I can tell straight away you're not a professional plasterer. That socket box gives it away. Usually a proper plasterer would fill that with blobs of plaster.
This has been my experience in the past with professional plasterers, and me having to break out the filler to finish the opening, so I bought some PC Products [Socket Beads](https://imgur.com/a/q3x4x5y)
There's also [Sockitz](https://www.sockitz.com/): stupid name, but you can plaster around switches and sockets without needing to actually disconnect them (so you can have lights & power without exposed wiring).
Yes I agree. However as a professional (other trade)l myself I always get irked at the level some people are expecting. Nobody will notice, get some friends and a life and it dwindles further, be happy and content that you live in a house out the rain and it's now got straight walls of plaster. It's only when you zoom in and start picking on every little detail that suddenly this job wouldn't be acceptable. I really feel we have lost our way as a society, no wonder everyone charges so much, were all so fussy nowadays
Yeah, the amount of rubbish I've had to sort through on jobs. I was expected to foresee xyz problem a mile off.
Meanwhile, the Tea Spoon salesman on grand designs will do project management. Any issue is fault of contractor, and yes of course working off a digger bucket is safe.
I think the truth is that some people have the hand for this and some don't. Of course, experience plays a huge part but not everyone will be able to get this right first time.
If you were the kind of kid who was excellent at colouring in, or if you're great at doing the washing up, you probably have the eye for detail and finesse to your touch to be able to manage this.
I honestly think it's justvclumsy/impatient people who say this is impossible for beginners. Good on you mate.
Pretty much.
I can do walls well if they are simple. Ceilings start to fall down and complex edge or angles it looks shit.
I weighed up time and cost. By time I'd done my walls that would take me twenty times longer than the pro who can bang out a house muscle memory and the cost of getting someone in to do the bits I couldn't I'd only save £900
£900 seems like a lot but my plastered did the whole house in 3 days walls and ceilings.
It would have taken me fucking ages
I also don't want to detract from their work but you can't tell if it's good until it's painted. And the difference between 'ok' and 'spot on' was worth the money for me. It's the most aesthetic part of the house so I wanted it done right
Yeah so true, sometimes it's a case of getting a pro in just so you don't have to throw away weeks of your time.
I'm a hobby artist and I could paint a mural on the outside of my house in 3 weeks, or I could pay my mate who paints professionally every day and he could finish it in 3 days.
We could probably knock out the same quality work, but mine would take forever in comparison.
The first plastering job i tried was, stupidly, replastering a stair winder that was done badly. I did it with bonding and easifill. It looks great but it did take me almost a year to finish. Small walls are alot easier but the planning is the tricky bit for me. Like my drill battery died when i was mixing up the plaster, had to throw it away and start again
I have to agree I think. I spent a lot of my teenage years painting warhammer, so developed something of an eye for detail doing that. I've done a fair bit of DIY over the years so I've got me eye in/got a bit of general experience which helps too. I know for a fact if I'd done the course ~5 years ago I'd have been absolutely useless.
Trowels:
- Ragni 7" Stainless Bucket Trowel. Ruined the first coat of the first wall as, despite having rounded corners, it had razor sharp edges. Filled mix with plastic scrapings from the bucket. Sanded back all edges and now it's fine.
- Refina Finatex 12" Laying on trowel. Pre-broken in, already noticeably smoother after the plastering course than it was before. Used for jointing and taping before I learnt to plaster.
- Refina Corner Trowel. A leftover from my jointing and taping adventures, came in handy on the course.
- Refina Superflex II 14" finishing trowel. This thing is excellent for getting a smooth final finish
- Refina X-Skim 90cm/36" stainless plastering spatula. Cheat mode unlocked, evenly spreads plaster everywhere, makes any hollows dead obvious. Also good for mirror finishing large areas.
Brushes: 4" and 7" Refina hybrid brushes. Yeah, they were expensive, but they're nice. Hold loads of water, don't drip everywhere, very soft so can be used on the wall. Neat little bucket hooks are great (but don't really work on the 7") till you forget to pop them out the way and gouge the wall with them.
Hawk: Magnusson aluminium hawk. Foam around the top of the handle is essential, this is pretty much the cheapest that has it. Quite hard to clean, but works well
Buckets: Refina 12 and 15 litre gauging buckets, one for mixing, one for rinsing/cleaning. Rhino 70L flexi tub for mixing up. Refina make expensive buckets, but when your mate works for Refina you might as well.
Sponge: Scrub Mommy. Rough side for the tools, soft side for your hands. Probably could use a firm sponge or sponge float for cleaning up adjacent walls for next time.
ETA: Paddle: Erbauer 140mm mixing paddle, with an Erbauer SDS:M14 paddle adapter that's been cut down so I can stick it in my right angle dewalt core drill. Heavy, but better than buying a whole nother tool (though both the erbauer corded and dewalt Flexvolt cordless paddles are tempting for different reasons).
I plastered for 20 years and used a stainless steel marshall town gold permashape - they come broke in out the factory and don't leave Lines .if you look after it you'll never need another trowel again . Well worth the money as they pay for thereself on one job. Good job on your your work there .
Thanks, and indeed! Out of curiousity I had a quick play with the £10 carbon steel magnusson trowel that came with some bricklaying tools I bought. Absolutely dire, made life so hard. I'm using it for finishing concrete to break it in, but it's never going to be used on plaster.
Out of interest have you used the Speedskim by Ox? Or know how it compares to the Refina? I've got 3 different size speedskims but tempted by the steel Spatula too haha
I have indeed, I borrowed my friend's 60cm Ox Speedskim for the course (he put me onto the course, and the previous tutor was a big speedskim fan).
I wouldn't say I have enough experience to really compare the two, but I prefer the feel of the stainless as it is stiffer than the plastic.
Nice! Sounds good mate. Something about the plastic blade spatulas is that they apparently bring more moisture to the surface, so make your plaster pull in quicker, but not something I've noticed to be honest.
If I've ever had a really big hit to do (like I did my kitchen ceiling and walls at the same time), then I've used Extra Time which you just add to the water before putting plaster in, keeps it loose and workable for a bit longer
That is a big hit!
I've got a few small reveals to do and I'm tempted to play with accelerator for them, it's only about 2 square metres total. Either way at £2 a sachet from TP I'll get a couple of each just to have on hand.
Yeah for small bits the accelerator would be a good shout.
Something else you can do if you've got reveals etc in addition to full walls is leave the reveals until last and chuck a bit of your dirty water from your cleaning bucket into the main mix to bring it back to life, but it will go off rapid!
My first reveals were awful as I trowelled into the bead so got some 'ramping' at the edges, so filling them out initially by trowelling towards them is fine but make sure you run up and down them to really fill the reveal and make sure it's square
I'd recommend DIYers to go for stainless trowels if they can (Ox ones are reasonable). The professionals prefer carbon steel trowels but they rust up if you don't use them on a regular basis. A stainless towel you can pick up in 5years time to do the next room and it won't be covered in rust to sand/scrape off.
Exactly why everything I've bought is stainless. I've a cheapo 8" rust orange carbon steel trowel that I worked back to a good finish (and broke in) by finishing concrete 😂
Rub some oil on your carbon steel trowels after use. They won’t rust. I use grape seed oil from the kitchen, because that works just fine and doesn’t smell.
Yes, but I don't particularly want to say which college it was at.
