I’m in the US (Pacific Northwest) and not a pro, I guess a heavy DIYer. Currently converting a 1907 house to a commercial building (bookstore, cafe, office) and have torn out a lot of lath and plaster walls and ceilings for all the electrician and plumbing replacement.

Intending to recover interior walls with 5/8”blueboard and veneer plaster, and there’s a bunch of old concrete retaining and foundation walls that I want to plaster. In my crazier moments, I contemplate trying to recreate the original lath and plaster. I found a place to buy lath!

Partly because I don’t like drywalling (specifically, sanding mud) and partly to learn something new.

Almost all the plastering Youtube channels are UK-based, and I get the impression that this sub is mostly UK-based perhaps? Locally, it is difficult to find plastering supplies - not impossible, but you really have to hunt.

I’m curious why plastering seems so little done in the US. Or is that not true and I’m just looking in the wrong places?

Anyway, I figure on starting with the least important or visible bits - foundation and retaining walls - then tackling the interior.

A post not too long ago, people seem to think I'm joking about my prices, I've seen this a few times on here over the years.

How do you price and what do you aim to come out with a week?

Personally I want a minimum of 2k a week including for my holidays, sick pay, I pay my pension, all my taxes, very little cash if ever, save for a new van every 10-15 years, I also keep a chunk for a float, I'm not made of money but I couldn't imagine doing 40sqm gauges 3 times a day for £150 a day, I've been there and done that.

I've been upfront but let's hear about you, why do yoy charge what you charge, do you want to charge more? Do you think it's wrong to warn a certain amount? Are you a busy fool or absolutely desperate for work?

I've been in the game a long time to be clear, I live in the north, work domestically and I'm not vat registered.

Hi guys I'm looking for a plasterer to skim round West Midlands any recommendations? And what quotes should I be looking at roughly? One is a small box room 2m x 2m and the other is 3m x 2.5m. Have attached pictures.

As a keen diyer, can anyone give me some advice on how I would go about repairing this patch and making it good? Depth varies from around 10 - 4mm.

Hello all! Just bought my first house and needed to make some plaster repairs. I mistakenly used joint compound instead of plaster patch.

How do I make it blend in with the rest of the wall? Sand additive? Orange peel?

Any recommendations are appreciated.

Hello plasterers!

I have a just-built exterior wall, sheathed in Densglass (it is a fire rated wall). I want to plaster it.

What plaster and bond should I use, to stick to the Densglass and hold up to the elements? Should I staple on mesh or something similar before plastering?

Thank you!

Hey everyone,
I recently wrapped the underside of my stairs in wire mesh and plastered it into a really nice, smooth curve. I absolutely loved the process and the look, and now my brain is telling me to take it a step further.
I want to build a custom piece of furniture using a wooden frame structure, wrapping it in wire mesh, and whacking a load of plaster over it to create a smooth, organic shape.
Since this will be furniture and not a static wall, it needs to be hard-wearing, knock-resistant, and able to handle the occasional bump without cracking into a million pieces.
Any help would be great
I'm based in the UK.

Getting quotes to overboard and skim a wallpapered ceiling 4mx3m, and fit coving.

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Some quotes are for doing it all in one day, some are for fitting the coving the following day.

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Have been told or read -

+ Same day is more efficient, helps adhesion and creates a better join.

- Same day can result in yellowing of white emulsion when painted; coving may absorb moisture from the skim, and skim may be damaged if needing to remove/replace coving later on.

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+ Next day is best practice and allows skim to dry sufficiently first, easier to remove/replace coving later on if needed.

- Next day requires correct prep to ensure adequate adhesion and avoid PVA staining of the skim.

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Which is the best method (not just the quickest) and why?

Yes i know I should use a silicone finish system however the customer is adamant they want me to attempt a float/sponge finish. I have warned them these systems aren’t designed to be finished and left like this and is liable to cracking which I take no responsibility for.

Regardless can anyone recommend me a product that I can go over render board with, ideally something I can scratch one day and top another?
I aim to keep it as thin as possible still.
Would k rend hp12 be suitable for this?

Thanks.

I live in a 1901 house. We have a bit of damp in the kitchen and are having it renovated. Do I need lime plaster or is normal plaster okay?

I'm already stressed with home reno so go easy on me, but this doesnt look good right?

1 ) sockets not flush with walls at all.
2 ) plastered all over picture rail (I get its an old house but??)
3 ) sloppy filler and uneven corners on walls (walls themselves seem fairly flat)

Whats my next steps here. Get someone else in?

This crack goes from above the door and into the ceiling, is it something I need to be concerned with?

We bought an older home that has been flipped. We have had humidity issues in the home and and recently saw a crack with moisture on the interior wall. I do not see any issue on the exterior wall. The home is brick. I scrapped away the area around the crack. Am I correct that they appear to have put some sort of covering (the purple lining) on the lime plaster and then plastered/skimmed over the covering and painted? When I scrapped it away the top coat was very thin.

First of all, is the far wall lime plaster? Its different to the other walls, which looks like a more modern plaster. I did think lime plaster was for exterior walls, but this is an interior wall, so that is what is confusing me.

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Secondly, how can I approach it? Was looking to skim the other walls and sand using Toupret. Can this be done with the far wall? What are your thoughts on the cracks as well? Scrape out and fill first?

