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Posts Tagged ‘plastering quote<’
Posted in Plastering & Drywall on Jul 25
Once you have installed two drywalls meeting at right angles to each other, you are going to need to finish the join where they meet at the ceiling, using flexible correctly mitred cornice lengths. Cornice (or coving) of course comes in many shapes and sizes and is even available in easy-to-use light-weight polystyrene these days. This attention to detail will not only finish off the job nicely, it covers up ugly gaps and imperfections too. 
What You’ll Need
- Sandpaper
- Jointing compound to bond the cornice
- Putty knife
- Cleaning cloth
- Suitable lengths of cornice with correct mitre angle
Although not a difficult job, we are of course assuming that your drywalls are in place and that it’s just a matter of adding the ceiling trim to hide the gaps and join-lines.
Been There, Done That!
Fred is one of our long-standing London plasterers, and he always cringes when he receives an enquiry to quote on a plastering job that’s a botch up. While Fred appreciates that there are a number of very able-bodied DIY-types around, he also knows that finishing the gaps where wall meets ceiling is a skill that takes time to master.
Finishing First
You’ll need to smooth any rough edges on the drywall sheets by sanding them finely. Then, wipe the area with a damp cloth to remove the dust and dirt. Allow the surfaces to dry thoroughly.
Time to Glue 
Read the instructions on the bonding agent carefully and then apply as required to the inward-face of the cornice. Remember to run the glue right across the corner – that’s where the two cornice lengths will interlock neatly.
Mounting the Cornice
After observing any recommended waiting time for the bonding agent to dry, mount the cornice in position and press down gently across the full length. Wipe off any surplus glue. Once the glue has dried, you can fine-sand the surface prior to painting.
Call in the Experts
Here at Mr-Skill we fully understand that not everybody is DIY-minded, and may very well need professional help with such jobs. No problem at all, because that is the name of our game. So, rather find a plasterer with minimum fuss, and the good news is that we have some eye-catching specials running right at this moment too. You could even get as much as 30% off, but hurry!
Tags: bonding compound, ceiling, clean, cornice, dirt, drywalls, dust, find a plasterer, gaps, glue, london plasterer, mitre, paint, plaster, plastering quote, rough edges, smooth, specials, wall
Posted in Plastering & Drywall | Comments Off
Newly installed drywall panels provide a flat wall surface, which is suitable for hanging wallpaper or painting after plastering, depending on your preference. Here, we are describing plastering itself, which is an essential step. If you do not feel confident, to do this yourself, rather find a plasterer through Mr-Skill. If you go ahead though, it is essential that you apply the dry wall compound in precise steps, in order to obtain the smoothest finish.
What You’ll Need 
Drywall plaster mix
Drywall tape mesh
Drywall tape tools
Respirator (facemask)
Non-slip drop cloths
Tips and Cautions
Remember you could also get a plastering quote from one of our craftspeople on Mr-Skill.
Use non-slip cloths to cover floors before plastering, and tape up door and window frames to prevent fine dust from infiltrating the rest of your home.
Apply several thin coats of plaster mix rather than one thick layer to avoid lumping.
When sanding down after the final plaster application, be sure to wear a facemask.
STEPS
1. Cover each seam on the drywall panel with the self-adhesive mesh tape, and avoid tape overlap where the vertical and horizontal joints meet.
2. Use a trowel to pack the plaster through the mesh and into the seams. Don’t forget to cover screw holes carefully in the panels.
3. Gently scrape off excess plaster while it is still wet, using a trowel.
4. Leave the plaster coat to dry properly, and then sand off any high points with a drywall sander.
5. Apply a second coat and repeat the process per the above guidelines.
6. Sand the final plaster with fine-grit paper and wipe clean. Apply a coat of plaster primer paint. Once this is dry, you are ready to paint.
One of our London plasterers has built and plastered more walls than he cares to remember, but he can never resist the look of satisfaction on the clients face when he completes yet another successful job.
Tags: coats, drop cloths, dry, drywall, drywall tape, find a plasterer, fine sand, london plasterer, paint, plaster mix, plastering quote, sand, sander, seam'trowel, skim, smooth finish, tape mesh, wallpaper, wet
Posted in Plastering & Drywall, Project Advice | Comments Off
Posted in Plastering & Drywall on Jan 26
From time to time we find jobs posted in the wrong category on Mr-Skill. When this happens, we duplicate the listings in more appropriate categories. Plasterers are a case in point because decorators  attend to damaged plasterwork. We decided to clear up the confusion, and make it simpler to Find a Plasterer here.