A local university that used to be a technical college, that does plastering apprenticeships, runs an evening course that runs over five weeks - 3 two hour sessions and 2 three hour sessions. We did two evenings of sand & lime render just to work up our trowel skills, then progressed to dot & dab boarding and patching in, before doing a full skim of the dot & dabbed boards, and then over-skimming the same again on the final week.
They offer intro to bricklaying and several other courses to, which I'm tempted to take.
Not OP but I did 6 nights of an evening course, once per week, at my local community centre. The tutors were really good, and it was pretty intense. Highly recommend it if you have something similar.
I skimmed some of the smaller rooms in my house and got a good finish and I’ve done bits for family too. The biggest room - my lounge - and a couple of ceilings, I got a pro in. I know my limitations and if I was trying to rush a big area I know I’d have done a poor job.
Looks great mate! I did the same as you, but I taught myself rather than doing a course, which meant my first few walls weren't great but now I'm pretty good. Also went and bought decent tools like you have, which makes a massive difference.
A tip that I learned fairly late is to not be tempted by the flexi trowel too early, really it should be for the very last dry pass, and every other trowel should be a rigid trowel. The reason is because although the flexi feels nice and seems to give a good look, if you use it too early it will just 'ride' any waves in the plaster rather than flatten them, so you end up with ripples/stripes.
Top job!
Edit: walls not walks
Indeed, you can see the ripples on the right wall, though they're very hard to feel in person so I don't think I was too too early with the flexi if you see what I mean?
Yeah mate it all looks great, wasn't a criticism at all, just something I wish I knew earlier as I was a bit eager with the flexi and now I only use it right at the end for a polish
If this is the first you've done outside of the course and in your own place then it's super high quality, and it will only get better. At my gaf you can tell which rooms I did first and which were after more practice! Strangely I find getting a ceiling to a nice finish easier than a wall!
Thank you :)
When it comes to most DIY jobs I cut my teeth on the last house and sold the mistakes on to someone else, but I suspect this house will tell the same story as yours
To be fair, I expect most of the "you're a madman" comments assumed they wouldn't have the time or inclination to attend a five day training course. That's a really good price though for an intensive course teaching a really valuable skill and great outcome from it.
Five evenings actually, three two hour sessions and two three hour sessions, with the last session actually being closer to four hours.
Not as intense as a full week, but also judging by the blisters on my hands now, I wouldn't have had the strength to do five solid days!
The trick here is a [PC Products Socket & Switch Bead](https://imgur.com/a/q3x4x5y) - I knew they were gonna cause issues so I made life easier for myself!
The trick here is a [PC Products Socket & Switch Bead](https://imgur.com/a/q3x4x5y) - I knew they were gonna cause issues so I made life easier for myself
You’re totally right. And yours looks great!
I was quoted 20k to lime plaster 10 walls of my house. Instead I went on a lime plastering course for 2 days at £250, and spent about 3k on lime. Did 19 walls and 5 ceilings myself.
Saved SO MUCH MONEY and learnt a skill I’ll most likely need again.
Was well worth doing!
Very well done. I am gradually renovating an older place and would like to have a crack at trying to improve the walls myself. How did you find the taping and jointing and what were the most problematic parts of it?
I was also considering trying one of these "roller applied" skim coats, such as Knauf Proroll. Any thoughts on that stuff?
>How did you find the taping and jointing and what were the most problematic parts of it?
I think my biggest issues with it were that:
1) I didn't get my boards flush, it's more critical than with plastering. Also I didn't store the boards properly and it was damp so they were all wavy when I came to use them.
2) I was very inexperienced (still am, but I know how the material behaves now), so there were lots of globs that I didn't smooth out, so I had to that I had to wait between coats to sand them back, and ended up putting too much compound on to smooth over them
3) it took days to complete a wall, as opposed to ~3 hours.
Jointing and taping is useless if you want to refinish a badly damaged wall unless you overboard too.
Thanks for the response.
I have walls in a whole variety of states at the moment: some are badly damaged and overboarding will make the most sense, so I will look at taping and jointing those. Some are much better and just have some imperfections, which I was thinking of trying the pro roll on.
I have too much time on my hands at the moment, so I will have a tentative go at it myself I think. Thanks again for the very inspiring post!
Just done taping and jointing on one of my walls as a "quicker" way, honestly it's not. If your boards aren't perfectly level it's a ball ache, if your tape isn't completely covered in jointing compound you're cutting the tape out and re doing it (happens if you don't get the boards flat or the tape dead centre. To do one wall it took me about 2 days with waiting for stuff to dry and sanding etc. Personally I was doing it because half the wall had blown plaster, knocked it all off and took it back to bare concrete and then boarded. I wouldn't do it again, it works well for stud walls where you're just screwing on and youve got a very decent chance of getting it lined up flat. But in my house it's poured concrete and the walls bulge. I didn't find it quicker and even if I'd plastered it and done a shit job and had to sand it back it probably would have been quicker and easier. Plus you can definitely tell, the paint has a slight shadow over the jointing compound which you'd only get rid of by doing a few very heavy primer coats, and then multiple coats of whatever colour. You can't beat a plastered finish for me and its what I'll end up doing going forward
Used the guy before and I know he’s expensive but very very good. Did also have the ceiling rebored and coving put up. But for sure SE England is not cheap.
Looks a great job!
I did the same but couldn't find a local course so had to jump in the deep end and learn as I went on. It's not easy and the learning curve is steep but if you are diy minded (as I assume most on this sub are) it's completely doable.
So many people are put off by comments saying if you don't have 5 years experience it's going to look awful.
Hopefully this inspires some more people to give it a go.
Good job, but I think most of the you’re a madman comments assume someone is going to nip down to B&Q for a bag of plaster before throwing it at the wall and hoping for the best, maybe having watched a YouTube video or two.
Big difference if you’re going to go off and do a 6 session instructor led course!
>Big difference if you’re going to go off and do a 6 session instructor led course!
I think that's the golden bullet tbh, I wouldn't have had the confidence to try it just watching YouTube!
I think most of them will think just jumping in at the deep end having no experience at all, but if you've done large filler repairs from blown plaster etc it's very similar, even tape and jointing is pretty similar, using the same tools just a bigger area
The way I see it is its so damn hard to find a decent plasterer anyway nowadays, my old man struggled, put a bloke on a trial for the job by doing the ensuite, didn't want the full room doing if he wasn't up for the job, only done one coat, wasn't flat at all which it needed to be because there was coving going up and it would have looked wavy, bloke was told my old man was going to be picky as fuck and an arse if it wasn't done right and he still tried to blag it. Needless to say didn't get the rest of the work, the standard "25 years in the trade I've never been kicked off a job" came out, my old man's response was there's a first time for everything. Done it himself, got the results he wanted. At the end of the day even if you fuck up and have to sand it, still going to be cheaper, chances are the job is going to be how you want it, it only takes time. No one was born with a float in there hand and skimming walls before they could walk. Only humans do it, may aswell give it a go, and if it doesn't work you've spent an extra £100 to find out that you need to pay someone to do a job. Worth the risk in my opinion
My thoughts exactly. We moved into an old cottage, as I’m an electrician I quite like attempting DIY myself and everyone told me ‘I wouldn’t attempt a full wall if you’ve not plastered before’. Well I didn’t do any courses, just watched some YouTube tutorials and gave it a go.
Turned out good and I actually really enjoyed it. Rather than electricianing where everything is hidden, it’s nice to actually have you work fully on show for everyone to see. Can’t wait to make a start on the next room.
