How To Plaster A Plasterboard Wall

Tools Needed

Step Ladders or a Crate, Mixing Bucket, Standard Bucket x 2, Mixing Drill, Finishing Trowel, Plasterers Hawk, Bucket Trowel, 2inch Brush, Large Brush, Spray Bottle. 

Materials Needed

Plaster, Scrim Tape, Clean Water. 

Step 1 : Preparing your Wall

Ensure all the joints of your plasterboards and screw holes are covered nicely with the scrim tape. As a rule, try to make sure you don’t overlap the scrim tape in any one place. If you intend on plastering the adjoining walls or if you have internal corners on your stud wall you should run scrim tape in these areas ensuring you have a nice even span of tape on each surface. If you have any boards that are damaged or have large gaps, we advise using an undercoat plaster, like bonding to fill these voids. once the bonding has dried, scrim tape this area and then apply some PVA glue. Keep to the same ratio as above. 

 

Step 2 : Mixing the Plaster

So your wall is prepared and ready to go. The next step is mixing your plaster. To start make sure the water and your bucket are both clean, then fill your mixing bucket just below the half way mark. Now fill one of the standard buckets to around the half way mark. This will be used as your wash bucket. Whether you’re using a mixing drill or mixing paddle its best to wet these before you start mixing. This will stop the plaster sticking to them and help to mix the plaster more efficiently. Now to mix the plaster up. It would be useful at this point if you could perhaps get someone to aid you. If you managed to get some help then you should mix while they pour the plaster or the other way around. Try not to pour the plaster in too fast. You should mix the plaster until it’s nice and creamy, not too runny but not too thick. Once you’re comfortable you have added the right amount of plaster, you should scrape your bucket trowel around the inside of the bucket to remove any excess plaster and then give one final spin. Now it’s best you clean off your drill in the wash bucket (just the paddle). 

Step 3 : Applying the First Coat of Plaster

Now that your plaster is mixed make sure you wet your hawk and trowel. To apply the plaster to the wall with your trowel you should have one edge on the wall and tilt your trowel at around a 10 degree angle, spreading the plaster with nice long strides, try not to overload your trowel with too much plaster though. Now for the first coat of plaster. With your bucket trowel, place around two dollops of plaster on your hawk. If your right handed (if left handed then reverse these steps) you should start from the top left of your wall, working your way to the right, ensuring you give it a nice even spread and going roughly half way down. When you have covered your top half, repeat this process with the bottom half until the whole wall is covered. Any plaster left over should be removed from the bucket and cleaned along with the hawk and trowel. 

Step 4 : Flatten in the Plaster

Now you have completely covered your wall, you should flatten the plaster in. This is fairly simple. Again, start from the top left and work your way to the right, taking long strides both across and down with your trowel. Repeat this for the bottom half. Your wall should now look fairly smooth and line free. 

Step 5 : Applying the Second Coat

The trick here is not to let the plaster go off too much but not to go again too early. Once you feel it’s ready for the second coat, repeat steps 3 & 4. This time try to make sure this coat is smoother and that you have completely covered your first coat. Once done, clean your bucket and tools again. 

Step 6 : Troweling up your Wall

This is basically the same as flattening in, just this time you’re adding a bit more pressure to your trowel and applying water as you do this. First you should fill your other standard bucket around half way mark with clean water. With the clean water, use your 2” brush to brush your corners in. Once you have done all the corners, it’s time to trowel up. As before, you should start from the left and work to the right. This time, before each stride, either spray a little water from your spray bottle, or using your large brush, flick some water on the targeted area. You should repeat this step a minimum of three times. 

Step 7 : Hard Trowel (polishing up)

The final thing to do is to polish the wall with a hard cross trowel without any water. From left to right, angle the trowel and keep the front of the trowel about 25mm / 1inch away from the wall then apply a good amount of pressure and start trowelling up again as you did before in the previous step. Carry this task out two times over the whole wall and you will see a lovely shine. That's it - job done! 

All Tools and Materials can be purchased through www.tradessupermarket.com