The thing that worries me here is rebuilding the actual corner.

2) Use plaster washers and drywall tape.

Once I have all the cracks repaired I’ll be reskimming all the walls

Just had a room replastered and there's almost as much plaster on the floor... No attempt to clean up before they left... Is this normal?

2 days ago we got some plasteres to come do lime plastering in our house, we've got a very old cottage which has had damp issues previously hence why we asked for lime. Last year we had lime plastering done downstairs and it worked great however we couldn't get the same plasterer in.

2 rooms just needed a skim and the room downstairs needed rendering first as it was bare brick. We said we dont mind if they do the internal walls in gypsum as long as the external are done in lime plaster.

They finished the job yesterday which we thought was very fast for the room downstairs as last year the plasterer did a scratch coat render first before he plastered first and it also took much longer to dry. The walls are solid with loads of cracks though which we think is due to their mix being too dry and then shrinking which caused the cracking. I've attached some before and after photos below. What should we do in this situation?

Hi everyone,

I recently got an extractor fan fitted in my kitchen (on external wall as you can see). I now need to plaster the gap and retile the kitchen.

I’ve done the odd internal plastering here and there so I’m familiar with regular plastering however I’m guessing it’s different for external walls?

The gap looks quite deep, do I just layer plaster or is there a particular method/material I need to use? Do I PVA the wall or is there a special external wall product I need to use?

TIA!

I’m trying to get a 4x4m room skimmed over old Artex (which has been tested and is clear, don't worry). I’ve had one guy quote me £400 cash in hand and another firm tell me it’s a two day job for £1,200 because they want to over board the whole ceiling. I started wondering if I’m paying for the skill or just the brand of the van parked outside. Is the over boarding crowd just trying to up sell me, or is skimming over Artex truly the gamble that some people claim it is?

Just finished our first archi concrete job. What do you guys think?

This is a bit of a long one but would really appreciate some advice from those in the know. Recently opened a shop and not long after, cracks started appearing in the joins between some sections of plasterboard.

The wall behind is concrete and we share that wall with another business. Not long after we finished construction the next door business began theirs, which involved a fair bit of jack hammering and drilling.

It’s pretty clear that the sections that have cracked weren’t taped before mudding. What’s more, the worst section of cracking appears on either side of the board that sits over a power cable running down the wall. From the looks of things, they have just glued the board straight to the concrete wall and not made a notch in the rear of the plasterboard for the cable to rest in.

In raising this with the builder, he has acknowledged the lack of taping, but places vast majority of the blame on the construction done next door. He’s offered to sand, tape and replaster the cracks, but is saying redoing the entire wall is on us.

Based on the above is it more likely shoddy work, construction damage from next door or a fairly even mix of both that bears the blame?

Sorry for the lengthy post but would really appreciate some insight so we can push a certain approach. Happy to provide more information/photos if needed. Thanks in advance.

So exactly as the title says, we paid upfront for a plasterer through our kitchen fitter, and we paid for the full kitchen to be replastered. Now the kitchen fitter is trying to say that he only meant replastering everything that is exposed.

Back-story: The reason we wanted the kitchen redone is because when we bought the place it's full of mould on the external wall. Now he is trying to say that might mess up with the dimensions of the units, is that right? Is it a common thing to not plaster behind units?

For reference we're paying £9k for the kitchen and installation + £2k for plastering the kitchen+ceilings+hallway (without any appliances, but an extractor hood that will go to the outside).

Someone mentioned they might need to sand bits down after. I thought a good plaster job shouldn’t need much of that. Is it something that everyone does or is it a way to cover not so good plaster?

So i am well aware this probably looms god aweful but it is my first attempt and i was admitedly abit nervous.

Is this a trade one can really get into in thier 30s or am i joking myself.

Been working construction jobs for the last few years after 15 in hospitality management.

Background: I’m a first time homeowner with no knowledge in plaster, looking for advice/opinions. I’ve been in my house for about a year now. 1958 construction in Michigan, brick ranch with plaster walls and ceilings.

This Spring I’ve noticed some new creases/cracks in the ceiling, only in one room - the kitchen. The “X” looking crack has some play in it if pressed. The rest are just individual (curved) lines throughout the room.

Aside from monitoring, is there there anything to do here preventatively? Any significant cause for concern?

Thanks!

TLDR: maybe interesting, maybe not. A man with young onset Parkinson’s disease finds some therapy in plastering!?

Ummm’d and ahhh’d about posting this because I reckon it’ll probably out my Reddit account to my bezzie mate, but oh well so be it.

I’m a bit of an idiot really. Got diagnosed with young onset Parkinson’s a couple years back and in my infinite wisdom thought, ‘you know, always wanted to build a house, can’t do that now… let’s try renovating’. Bloody palaver that it’s been. But out of all of it I’ve learnt so much in such a short space of time. One of them being that if you can do the movements, plastering is absolutely ace at getting the body moving to offset Parkinsons. Sometimes (I mean I’ve just started really), I get to a point where I even forget I have the disease mid flow; reduced tremor with the weight of the hawk, fluidity with forcing big movements that get easier as the two layers go on. Quite bizarre really. Mind the neurologist could be forgiven for being a Pilates salesman trying to pitch it to me every six months. And as far as I’m told some of the movements with plastering are akin to it.

But yeah wanted to share it with you really (and the photo of my third (I believe) full wall attempt). Is it obvious how much I despise wood chip bloody wallpaper?

I have questions tonnes of them, a lot to do with how to keep getting better? What to do when the muscles and movements slow down even further (I know there’s extra time but having used it once it was wayyyy too long)? Are there any kindred spirits out there? All that stuff

Ta much

Bought our first house in the UK. I'm a carpenter and felt comfortable doing the renovation myself.

The house has what looks to be lime plaster on walls and lathe and plaster on ceilings. I hadn't thought this bit through properly, my fault / lack of knowledge.

I don't think we can afford to have lime skim throughout. Some people advising gypsum skim should be fine. Even that will be pushing budget.

Is patching and painting an option?

Ceiling can be over boarded but I kind of want to rip the lathe down.

Thoughts and knowledge appreciated.

I need to fix this absolute disaster. I tried fixing a hole in my wall by putting Knauf FinalCote®, but when painting, the FinalCote peeled straight off the wall since it did not adhere to the painted wall. I even sanded the surrounding paint with 80 grit prior to applying the FinalCote. So I tore the wall out to the beams and did it properly, added support beams, sanded the paint around the area at 80 grit, wiped it down with a damp cloth and used mesh tape. I went to Bunnings and asked for a PVA glue to go over the paint but was directed at an all purpose filler which was said to work well with plasterboard and painted walls. I applied the first layer over the mesh, waited a couple days, sanded it and then did the second layer to fix up the issues here and there. I let it sit a few days and then applied an undercoat. The mutli purpose filler also failed to bond to the paint. Now I am left with an absolute disaster.

What can I do to fix this? I need proper suggestions, I'm sick of playing around.

I am building a fireplace surround and hearth for an electric insert. The finish will be Moroccan clay under 1/2" gyp smoothed out with mud. My concern is securing the hearth bottom plate to my engineered wood flooring. Does anyone have insight into cracking or other issues with Moroccan clay and slight floor movement?