The one big problem that most amatuer plasterers face when trying to plaster a wall or ceiling is time. Plaster dries out quickly so you need to be able to work with it quickly.
There may also be times when you need to finish what you’re doing and leave. This happened to me yesterday. I had just put the first coat on two walls and three reveals when my wife called to say that she was feeling very ill and couldn’t look after the children. Could I come back? Well, yes, I had to go back home. So what did I do with the plaster? I quickly flattened the first coat down and left. When I return to the job I’ll have to seal the plaster, glue it and start again.
So there you have it. There are no short cuts in plastering. If you start soemthing you have to finish it in time otherwise start again.
I had a wooden ceiling in my lounge plastered a year ago. The plasterer used insulated plasterboard screwed into the wooden joists, followed by skimming to provide a flat finish. I year on and I can see the screws positions as dark patches on the surface of the plaster. Do you know what is happening and how to cure it?
Hi Tony
I would say that the plasterer used ordinary screws instead of drywall screws. What you can now see is the screws that have rusted over time. In an ideal world you would remove each screw and replace it with a drywall screw and fill in holes along the way but this causes mess. What you could try is a stain sealing paint instead. This should stop the rust bleeding through the paintwork.
Thanks for your enquiry
Martin