What tools do I need for plastering a wall

[ive]

Hi everyone. I have a wall at home that isn’t flush. I’d like to try and make it better.

this will be my first attempt at plaster. What do I need?

tips much appreciated.

 

[The Cobbler]

so you have dips & dives that you want to flatten out?
that can be a lot of work to get nice
I would probably use a 3' or so straight edge , find the low spots , put a coat of sandable 90 on them and use the straight edge to flush it off . several coats and you'll get it. then a skim coat on everything to fill voids , bubbles etc
I have a 30" knife that was used many times for that. haven't used it in years

 

[Shiftless]

Cobbler is giving you great advice. I wouldn’t do anything different.

 

[RTM]

Are we talking true plaster, or drywall?

 

[Bert_]

The wall isn't flush with what?

 

[Shiftless]

The wall isn't flush with what?

Good point. I was assuming the O.P. meant there were dips.
If there is a difference in levels next to another wall, perhaps an overlay of another sheet of drywall would be more appropriate.

 

[Bert_]

Is the issue that the wall is not flush? Or not flat?

 

[tarbellb]

Phone
Wallet
Beer

 

[ive]

Hi everyone.

thanks for responding. What I’m dealing with is plaster. There’s a area around the back door that’s just horribly done. I have taken pictures.

 

[ive]

The area other than the stairs is above the door. There’s a big bulge above the door.

 

[ive]

I can use the sandable 90 on plaster? Do I use a hawk or a trowel for that?

 

[billconner]

Would it be better to remove existing plaster, shim framing, and install new drywall or plaster? If rest of house is actually plaster, consider a veneer plaster system, like USGs Imperial. I used that in an old house and found it well worth it.

 

[Whitworth]

Would it be better to remove existing plaster, shim framing, and install new drywall or plaster? If rest of house is actually plaster, consider a veneer plaster system, like USGs Imperial. I used that in an old house and found it well worth it.

This ^^

That much surface area cannot be fixed with mud or plaster.

 

[EngineerNate]

That kind of stuff is pretty par for the course with plaster. It's over lathe that's not flat so most of the time the goal would have been to make it smooth rather than flat.

That said, you have options. As long as you keep a barrier between it and the new stuff (coat of primer) and you're not worried about historical accuracy, it's perfectly fine to fix it withb quickset drywall mud. Some lime plaster reacts badly to gypsum. Some does not. It's all more of a pain to deal with as a nonprofessional than gypsum based products.

I'd probably skim it with durabond 90 or the pro-form equivalent (brown bag) using a 12" flat trowel. Use a damp sponge to knock off any high or rough spots before it's fully cured, you don't want to have to sand the heavy stuff.

Then skim over that with pro form quick set lite 90 or 45, and sand that layer smooth. I like to use an orbital with a vacuum attached and the mesh sanding pads (the Diablo brand ones are great) to sand drywall. Cuts way down on the mess.

Top coat with USG First Coat, then a normal primer, then paint.

 

[wrenchguy]

Your gonna need a big can of moxie.

 

[EngineerNate]

This ^^

That much surface area cannot be fixed with mud or plaster.

 

[EngineerNate]

A bit of time and patience and you can get pretty decent results even on big areas, even as an amateur.

Would have been less work to pull the trim and put a layer of 1/4" drywall up though.

 

[ive]

Would it be better to remove existing plaster, shim framing, and install new drywall or plaster? If rest of house is actually plaster, consider a veneer plaster system, like USGs Imperial. I used that in an old house and found it well worth it.

I’d love to do it new, but I’m worried this will make it a even bigger job

 

[ive]

That kind of stuff is pretty par for the course with plaster. It's over lathe that's not flat so most of the time the goal would have been to make it smooth rather than flat.

That said, you have options. As long as you keep a barrier between it and the new stuff (coat of primer) and you're not worried about historical accuracy, it's perfectly fine to fix it withb quickset drywall mud. Some lime plaster reacts badly to gypsum. Some does not. It's all more of a pain to deal with as a nonprofessional than gypsum based products.

I'd probably skim it with durabond 90 or the pro-form equivalent (brown bag) using a 12" flat trowel. Use a damp sponge to knock off any high or rough spots before it's fully cured, you don't want to have to sand the heavy stuff.

Then skim over that with pro form quick set lite 90 or 45, and sand that layer smooth. I like to use an orbital with a vacuum attached and the mesh sanding pads (the Diablo brand ones are great) to sand drywall. Cuts way down on the mess.

Top coat with USG First Coat, then a normal primer, then paint.

Thank you. I’m thinking of trying this.

 

[ive]

A bit of time and patience and you can get pretty decent results even on big areas, even as an amateur.

Would have been less work to pull the trim and put a layer of 1/4" drywall up though.

Looks great!

 

[ive]

Thanks so much everyone.

 

[Whitworth]

I'll go out on a limb and say that guy is at a different skill level than the OP.

The OP case he's not just skimming over, he's also building up a thickness to bring the plaster into a different plane. That means alot of coats and alot of shrinkage.

The OP will probably make a mess.

 

[EngineerNate]

Agreed it's a more challenging problem, but the area isn't the limiting factor, most of what I was getting at with the video.

That guy's a pro, I found the video in a discussion of skim coating on a pro drywaller forum months back when I was going to be doing more work on my house.

In any case, if the other option is tear it all out and start over, the only harm in trying to flatten it with skim coating is wasted time and a few dollars in materials. Hot mud powder is cheap.

Setting/hot muds don't shrink nearly as much as all purpose taping compound. Doing work like this with the latter would be a disaster.