The main job of plasterers is to mix, and then apply various types of plaster on internal walls and ceilings. From time to time they also coat outside walls with sand / cement render, pebble-dash, and stone-effects. Notice that plasterers do their work in bulk, and that there’s little point in asking for a Plastering Quote where it’s just a small repair.
Within these broad brush strokes, plasterers generally work in one of the following three sub-disciplines:
- Solid Plastering – Applying wet finishes to interior walls and ceilings, and sometimes pebble-dashed effects on outside walls
 Fibrous Plastering – Creating ornamental cornices and ceiling roses using special plaster reinforced with fibre
- Dry Lining – Installing interior drywalls on frames, for others to decorate later.
Larger firms, especially Plasterers in London may take on all three kinds of work.
Plasterers earn their wings in two different ways. Some learn by watching others and develop skills suited for straightforward jobs. The better ones hold qualifications like the City & Guilds (6217) Certificate in Basic Construction Skills (Plastering). It’s important to understand the difference in qualifications when assessing the quality of Plastering Quotes. This information is provided by Mr-Skill.
Tags: apply, ceiling, City and Guilds, cornice, damage, decorator, dry, dry lining, dry wall, drywall, exterior, fibrous, find a plasterer, interior, internal, mix, outside, painter, pebble dash, plaster, plasterer, plasterers in london, plastering quote, plasterwork, rose, solid, wall, wet
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Posted in Plastering & Drywall on Dec 05
After a builder installs a window, or a window fitter replaces one, there’s usually a gap between the window and the wall on either side. Experienced London Plasterers know how to close this in with rendering. In this article though, we focus on a more modern  technique that uses strips of plasterboard instead
This job is nominally within the target range of anybody who is good with their hands. It does require a fair degree of patience though, and those with delicate chests might prefer to avoid doing it on account of dust. Should you decide to go ahead yourself, then these are the essential steps:
- Cut sufficient strips of plasterboard to complete the job. lf the gap is deep, consider using several layers of board as opposed to balancing a single one on large blobs of glue, and being able to finish off the job immediately. When discussing Plastering Quotes you receive on Mr-Skill with bidders, find out how they propose to the job too.
- Apply proprietary dry-wall adhesive to the brickwork on one side of the window. Push a
 plasterboard strip into place using a square edge and spirit level to keep it true.
- Add further layers of strips using the same proprietary dry-wall adhesive, until you have built up to the desired level and flush with the window frame.
- Repeat the process on the other side. Now you can add the angle beading where your work interfaces with the wall, tidy up generally and redecorate.
Of course the third method would be to Find a Plasterer on Mr-Skill, and get on with something else that you’d prefer to do instead. We select contractors with extra-special care, to make sure that each and every trades person we introduce is the best.
To benefit from their expertise and brilliantly lower prices, all you need to do is to Post Your Job for free!
Tags: adhesive, angle, angle beading, bead, brickwork, builder, decorate, dust, find a plasterer, finish, flush, gap, glue, layer, level, london plasterers, new, patience, plaster board, plasterboard, plastering quote, process, push, repeat, replace, square, strip, tidy, wall, window, window fitter
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Posted in Plastering & Drywall on Aug 09
After you remove outdated paneling from a room you may be horrified with what you find. This is especially likely to be the case if it was fitted over raw brickwork to save time and money. In this case you probably have  no choice but to Find a Plasterer at Mr-Skill. Here’s short description in layperson’s terms of what you are entitled to expect.
o Plaster has a way of getting into everything and is designed to stick to most things too. So do yourself a huge favour first. Present the plasterer with a few rolls of blue painter’s tape and a pair of sharp scissors you won’t mind spoiling. Then ask them to mask their work area off thoroughly before they start. Make sure their drop sheets are firmly taped into position too.
o Expect them to start plastering at the top of the wall and to work down. There are several reasons for this, including not messing on the work they have just done.  The first layer will have a rough finish to it but don’t worry – it’s just the base coat.
o An experienced London Drywall Builder may be able to apply the second plaster layer later the same day, while others may prefer to return the following morning. The job of this coat is to fill in all the hollows in the base coat. This may be sufficient, or a third final skim coat may be necessary.
After the plaster has dried out thoroughly you could finish off any imperfections with a light sanding. After that, it’s time to seal, undercoat and paint. It’s not as easy a job as it sounds though. May we recommend a few competitive Plastering Quotes on Mr-Skill instead? You may find that the extra cost was well worth your while, as you visualise what you had there before. Now how’s that for a fairly radical improvement.