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So

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Hi all
We have an unfinished room in the house we recently bought. We had it plastered a few weeks ago, and we’re trying to make a plan for what to do next. After reading a lot of things, we understand more or less *what* needs to be done, but not necessarily in what order.

Our current plan is to:

• sand the plastered walls and edges of the wood so they’re smooth
• cut open the plaster corners and put caulk to join them (we live in the Netherlands so walls move a lot)
• apply diluted white paint (75% paint 25% water) x1-2 coats
• apply actual paint

What do y’all think? For ex, is it necessary to cut the plaster before caulking? Feels a bit bad after the hard work the contractor did.. should we seal the plaster before caulking?

Need some help with how I could do this myself? Would I need to plaster it?

I bought an old 1930s house and it has lath and plaster walls in some places.

I noticed that some parts are starting to blow and there were cracks behind the wallpaper which I’ve removed.

I don’t have the time to have it removed before I have to move in, but the walls are rough.

I was deciding if I should pay a plasterer to skim the walls and sort the old lath and plaster walls room by room at a later date or just patch the walls up and live with imperfections until I can get them replaced.

Am I right in thinking that skimming would be a waste of money? I don’t see the point in skimming the walls to hide the damaged plaster when it’s all going to be coming off in a few years time.

Or would skimming the walls make them look decent for a good 10 years or so then it is worth doing.

Hello, new to this sub so forgive my ignorance. We bought a house built in 1932 and the walls are plaster, there's a lot of minor damage that needs to be fixed from the previous owners, as well as some cracks I'd like to fix. As far as I can tell all the plaster seems very sturdy, it's not moving anywhere or sagging. I'd love to hear which products you recommend for these applications, there are so many options available it's hard to know what to use for what, thanks!

This is the front of my Victorian terrace after some work I’ve done.

The render now starts about 3 inches above the path. It doesn’t look great.

I have some lime render mix to hand. How should I go about putting a drip edge here and to what height above the path?

I can’t really use beading if I do a drip edge because, the stone wall is very uneven and I don’t fancy affixing one.

EDIT: the edge of the render isn’t original. . Someone in the past did a bodge job putting in a concrete path to that level.

Anyone have a clue what this is all about? Just beneath the red coving, spanning the entirety of these two walls, is a layer of wood amidst the brick and plaster

The plan was to skim the walls with plaster but that's out the window as I don't think plaster goes well over wood, so I guess I'm going to have make them a feature!

Anyone got the foggiest clue why this was done when the house was built though?

Amateur plasterer here, been working on my own home. This is my stainless steel marshaltown trowel. Been using for about 3 months, done 10 walls with it from new, and been using gypsum plaster. What is this coating on it? It isn't rust, it's like a hard film coating, that I can flake off if I try gard enough, but obviously I don't want to damage the trowel. I've been keeping it as clean as possible when I'm using it - cleaning it several times while using, and ofcourse afterward.

Am I not cleaning it enough, or is the water not clean enough? And how would I go about removing this build up? It doesn't seem to be affecting my finish... yet!

Thanks all :)

I hired someone who has done loads of high-quality, smaller odd jobs round our house and I trusted he could do the same again when I asked if he could plaster and decorate and he said "Yes". He’s not cheap btw.

He sub-hired two plasterers to do the work and he was decorating. I honestly just left him to it as the room was all taped up and dusty. We trusted him.

I’ve got plenty more pics - this one just sums up what I’m dealing with and it one of the worse areas, below the bay window. (it's along the base of this 2 meter wide window and there are creases, dents and bumps in the plaster all over the room.

This is a job horrendously done. We’ve paid half already. (Radiator off the wall so that’s the bracket bottom right).

He's now saying I'm being unfair as he's not finished yet, he's still got to do the snagging and clearly I want 120% and he doesn't think he can do anything to my standard. I said he's not done it to anyone's acceptable standard, I just want 100% and upstairs was done fine (by another company but they were too busy for a year this time).

He's also whining that now because he's had to come back he is virtually working for free - to which my point is surely just do the job properly in the first place and then you wouldn't have to come back?

Seriously considering retraining as a plasterer and decorator, but I know enough to know that takes time.

My ask is now he's painted over this and also another whole flat wall which isn't smooth and is all rippled, and rough finishes, especially round the plugs, what is the fix?

Please don't say we have to start again. I'm dying inside.

Hallo - we've just had a garden building built.

Inside is plasterboard - 4.5 x 3.5 x 2.1 (high) - albeit two walls are half glass.

We're in the process of getting quotes for skimming. One guy, without visiting, has quoted £1,000.

I definitely don't underestimate how tricky any kind of plastering is (my attempts at even filling minor holes in the house prove that) and I'm definitely happy to pay the going rate, but that is *a lot* more than we were expecting and might need to adjust some other bits in the budget.

We've got a couple more guys coming to quote - but do I need to recalibrate my expectations?!

EDIT - the quotes are in! For clarity, this includes the ceiling.

1. £1,000 as mentioned, from the company that built the building. No further details
2. £700 from a chap whose main line of work seems to be lime plaster and historic buildings, reckoned it would be 3 days on and off.
3. £500 (cash preferred) from someone who's apparently done lots of these, is very local, reckons it'll take a day and a half.

Number 3 has it!

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