For little home repairs I almost exclusively use hot mud because it's so much faster and the powder keeps a very long time if you put the bag in a cool dry place.

Cheers,
Nathan

 

[billconner]

I’d love to do it new, but I’m worried this will make it a even bigger job

I don't know. I don't think you'll get to "level" more easily, and if you ever hang a picture I'd worry about larger pieces of just mud breaking loose. If you can live with smooth, go at it with joint compound and live with the non-flat.

 

[EngineerNate]

Looks great!

Thanks! It was an enormous amount of effort and time. In hindsight I'd have paid someone a few hundred bucks to do the demo and tear out and just put drywall up myself. Not sure it would have been messier.

That said, it was in a utility closet and doing that job gave me the skills and confidence to tackle parts of the house that are much more public so on the whole I call it a win.

 

[slowtwitch73]

You're going about it all wrong.

It's charming character.

Job done.

 

[Bert_]

Hi everyone.

thanks for responding. What I’m dealing with is plaster. There’s a area around the back door that’s just horribly done. I have taken pictures.

A piece of shoe mould would fix that first area very easily.

The top of the door casing I wouldn't worry about much. It a back door after all and most wouldn't even notice.

 

[The Cobbler]

This ^^

That much surface area cannot be fixed with mud or plaster.

I respectfully disagree.

 

[dscheidt]

This ^^

That much surface area cannot be fixed with mud or plaster.

Nonsense. If you can find (and afford) a good professional, they can be done in less time than it takes to demo it. That's a big if in many areas, where texture is used on everything because the drywallers are so bad.

 

[wrenchguy]

OP, you know what plaster grounds are? Sometimes called strikes or screeds?

 

[Whitworth]

Nonsense. If you can find (and afford) a good professional, they can be done in less time than it takes to demo it. That's a big if in many areas, where texture is used on everything because the drywallers are so bad.

You're nonsense. We're not talking about ornamental plaster work. Or a wall that's even worth the effort or expense in learning how to spread mud.

We're talking about a post where the OP says "this will be my first attempt at plaster. What will I need?"

Encouraging him to start smearing mud all over the wall will end in more work than necessary and demo in the end.

To hire it out leads to the issue of too big a job for a handyman and too small a job for a drywall crew.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

My first houe was plaster. I'd bet that some areas of yours the plaster has fallen or pulled away from the lath. I had that on a few walls. My solution was to pull down teh loose plaster and replace with drywall and a skim coat of plaster.

 

[ive]

OP, you know what plaster grounds are? Sometimes called strikes or screeds?

No I do not.

 

[danski0224]

This ^^

That much surface area cannot be fixed with mud or plaster.

Ha.

I recently watched a plaster crew skim hundreds of square feet of old wall with new white coat.

They put some sort of pink bonding agent on the old brown coat and went to town.

Saw a few long screed boards (or whatever they are called) to level it out.

Most of it looked pretty damn good when they were done.

The objective with plaster or drywall is the appearance of perfection. Much of it isn't when you look closely.

 

[ive]

gentlemen, you now have me thinking of ripping the plaster down and putting dry wall up.

I’ve never done this before. Am I crazy to attempt?

 

[danski0224]

gentlemen, you now have me thinking of ripping the plaster down and putting dry wall up.

I’ve never done this before. Am I crazy to attempt?

It'll make a HUGE mess.

Plaster + wood lath is approximately 1.25" thick (this can vary). You will have to shim the wall to make the drywall finish in the same place as the plaster.

 

[billconner]

I've done a lot of that through 2 old houses. A lot of variables I don't know but compared to building up an inch or more, I think I'd do the demo and new drywall - 5/8 always. It will be a lot of very fine dust so lots of plastic and a box fan in a window, sweeping compound, shop vac, etc.

I may have missed it but is the existing plaster tight to studs?

Can you not live with a smooth non-planar wall? Just looking at all the options.

 

[Bert_]

gentlemen, you now have me thinking of ripping the plaster down and putting dry wall up.

I’ve never done this before. Am I crazy to attempt?

The plaster looks in good shape so I would say yes, crazy to tear that out.

I have to ask. Why so worried about this wall? I still think a simple piece of moulding would fix the gap and nobody will even notice.

 

[EngineerNate]

It'll make a HUGE mess.

Plaster + wood lath is approximately 1.25" thick (this can vary). You will have to shim the wall to make the drywall finish in the same place as the plaster.

Can confirm on the mess and the thickness difference. We had two closets demoed of all plaster (extensive water damage). It was a huge amount of work and the guys that did it were filthy. I ran HEPA filters in the rooms and had a box fan pointing out the window for hours afterwards.

When we refinished, we didn't shim the wall. We reframed all but one of the walls "inside" the old on everything but the exterior wall and just ate the 3.5" loss. On one wall we were able to frame with the 2x4s "flat" to reduce the space used.

The original walls weren't framed with sheetrock work in mind. They weren't plumb or flat in any sense. A 4' level placed across each had quarter inch+ gaps.

The closets were so non-functional before the slight size reduction was worth it to create something usable. We added a ton of insulation while we had the walls open, fixed the knee wall attic venting situation, and added lights in both.

One warning to OP--if you open up old plaster walls, be prepared to fix anything that's not to code inside if you're having licensed people do the work.

 

[scooby074]

I think youre in Van arent you, but I might be crossing you with someone else.? Try looking up Vancouver Carpenter on youtube. AFAIK he's still actively working in the city. He does lots of work like that. He also fixes a lot of homeowner mistakes lol. It definitely can be flattened by someone using the right materials and tools. Probably not a good first try though. Watch a few of VC's videos, they'll tell you all you need to know, but you likely will make things worse without practice..