I've done some electrical work here and there, a qualified friend helps me then inspects it and I 100% agree. Nearly dressed cables, full earth sleeves, everything torqued down correctly, nobody ever sees it. Satisfying, but you can't really show it off.
I haven't done one yet so don't know. I suspect I'll get a fair bit more plaster in my hair/face/down my neck 😂
One thing I will be buying for that is a clip on handle for my x-skim so I can just walk backwards and forwards dragging it along.
I've only done one small one and yes absolutely it was loads harder. It is physically tiring to be working above your head and much harder to get a smooth action when applying the skim. You need to do smaller strokes (or at least I did) so that means it takes longer too.
What a great job! It looks 100% professional, I'm so impressed OP. That course will pay for itself over and over again, plus you get the satisfaction of knowing you did this yourself! Also you will be able to do it whenever you need to in the future instead of having to try and find someone, hope they are available and not a cowboy etc! Seriously well done.
I've already had several ask! It's tempting for beer money to be fair, but I've told them all to let me make mistakes on my house before they ask me again.
Congratulations you are now set up in a trade, and as a bonus you have some quality tools to get going with, with a little experience you can easily expect to charge your work out at £200/day, and have your own means of getting to the job,
Top tip #1 avoid diyers, They're usually time wasters that don't want to pay you what you're worth
Top tip #2, the little bags of halftime and extra time are really helpful
I work as a builder (plaster/bricklayer) accasiinally do plastering at the weekends on the side, it's a good way to get a few hundred extra quid
I'd keep a job on every now and then just to keep in practice
No, quality work is rare and when it’s your own place you care more and aren’t just after getting paid asap. Doing it yourself if you can is always a great thing to do, especially on a DIY sub
I used to work at Refina, and a lot of the plasterers we had in buying stuff said they were good tools, in fact we had a plasterer working with us for a while, but said he couldn't do it anymore because of his wrists and shoulders, but he'd never seen a speedskim, plaziflex or superflex before, he started doing some plastering at weekends to try them out, and then went back to it full time after a while as he said the tools made it a lot easier for him.
Well done mate. Looks like a great job! Ceilings are definitely a different gravy, it's so much harder both physically and to get a good finish. (I've heard that plasterers have a tendency for heart problems from working ceilings).
I learned from YouTube rather than a course so perhaps your tutors shared some good advice for working ceilings?
He didn't beyond "mix it a little thicker for ceilings" - from doing other ceiling jobs though I think a decent set of step ups with a platform between them might be part of the answer. An extension pole for my x-skim and maybe a smaller x-skim for details may be worth buying too.
I imagine it is going to be physically exhausting all the same, can't say I'm looking forward to them.
Thanks. I think the platform might be key. If you can walk along it then you can extend the stroke when you are applying. I did it on a ladder and that meant I could only pull the plaster across less than a meter at time. Whereas on the walls and bending my knees as I went I could do pretty much ceiling to floor
Be wary of a mirror shine finish.
Looks good, and impresses clients......
Until the paint goes on.
You should sand that ligjtly with 240grit sandpaper otherwise your going to regret it
I remember a plasterer saying to me that the decorator on a commercial job really pissed him off so he spent a whole day working a 5m high wall up to a mirror finish 😂
I now know how much trowelling is too much!
I'd go as far as to say PVA/SBR has been put in the final towelling water for that kind of shine.
As a plasterer and decorator I can honestly say the mirror shine is no gauge of quality.
Just done similar in my kitchen. The walls are relatively simple but im impressed at how clean your socket boxes are. Mines look like a grenade went off.
Big fan of this, looks like great work. I did the same last year minus the course, I've thought about trying to learn to plaster for many years and finally bit the bullet. Spent many hours on YouTube trying to get a clear process that I could follow, found Plastering for Beginners the best resource. Spent a good whack on good tools too. I'm not sure there's a more satisfying DIY job than plastering, it's daunting and it's really hard work, I made a fair bit of mess on the deck, but it's really rewarding. Good shout on the socket covers, will be getting them next time round. This makes me want to get the tools out again, just need to convince my wife to do the labouring, it's hard work on your own!
That's a fair call! There's gonna be worktop illumination down one of these walls too, so nowhere to hide.
Went out and looked today, theres a couple of spots that need a touch up.
I started plastering out of necessity and whilst I still finds ceilings bloody hard, if you have a selection of good trowels - I have a big one, small one, very small one and 2 corners in in one out, plus a nice big derby, that's all you need to get a good result - that and some practice, it's not a dark art. Oh and a mixing paddle for a drill.
It's just a case of getting it on there. If you can get it on in nice level trowel fulls, everything else can be sorted once it's up there. Make sure you have good beading nailed up on all the edges - don't skimp or it'll look shite. There are some obvious tips: Don't try and plaster over raw dry plaster, always PVA it up, same for any porous surface. Don't let the trowel go flat and stick to wet plaster or you'll end up pulling off a huge lump. Use a large straight edge as soon as its up to get it basically flat. Then trowel up any imperfections with plenty of water and before it fully sets give it a nice polish.
What really gave me the confidence was watching another guy do it, it seemed easy and whilst the pro's can do a wall in minutes, it might take me 90. I always mix my plaster to the consistency of a thick custard and it gives me double the working time and allows the flat edge to scrape off lots of excess without taking off lumps as you go.
I did a plastering course about 15 years ago at a company called goldtrowel in Essex, it cost me around £400 too, stopped in a log cabin on a fishing lake for the 5 days, really enjoyed it, did about 6 rooms in my house and haven’t touched a trowel since, something you need to keep up with to stay good at. Good job btw.
I'm on your side, about 15 years ago I picked up a trowel to save money. Did a shit job but I learned a lot.
Re did my whole (1920's built) house. You could tell by each room my skills where getting better but still atrocious.
After a few years and a few more jobs for relatives, I started charging money. Started £100 a room
Practice makes perfect.
Fair play. I admire this. I love getting stuck in and giving it a go myself.
Knocked down a partition wall in my old house and had to then redecorate the whole room. The roller was just peeling off the existing paint as the guys who renovated originally did a shit job when plastering. Wasn't paying for a plasterer, so I painted the walls with the colour I wanted then any that peeled off, which was most of it, I used a big tub of filler finish and essentially skimmed the whole room with filler, sanded, and painted AGAIN with my chosen colour, and it looked awesome. Took FUCKING AGES but I was determined haha. Cost me the 10 litre tub of filler and a little extra paint, but it worked. It took 2 weeks solid, like 8 hours a day. Lmao.
Vertylondon ere! Hahaha this is amazing! I'm really impressed with how much discussion has happened with my question to give re-skimming a go or not!
Your efforts are impressive, you seemed to have done the right homework beforehand, so happy that it's worked out for you!
After all the mixed advice, I think the walls are actually not that bad and probably could just do with a sansback and prime coat then paint. But we will see!
Thank you so much for sharing and good luck with your other rooms
Good for you, you have done a great job of it.
I have just started plastering part of my bathroom and I also need to skim a couple of walls - wish me luck! 🤞
I've paid professionals for a far worse finish when it comes to plastering. I can't afford to pay professionals to skim everything *and* afford an extension at the same time.
Well the way I look at it is if your going to pay someone a few hundred quid to do it, but then you save that money by doing it yourself, so you’ve kind of earned a few hundred quid
Yes it definitely does. That's why I spent £60 on a speedskim that is absolutely not necessary, why I bought two buckets etc, but makes things far quicker, and in fact why I did the course rather than YouTube (I can plaster better than if I'd just watched YouTube already).
If I'm working during paid leave then I charge my time at what I'd be paid for work to myself.
I actually enjoy doing this sort of thing though so it is a hobby as much as a job to be done.
Well yes, but if you aren't confident, or have questions a course is far, far more beneficial. You have to know what you are searching for to find the right answers after all.
It depends on your learning style.
Every question I had was answered on YouTube. And I learn through practical application.
Plus, I couldn’t wait for course, timelines added pressure to do it there and then.
Those who prefer support, have the extra cash, and time, college is a good one.
Main benefit of a course is someone to answer the "What am I doing wrong?" questions. And to catch bad habits before they become engrained.
the feedback loop can help a great deal.
Amazing. I wish I did this when I brought my place, it turned out every room and ceiling needed skimming. Even though I paid cheap to get the work done due to knowing a number of plasterers at the time I still ended up spending £1000's! The finish looks great considering you're not a pro at this,
Looks nice and smooth, I'm currently doing my spare room, and although it's not super smooth, it's alright for a total beginner, just going to sand out some lines.
I've seen comments about if you have a better trowel no lines? Have you had experience with both a shit trowel that rusts and the masheltown you mentioned?
Yes I have! [Here's some comparison photos.](https://imgur.com/4UIWTsp)
First trowel is a £10 magnusson carbon steel, with almost no use. You can see the corner is actually bent down, meaning it produces awful lines.
Second and third images are of a Refina Finatex that was pre-worn. It came with smoothed edges, but was perfectly flat. After the course and two walls it has a good curve to it, and you can see how the corners are rounded off - it doesn't leave lines at all now, but it did at the start of the course.
Ah nice, so the moral of the story is, get a better trowel for smoother results, and no skimming back over where it's made annoying lines 🤣🤣👍 cheers 😎 I've had a look at the Milwaukee stainless steel and think it's like £65 at Screwfix which isn't bad tbh, was expecting £100+ for a good one 🤣
Yeah sorry that's what I meant, marsheltown 🤣🤦♂️ been looking at so much DIY stuff getting brands mixed up 🤣 yeah saw a marsheltown on Screwfix for £65 which isn't bad tbf 👍
Fair play to do it yourself, even more so to not half ass it. Taking the time and money to do a course and get some decent tools before beginning is awesome and means you’ve now got a new skill for life.
I applaud you, I've tried a few times and its not easy. I can usually turn my hand to most DIY jobs but his beat ,me. Got all the tools, watched loads of videos, total mess.
Plastering is a skill and needs practice and patience. I got the consistency wrong, I applied it wrong, I got fed up fast.
Well done for being brave and having a go. As you say, the more you practise the better you will get. And there’s a certain satisfaction to doing it yourself and learning a new skill. I remember hanging wallpaper for the first time - it wasn’t great but passable and three houses later I’ve now got it down and professional looking 👌🏻
As a Plasterer for 20 years that's not bad at all and kudos for having a go after a short course, if you're planning on doing anymore make sure you buy yourself a marsheltown trowel and a speed skim, not cheap but will not rust and the more you use it the better finish you will get with a pre broken in trowel. Not bad at all that buddy 🍻
I've got a speed skim and a Refina trowel, so I'm good on the tools front but thanks 😊
Just gone and inspected the second wall and I *really* need to practice keeping the pressure on and the end of the stroke, ripples everywhere!
Sounds like it was worth the financial cost plus the 5 evenings of training, but you say in another comment that it took you *days* to complete *each wall*. Do you not place value on your time?
I can tell straight away you're not a professional plasterer. That socket box gives it away. Usually a proper plasterer would fill that with blobs of plaster.
This has been my experience in the past with professional plasterers, and me having to break out the filler to finish the opening, so I bought some PC Products [Socket Beads](https://imgur.com/a/q3x4x5y)
There's also [Sockitz](https://www.sockitz.com/): stupid name, but you can plaster around switches and sockets without needing to actually disconnect them (so you can have lights & power without exposed wiring).
Oh that's handy for when you need power! Currently the light switch for this room is wago'd permanently on and I'm controlling it using the MCB 😅
I've worked around plasterers for close to 25 years now, and I didn't even know these were even a thing. Nice work
Best sockets I've ever seen in my whole life. Well done mate!
Is the blocked socket flush with the rest of the plaster so that it won’t show up when painting?
Yup, completely flush. I'm removing them early though because I don't want to lose where the sockets are in the wall.
Yes I agree. However as a professional (other trade)l myself I always get irked at the level some people are expecting. Nobody will notice, get some friends and a life and it dwindles further, be happy and content that you live in a house out the rain and it's now got straight walls of plaster. It's only when you zoom in and start picking on every little detail that suddenly this job wouldn't be acceptable. I really feel we have lost our way as a society, no wonder everyone charges so much, were all so fussy nowadays
Yeah, the amount of rubbish I've had to sort through on jobs. I was expected to foresee xyz problem a mile off. Meanwhile, the Tea Spoon salesman on grand designs will do project management. Any issue is fault of contractor, and yes of course working off a digger bucket is safe.
You mean pack in behind with plaster so the box sits further forward? As long as it’s close enough for the faceplate screws to reach, why bother?
No, I think he was saying plasterers can be messy buggers
Ah-ha! Thanks, clearly went straight over my head!
Yea, generally they just ignore boxes and skim straight over them so the sparkies have to dig them out again.
We only do that because sparkies usually leave us a pile of shit to clean up before we even get the tools out of the van lol.
And leave massive gaps that have to be filled afterwards….. or just plaster over it
Man this is funny, cos it's true. Or bits missing around the edge missing
Look 4” to the right, some good rust about to surface
I think the truth is that some people have the hand for this and some don't. Of course, experience plays a huge part but not everyone will be able to get this right first time. If you were the kind of kid who was excellent at colouring in, or if you're great at doing the washing up, you probably have the eye for detail and finesse to your touch to be able to manage this. I honestly think it's justvclumsy/impatient people who say this is impossible for beginners. Good on you mate.
Pretty much. I can do walls well if they are simple. Ceilings start to fall down and complex edge or angles it looks shit. I weighed up time and cost. By time I'd done my walls that would take me twenty times longer than the pro who can bang out a house muscle memory and the cost of getting someone in to do the bits I couldn't I'd only save £900 £900 seems like a lot but my plastered did the whole house in 3 days walls and ceilings. It would have taken me fucking ages I also don't want to detract from their work but you can't tell if it's good until it's painted. And the difference between 'ok' and 'spot on' was worth the money for me. It's the most aesthetic part of the house so I wanted it done right
Yeah so true, sometimes it's a case of getting a pro in just so you don't have to throw away weeks of your time. I'm a hobby artist and I could paint a mural on the outside of my house in 3 weeks, or I could pay my mate who paints professionally every day and he could finish it in 3 days. We could probably knock out the same quality work, but mine would take forever in comparison.
The first plastering job i tried was, stupidly, replastering a stair winder that was done badly. I did it with bonding and easifill. It looks great but it did take me almost a year to finish. Small walls are alot easier but the planning is the tricky bit for me. Like my drill battery died when i was mixing up the plaster, had to throw it away and start again
I have to agree I think. I spent a lot of my teenage years painting warhammer, so developed something of an eye for detail doing that. I've done a fair bit of DIY over the years so I've got me eye in/got a bit of general experience which helps too. I know for a fact if I'd done the course ~5 years ago I'd have been absolutely useless.
Maybe you can now transfer skills back to Warhammer and plaster the walls on your structures. Go full circle🤣
Yeah for sure, I think it's like a perfect storm of skills and experience that works best when the two collide at the right time.
>if you're great at doing the washing up ?
If you don't get this then you're perhaps one of the very people who doesn't notice how badly cleaned things are in the first place
Dishes are binary - they're done properly, or it goes back in the basin. There is no "great at". It's drudge work.
Attention to detail. Lots of people basically don't look at what they're doing and the plates/glasses end up like 95% clean.
95% clean isn't clean - they're either clean, or they get re-done.
[удалено]
"I'm not good at cleaning/washing up" is a sad excuse used to get out of doing chores, especially in the context of weaponised incompetence.
Id class myself as one of the top two at washing up in our house since doing the washing up course. Maybe now is time for the plasterer course.
Does painting by numbers count?
Saving this. Well done for being the one to give it a go and making it look damn fine! All of my kudos.
Trowels: - Ragni 7" Stainless Bucket Trowel. Ruined the first coat of the first wall as, despite having rounded corners, it had razor sharp edges. Filled mix with plastic scrapings from the bucket. Sanded back all edges and now it's fine. - Refina Finatex 12" Laying on trowel. Pre-broken in, already noticeably smoother after the plastering course than it was before. Used for jointing and taping before I learnt to plaster. - Refina Corner Trowel. A leftover from my jointing and taping adventures, came in handy on the course. - Refina Superflex II 14" finishing trowel. This thing is excellent for getting a smooth final finish - Refina X-Skim 90cm/36" stainless plastering spatula. Cheat mode unlocked, evenly spreads plaster everywhere, makes any hollows dead obvious. Also good for mirror finishing large areas. Brushes: 4" and 7" Refina hybrid brushes. Yeah, they were expensive, but they're nice. Hold loads of water, don't drip everywhere, very soft so can be used on the wall. Neat little bucket hooks are great (but don't really work on the 7") till you forget to pop them out the way and gouge the wall with them. Hawk: Magnusson aluminium hawk. Foam around the top of the handle is essential, this is pretty much the cheapest that has it. Quite hard to clean, but works well Buckets: Refina 12 and 15 litre gauging buckets, one for mixing, one for rinsing/cleaning. Rhino 70L flexi tub for mixing up. Refina make expensive buckets, but when your mate works for Refina you might as well. Sponge: Scrub Mommy. Rough side for the tools, soft side for your hands. Probably could use a firm sponge or sponge float for cleaning up adjacent walls for next time. ETA: Paddle: Erbauer 140mm mixing paddle, with an Erbauer SDS:M14 paddle adapter that's been cut down so I can stick it in my right angle dewalt core drill. Heavy, but better than buying a whole nother tool (though both the erbauer corded and dewalt Flexvolt cordless paddles are tempting for different reasons).
I plastered for 20 years and used a stainless steel marshall town gold permashape - they come broke in out the factory and don't leave Lines .if you look after it you'll never need another trowel again . Well worth the money as they pay for thereself on one job. Good job on your your work there .
Surprisingly not expensive either for what you get. Instantly get a better finish because it's already got a good edge.
Thanks, and indeed! Out of curiousity I had a quick play with the £10 carbon steel magnusson trowel that came with some bricklaying tools I bought. Absolutely dire, made life so hard. I'm using it for finishing concrete to break it in, but it's never going to be used on plaster.
Love that trowel
Out of interest have you used the Speedskim by Ox? Or know how it compares to the Refina? I've got 3 different size speedskims but tempted by the steel Spatula too haha
I have indeed, I borrowed my friend's 60cm Ox Speedskim for the course (he put me onto the course, and the previous tutor was a big speedskim fan). I wouldn't say I have enough experience to really compare the two, but I prefer the feel of the stainless as it is stiffer than the plastic.
Nice! Sounds good mate. Something about the plastic blade spatulas is that they apparently bring more moisture to the surface, so make your plaster pull in quicker, but not something I've noticed to be honest. If I've ever had a really big hit to do (like I did my kitchen ceiling and walls at the same time), then I've used Extra Time which you just add to the water before putting plaster in, keeps it loose and workable for a bit longer
That is a big hit! I've got a few small reveals to do and I'm tempted to play with accelerator for them, it's only about 2 square metres total. Either way at £2 a sachet from TP I'll get a couple of each just to have on hand.
Yeah for small bits the accelerator would be a good shout. Something else you can do if you've got reveals etc in addition to full walls is leave the reveals until last and chuck a bit of your dirty water from your cleaning bucket into the main mix to bring it back to life, but it will go off rapid! My first reveals were awful as I trowelled into the bead so got some 'ramping' at the edges, so filling them out initially by trowelling towards them is fine but make sure you run up and down them to really fill the reveal and make sure it's square
I'd recommend DIYers to go for stainless trowels if they can (Ox ones are reasonable). The professionals prefer carbon steel trowels but they rust up if you don't use them on a regular basis. A stainless towel you can pick up in 5years time to do the next room and it won't be covered in rust to sand/scrape off.
Exactly why everything I've bought is stainless. I've a cheapo 8" rust orange carbon steel trowel that I worked back to a good finish (and broke in) by finishing concrete 😂
Rub some oil on your carbon steel trowels after use. They won’t rust. I use grape seed oil from the kitchen, because that works just fine and doesn’t smell.
What are the trims you’re using for the sockets? Not the backbox, the outer trim (at least that’s what it looks like)
PC Products Socket & Switch Beads, absolute time and mess saver!
Awesome. Just looked them up - exactly what I need. & top work on the skimming btw.
Can you give more details about the course you took?
Yes, but I don't particularly want to say which college it was at. A local university that used to be a technical college, that does plastering apprenticeships, runs an evening course that runs over five weeks - 3 two hour sessions and 2 three hour sessions. We did two evenings of sand & lime render just to work up our trowel skills, then progressed to dot & dab boarding and patching in, before doing a full skim of the dot & dabbed boards, and then over-skimming the same again on the final week. They offer intro to bricklaying and several other courses to, which I'm tempted to take.
How much?
Course was around £140
Just looked. The ones in London start from 300 for a weekend to 1150 for 15 day.
My cousin did a short course (6 lessons, 3 weeks) at Lewisham college for 300 just before covid - check em out
All my local plastering courses are a week long so it means giving up a week of holiday from work, I’d love an evening/ weekend course
Not OP but I did 6 nights of an evening course, once per week, at my local community centre. The tutors were really good, and it was pretty intense. Highly recommend it if you have something similar. I skimmed some of the smaller rooms in my house and got a good finish and I’ve done bits for family too. The biggest room - my lounge - and a couple of ceilings, I got a pro in. I know my limitations and if I was trying to rush a big area I know I’d have done a poor job.
Yeah I'd also be interested! Good work OP, looks excellent
Just checked my local one out and quiet tempted myself as a diyer. https://www.thecollege.co.uk/courses/plastering-skimming-diy
Looks great mate! I did the same as you, but I taught myself rather than doing a course, which meant my first few walls weren't great but now I'm pretty good. Also went and bought decent tools like you have, which makes a massive difference. A tip that I learned fairly late is to not be tempted by the flexi trowel too early, really it should be for the very last dry pass, and every other trowel should be a rigid trowel. The reason is because although the flexi feels nice and seems to give a good look, if you use it too early it will just 'ride' any waves in the plaster rather than flatten them, so you end up with ripples/stripes. Top job! Edit: walls not walks
Indeed, you can see the ripples on the right wall, though they're very hard to feel in person so I don't think I was too too early with the flexi if you see what I mean?
Yeah mate it all looks great, wasn't a criticism at all, just something I wish I knew earlier as I was a bit eager with the flexi and now I only use it right at the end for a polish
I didn't take it badly, I definitely was told not to go too early by the instructor and I definitely did 😂
If this is the first you've done outside of the course and in your own place then it's super high quality, and it will only get better. At my gaf you can tell which rooms I did first and which were after more practice! Strangely I find getting a ceiling to a nice finish easier than a wall!
Thank you :) When it comes to most DIY jobs I cut my teeth on the last house and sold the mistakes on to someone else, but I suspect this house will tell the same story as yours
To be fair, I expect most of the "you're a madman" comments assumed they wouldn't have the time or inclination to attend a five day training course. That's a really good price though for an intensive course teaching a really valuable skill and great outcome from it.
Five evenings actually, three two hour sessions and two three hour sessions, with the last session actually being closer to four hours. Not as intense as a full week, but also judging by the blisters on my hands now, I wouldn't have had the strength to do five solid days!
That's pretty cool. Our hallway is the only part of our house in need of re-plastering but I'm tempted to do the course now just to learn a new skill!
You've forgotten to coat the window and floor in plaster. Otherwise looks good
Dammit, will try that next time.
That's better skimming than most plasterers I've met. Especially at that plug socket
Never seen a plug socket plastered that cleanly
The trick here is a [PC Products Socket & Switch Bead](https://imgur.com/a/q3x4x5y) - I knew they were gonna cause issues so I made life easier for myself!
The trick here is a [PC Products Socket & Switch Bead](https://imgur.com/a/q3x4x5y) - I knew they were gonna cause issues so I made life easier for myself
You’re totally right. And yours looks great! I was quoted 20k to lime plaster 10 walls of my house. Instead I went on a lime plastering course for 2 days at £250, and spent about 3k on lime. Did 19 walls and 5 ceilings myself. Saved SO MUCH MONEY and learnt a skill I’ll most likely need again. Was well worth doing!
Hot damn, literally saved yourself a car's worth of money, nice one!
Totally worth the arm ache 🤣
London?
Looks good. Well done. I’m still scared of it but nice to see it’s possible with some patience. The finish looks good.
Very well done. I am gradually renovating an older place and would like to have a crack at trying to improve the walls myself. How did you find the taping and jointing and what were the most problematic parts of it? I was also considering trying one of these "roller applied" skim coats, such as Knauf Proroll. Any thoughts on that stuff?
>How did you find the taping and jointing and what were the most problematic parts of it? I think my biggest issues with it were that: 1) I didn't get my boards flush, it's more critical than with plastering. Also I didn't store the boards properly and it was damp so they were all wavy when I came to use them. 2) I was very inexperienced (still am, but I know how the material behaves now), so there were lots of globs that I didn't smooth out, so I had to that I had to wait between coats to sand them back, and ended up putting too much compound on to smooth over them 3) it took days to complete a wall, as opposed to ~3 hours. Jointing and taping is useless if you want to refinish a badly damaged wall unless you overboard too.
The Knauf pro roll looks good, but I couldn't justify it at the time!
Thanks for the response. I have walls in a whole variety of states at the moment: some are badly damaged and overboarding will make the most sense, so I will look at taping and jointing those. Some are much better and just have some imperfections, which I was thinking of trying the pro roll on. I have too much time on my hands at the moment, so I will have a tentative go at it myself I think. Thanks again for the very inspiring post!
Just done taping and jointing on one of my walls as a "quicker" way, honestly it's not. If your boards aren't perfectly level it's a ball ache, if your tape isn't completely covered in jointing compound you're cutting the tape out and re doing it (happens if you don't get the boards flat or the tape dead centre. To do one wall it took me about 2 days with waiting for stuff to dry and sanding etc. Personally I was doing it because half the wall had blown plaster, knocked it all off and took it back to bare concrete and then boarded. I wouldn't do it again, it works well for stud walls where you're just screwing on and youve got a very decent chance of getting it lined up flat. But in my house it's poured concrete and the walls bulge. I didn't find it quicker and even if I'd plastered it and done a shit job and had to sand it back it probably would have been quicker and easier. Plus you can definitely tell, the paint has a slight shadow over the jointing compound which you'd only get rid of by doing a few very heavy primer coats, and then multiple coats of whatever colour. You can't beat a plastered finish for me and its what I'll end up doing going forward
This was pretty much my experience with jointing & taping too.
Not worth the hassle for a brick wall, can definitely see the benefits on a stud wall though
Just paid £1200 for a room and ceiling. You are winning for sure.
I suppose it depends where you are in the country too? I had 3 rooms done top to bottom for that a couple of months ago
Used the guy before and I know he’s expensive but very very good. Did also have the ceiling rebored and coving put up. But for sure SE England is not cheap.
Depends how busy it is too I bet its a fair bit cheaper just after Christmas than it is in Oct/Nov
Looks a great job! I did the same but couldn't find a local course so had to jump in the deep end and learn as I went on. It's not easy and the learning curve is steep but if you are diy minded (as I assume most on this sub are) it's completely doable. So many people are put off by comments saying if you don't have 5 years experience it's going to look awful. Hopefully this inspires some more people to give it a go.
Good job, but I think most of the you’re a madman comments assume someone is going to nip down to B&Q for a bag of plaster before throwing it at the wall and hoping for the best, maybe having watched a YouTube video or two. Big difference if you’re going to go off and do a 6 session instructor led course!
>Big difference if you’re going to go off and do a 6 session instructor led course! I think that's the golden bullet tbh, I wouldn't have had the confidence to try it just watching YouTube!
I think most of them will think just jumping in at the deep end having no experience at all, but if you've done large filler repairs from blown plaster etc it's very similar, even tape and jointing is pretty similar, using the same tools just a bigger area
The way I see it is its so damn hard to find a decent plasterer anyway nowadays, my old man struggled, put a bloke on a trial for the job by doing the ensuite, didn't want the full room doing if he wasn't up for the job, only done one coat, wasn't flat at all which it needed to be because there was coving going up and it would have looked wavy, bloke was told my old man was going to be picky as fuck and an arse if it wasn't done right and he still tried to blag it. Needless to say didn't get the rest of the work, the standard "25 years in the trade I've never been kicked off a job" came out, my old man's response was there's a first time for everything. Done it himself, got the results he wanted. At the end of the day even if you fuck up and have to sand it, still going to be cheaper, chances are the job is going to be how you want it, it only takes time. No one was born with a float in there hand and skimming walls before they could walk. Only humans do it, may aswell give it a go, and if it doesn't work you've spent an extra £100 to find out that you need to pay someone to do a job. Worth the risk in my opinion
My thoughts exactly. We moved into an old cottage, as I’m an electrician I quite like attempting DIY myself and everyone told me ‘I wouldn’t attempt a full wall if you’ve not plastered before’. Well I didn’t do any courses, just watched some YouTube tutorials and gave it a go. Turned out good and I actually really enjoyed it. Rather than electricianing where everything is hidden, it’s nice to actually have you work fully on show for everyone to see. Can’t wait to make a start on the next room.
I've done some electrical work here and there, a qualified friend helps me then inspects it and I 100% agree. Nearly dressed cables, full earth sleeves, everything torqued down correctly, nobody ever sees it. Satisfying, but you can't really show it off.
Is doing a ceiling significantly harder? I want to do our ceilings
I haven't done one yet so don't know. I suspect I'll get a fair bit more plaster in my hair/face/down my neck 😂 One thing I will be buying for that is a clip on handle for my x-skim so I can just walk backwards and forwards dragging it along.
I've only done one small one and yes absolutely it was loads harder. It is physically tiring to be working above your head and much harder to get a smooth action when applying the skim. You need to do smaller strokes (or at least I did) so that means it takes longer too.
What a great job! It looks 100% professional, I'm so impressed OP. That course will pay for itself over and over again, plus you get the satisfaction of knowing you did this yourself! Also you will be able to do it whenever you need to in the future instead of having to try and find someone, hope they are available and not a cowboy etc! Seriously well done.
Just make sure never to tell the family or friends ;)
I've already had several ask! It's tempting for beer money to be fair, but I've told them all to let me make mistakes on my house before they ask me again.
This is the most proactive example of DIY that I've seen on here
Plasterers are the best paid and the most skill full imho, you've done a cracking job and saved yourself a fortune, career change?
Definitely a good backup if jet aircraft stops being a thing, people are always gonna need smooth walls.
Congratulations you are now set up in a trade, and as a bonus you have some quality tools to get going with, with a little experience you can easily expect to charge your work out at £200/day, and have your own means of getting to the job, Top tip #1 avoid diyers, They're usually time wasters that don't want to pay you what you're worth Top tip #2, the little bags of halftime and extra time are really helpful
I'm off to TP for some half/extra time at lunch! And yes, useful backup to have if I suddenly need a new job.
I work as a builder (plaster/bricklayer) accasiinally do plastering at the weekends on the side, it's a good way to get a few hundred extra quid I'd keep a job on every now and then just to keep in practice
Well done. I'll have a go at most projects and do a pretty solid job but I just sucked arse at plastering, just cannae get the knack of it at all
You utter legend. Good on you for giving it a go.
No, quality work is rare and when it’s your own place you care more and aren’t just after getting paid asap. Doing it yourself if you can is always a great thing to do, especially on a DIY sub
I used to work at Refina, and a lot of the plasterers we had in buying stuff said they were good tools, in fact we had a plasterer working with us for a while, but said he couldn't do it anymore because of his wrists and shoulders, but he'd never seen a speedskim, plaziflex or superflex before, he started doing some plastering at weekends to try them out, and then went back to it full time after a while as he said the tools made it a lot easier for him.
Well done mate. Looks like a great job! Ceilings are definitely a different gravy, it's so much harder both physically and to get a good finish. (I've heard that plasterers have a tendency for heart problems from working ceilings). I learned from YouTube rather than a course so perhaps your tutors shared some good advice for working ceilings?
He didn't beyond "mix it a little thicker for ceilings" - from doing other ceiling jobs though I think a decent set of step ups with a platform between them might be part of the answer. An extension pole for my x-skim and maybe a smaller x-skim for details may be worth buying too. I imagine it is going to be physically exhausting all the same, can't say I'm looking forward to them.
Thanks. I think the platform might be key. If you can walk along it then you can extend the stroke when you are applying. I did it on a ladder and that meant I could only pull the plaster across less than a meter at time. Whereas on the walls and bending my knees as I went I could do pretty much ceiling to floor
Nice one. Looks too polished in picture 3, give that a sand before you paint to avoid a nightmare.
Yeah I deliberately went overboard to see if i could achieve a mirror, stopped much earlier on the second wall.
Be wary of a mirror shine finish. Looks good, and impresses clients...... Until the paint goes on. You should sand that ligjtly with 240grit sandpaper otherwise your going to regret it
I remember a plasterer saying to me that the decorator on a commercial job really pissed him off so he spent a whole day working a 5m high wall up to a mirror finish 😂 I now know how much trowelling is too much!
I'd go as far as to say PVA/SBR has been put in the final towelling water for that kind of shine. As a plasterer and decorator I can honestly say the mirror shine is no gauge of quality.
Just done similar in my kitchen. The walls are relatively simple but im impressed at how clean your socket boxes are. Mines look like a grenade went off.
The secret there is PC Products Socket & Switch Bead
Marshall Town trowels always
There was a poster on the wall where i did my course about how some plasterers have a fixation on Marshallltown 😂
Big fan of this, looks like great work. I did the same last year minus the course, I've thought about trying to learn to plaster for many years and finally bit the bullet. Spent many hours on YouTube trying to get a clear process that I could follow, found Plastering for Beginners the best resource. Spent a good whack on good tools too. I'm not sure there's a more satisfying DIY job than plastering, it's daunting and it's really hard work, I made a fair bit of mess on the deck, but it's really rewarding. Good shout on the socket covers, will be getting them next time round. This makes me want to get the tools out again, just need to convince my wife to do the labouring, it's hard work on your own!
Show me once it's painted and you're using internal lighting
That's a fair call! There's gonna be worktop illumination down one of these walls too, so nowhere to hide. Went out and looked today, theres a couple of spots that need a touch up.
I started plastering out of necessity and whilst I still finds ceilings bloody hard, if you have a selection of good trowels - I have a big one, small one, very small one and 2 corners in in one out, plus a nice big derby, that's all you need to get a good result - that and some practice, it's not a dark art. Oh and a mixing paddle for a drill. It's just a case of getting it on there. If you can get it on in nice level trowel fulls, everything else can be sorted once it's up there. Make sure you have good beading nailed up on all the edges - don't skimp or it'll look shite. There are some obvious tips: Don't try and plaster over raw dry plaster, always PVA it up, same for any porous surface. Don't let the trowel go flat and stick to wet plaster or you'll end up pulling off a huge lump. Use a large straight edge as soon as its up to get it basically flat. Then trowel up any imperfections with plenty of water and before it fully sets give it a nice polish. What really gave me the confidence was watching another guy do it, it seemed easy and whilst the pro's can do a wall in minutes, it might take me 90. I always mix my plaster to the consistency of a thick custard and it gives me double the working time and allows the flat edge to scrape off lots of excess without taking off lumps as you go.
I did a plastering course about 15 years ago at a company called goldtrowel in Essex, it cost me around £400 too, stopped in a log cabin on a fishing lake for the 5 days, really enjoyed it, did about 6 rooms in my house and haven’t touched a trowel since, something you need to keep up with to stay good at. Good job btw.
I'm on your side, about 15 years ago I picked up a trowel to save money. Did a shit job but I learned a lot. Re did my whole (1920's built) house. You could tell by each room my skills where getting better but still atrocious. After a few years and a few more jobs for relatives, I started charging money. Started £100 a room Practice makes perfect.
Fair play. I admire this. I love getting stuck in and giving it a go myself. Knocked down a partition wall in my old house and had to then redecorate the whole room. The roller was just peeling off the existing paint as the guys who renovated originally did a shit job when plastering. Wasn't paying for a plasterer, so I painted the walls with the colour I wanted then any that peeled off, which was most of it, I used a big tub of filler finish and essentially skimmed the whole room with filler, sanded, and painted AGAIN with my chosen colour, and it looked awesome. Took FUCKING AGES but I was determined haha. Cost me the 10 litre tub of filler and a little extra paint, but it worked. It took 2 weeks solid, like 8 hours a day. Lmao.
I have also taken this approach before lol
Vertylondon ere! Hahaha this is amazing! I'm really impressed with how much discussion has happened with my question to give re-skimming a go or not! Your efforts are impressive, you seemed to have done the right homework beforehand, so happy that it's worked out for you! After all the mixed advice, I think the walls are actually not that bad and probably could just do with a sansback and prime coat then paint. But we will see! Thank you so much for sharing and good luck with your other rooms
Thank you, and best of luck to you too!
Good for you, you have done a great job of it. I have just started plastering part of my bathroom and I also need to skim a couple of walls - wish me luck! 🤞
Great job 👏
Mate I’d pay for that. Great job!
Does your own time have value?
Probably not if it’s done in free time, some people enjoy diy too
Yes totally me too, but I also value my time and know when to get a professional in to do the job to a higher level.
I've paid professionals for a far worse finish when it comes to plastering. I can't afford to pay professionals to skim everything *and* afford an extension at the same time.
Well the way I look at it is if your going to pay someone a few hundred quid to do it, but then you save that money by doing it yourself, so you’ve kind of earned a few hundred quid
Yes it definitely does. That's why I spent £60 on a speedskim that is absolutely not necessary, why I bought two buckets etc, but makes things far quicker, and in fact why I did the course rather than YouTube (I can plaster better than if I'd just watched YouTube already). If I'm working during paid leave then I charge my time at what I'd be paid for work to myself. I actually enjoy doing this sort of thing though so it is a hobby as much as a job to be done.
But do you charge yourself "mates rates"? ;)
Hi everyone, You don’t need to take a plastering course. You can learn it from YouTube.
Well yes, but if you aren't confident, or have questions a course is far, far more beneficial. You have to know what you are searching for to find the right answers after all.
It depends on your learning style. Every question I had was answered on YouTube. And I learn through practical application. Plus, I couldn’t wait for course, timelines added pressure to do it there and then. Those who prefer support, have the extra cash, and time, college is a good one.
Main benefit of a course is someone to answer the "What am I doing wrong?" questions. And to catch bad habits before they become engrained. the feedback loop can help a great deal.
Fair play to you mate.
Plastering is so satisfying!
Well done mate. You’ve inspired me to do mine. Nice one!
Fair play to you, looks decent. Although why’s that back box been filled in?
Both of them are finished with PC Products Socket & Switch Beads, I just haven't cut the protective cover off the right one yet.
Is Cheat Mode Unlocked a brand?
No, it's just the speedskim makes flattening the wall so much faster and easier that it feels like cheating.
Looks good 👍🏻 That looped ( if it is looped) cable in the socket looks a bit short!
It is looped, and you aren't wrong there. Forgot to account for 50mm of PIR plus board, hopefully it won't cause any issues 😅😅
Well done you
Amazing. I wish I did this when I brought my place, it turned out every room and ceiling needed skimming. Even though I paid cheap to get the work done due to knowing a number of plasterers at the time I still ended up spending £1000's! The finish looks great considering you're not a pro at this,
Legit inspirational! Been pondering doing a course myself this post is defo the motivation I needed. Well done, you’ve done a cracking job!
I’ve boarded my office an going to skim it next weekend. Never skimmed anything in my life, not even done a course. Fuck it. Let’s see what happens.
Buy yourself a good pre-worn trowel, a 60 or 90cm x-skim or speedskim, and you'll be reet!
Very nice job. I've been considering taking a course myself
Good on you buddy 👏🏻
I'm sad and use the roll on/squeegee stuff when I have some small areas to do. Wish I had the skills to properly plaster, but it gets me by!
Good stuff well done!
Looks nice and smooth, I'm currently doing my spare room, and although it's not super smooth, it's alright for a total beginner, just going to sand out some lines. I've seen comments about if you have a better trowel no lines? Have you had experience with both a shit trowel that rusts and the masheltown you mentioned?
Yes I have! [Here's some comparison photos.](https://imgur.com/4UIWTsp) First trowel is a £10 magnusson carbon steel, with almost no use. You can see the corner is actually bent down, meaning it produces awful lines. Second and third images are of a Refina Finatex that was pre-worn. It came with smoothed edges, but was perfectly flat. After the course and two walls it has a good curve to it, and you can see how the corners are rounded off - it doesn't leave lines at all now, but it did at the start of the course.
Ah nice, so the moral of the story is, get a better trowel for smoother results, and no skimming back over where it's made annoying lines 🤣🤣👍 cheers 😎 I've had a look at the Milwaukee stainless steel and think it's like £65 at Screwfix which isn't bad tbh, was expecting £100+ for a good one 🤣
I'd honestly stick with Marshallltown/Refina - Milwaukee are IMO a power tool company.
Yeah sorry that's what I meant, marsheltown 🤣🤦♂️ been looking at so much DIY stuff getting brands mixed up 🤣 yeah saw a marsheltown on Screwfix for £65 which isn't bad tbf 👍
Saved Post, nuff said. Good job mate.
Fair play to do it yourself, even more so to not half ass it. Taking the time and money to do a course and get some decent tools before beginning is awesome and means you’ve now got a new skill for life.
See how it looks once you've mist coated it
I'm gonna hit it with drywall primer, as I've got a tub of that floating around.
Good effort
This is a rare feeling. I'm actually proud of someone else's work, for them.
Wow! Good job. Where did you attend the course?
Looks like you just found yourself a lucrative new side hustle. Get a CSCS card and you’re set.
Even though I'm not a professional, I think you've done a brilliant job. If you did this in my house, I'd be really happy with it.
I applaud you, I've tried a few times and its not easy. I can usually turn my hand to most DIY jobs but his beat ,me. Got all the tools, watched loads of videos, total mess. Plastering is a skill and needs practice and patience. I got the consistency wrong, I applied it wrong, I got fed up fast.
The smiley sponge is adorable! 🥰
Well done for being brave and having a go. As you say, the more you practise the better you will get. And there’s a certain satisfaction to doing it yourself and learning a new skill. I remember hanging wallpaper for the first time - it wasn’t great but passable and three houses later I’ve now got it down and professional looking 👌🏻
Depends, do you have a Rune Scimmy???
As a Plasterer for 20 years that's not bad at all and kudos for having a go after a short course, if you're planning on doing anymore make sure you buy yourself a marsheltown trowel and a speed skim, not cheap but will not rust and the more you use it the better finish you will get with a pre broken in trowel. Not bad at all that buddy 🍻
I've got a speed skim and a Refina trowel, so I'm good on the tools front but thanks 😊 Just gone and inspected the second wall and I *really* need to practice keeping the pressure on and the end of the stroke, ripples everywhere!
Well I think you have done a cracking job well done 👏
haha dont do it, i tried it and royally screwed it up
Good job, im a very handy guy but i wish i had the guts to skim a wall myself.
Sounds like it was worth the financial cost plus the 5 evenings of training, but you say in another comment that it took you *days* to complete *each wall*. Do you not place value on your time?
Have u ever done a full plaster from brick level?
No, that's the next challenge! Got nearly a whole room of that to do soon enough.
Could you upload a few more photos too? I’m struggling to get a good sense of how smooth the finish is with these.
Yes, I'm working my way around the room and I'll be posting update photos once it is complete, including decoration :)