Tags: base, brickwork, coat, drop sheet, dry, find a plasterer, finish, imperfection, job, layer, london drywall builder, mask, mess, money, paint, panel, plaster, plastering quote, raw, rough, sand, scissors, seal, skim, start, stick, tape, time, top, undercoat, work
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Posted in Plastering & Drywall on May 31
In days gone past plastering over exterior walls was popular because it covered crooked surfaces and helped with waterproofing too. It is less popular these days though, because it is labour-intensive to  maintain as opposed to face-bricks. If you own an older home then you may also own one with exterior plastered walls. In this case the chances are that these will need repairing from time to time, meaning that you could need to Find a Plasterer.
Stucco Plaster otherwise known as Rendering was commonly used during the 19th Century when it was composed primarily of lime. These days cement is more often used to apply one of several different qualities of finish:
o Common Stucco aims to produce a surface that is as smooth and even as possible
o Rough Stucco is more uneven and is scribed with lines to imitate bricks or stonework
o  Stucco may also be dyed with pigments to produce a permanently tinted effect. Great care must be taken when mixing to ensure a consistent hue.
RoughCast or Pebbledash is a cruder external plastering solution that requires a lower skill level and is cheaper to apply.
o In DryDash, pebbles or gravel are pressed into wet plaster to create a rustic effect.
o WetDash uses a slightly different technique whereby a mixture of aggregate and plaster is towelled over as a top coat.
Before choosing between Plastering Quotes make sure that you know what the contractor envisages, and ask to see samples of similar work previously done. Plastering is an art-form that develops through experience, not just after training.
Tags: aggregate, brick, cement, common, dye, experience, find a plasterer, gravel, hue, lime, line, maintain, pebble, pebbledash, pigment, plaster, plasterer london, plasterer quote, plastering job London, plastering quote, render, repair, roughcast, rustic, sample, scribe, smooth, stone, stucco, surface, tint, trowel, uneven, waterproof
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Posted in Plastering & Drywall on May 17
When people built new homes in days gone past, especially right after the Second World War ended they seldom realised how long their work would last. Walls were not quite as damp-proof  as they are today, and plaster mixes were not quite as adhesive either. The result is often mouldy cracking rendering falling off in places. Where this is bad, the whole lot must come off so that you can Find a Plasterer to start all over again.
o Proper preparation is half the battle won when it comes to applying rendering, and this is why some tradespersons will not even quote for Plastering Jobs in London until the old covering is chipped away. They know of many possible sins beneath the surface that may even double the time a plastering job can take.
o First cover the floor from edge to edge with a tarpaulin or thick plastic sheet, and tape this thoroughly in position. Large pieces of rendering may come down in single pieces, and you need to protect the floor. Moreover the last thing you need to hear is the sound of something scrunching beneath the sheet directly on a polished surface.
o  Take safety precautions before you start. Wear eye and face protection to avoid harmful chips and dust. Wear heavy duty gloves and boots and make sure that your tools are in good order too.
o Start at the top of a wall and have a plan of what to do if a large section or rendering comes loose. Work slowly and carefully making sure that you remove all remnants as you go along. If you do not, then you will have the worst bit left over just as you thought that you had finished.
After the last piece of plaster is removed you can tidy up and get Plastering Quotes from Mr-Skill, secure in the knowledge that your preparation is good, and that you have saved yourself a tidy sum of money, hopefully had some fun and learned a few new useful tricks and skills along the way.
Tags: adhesive, boot, build, built, careful, chip, cover, crack, damp, dust, eye, face, find, find a plasterer, flake, floor, glove, hide, job, plan, plaster, plasterer london, plasterer quote, plastering job London, plastering quote, plastic, preparation, prepare, protect, quote, render, sheet, slow, surface, tarpaulin, time
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Posted in Plastering & Drywall on May 02
While ordinary cement-based plaster is for keeping rain off outside, fibrous plastering is decorative and normally applied on walls and ceilings inside buildings.  It has been in use at least since 7,500 BC, when Jordanian people used lime from shells to decorate their homes. More recently, that great tradition the City Hall had ornate ceilings decorated in a similar way. Already in those days, it was not always easy to Find a Plasterer with the exceptional skills required for masterpieces like these.
While Fibrous Plasterers continue to use traditional tools like laths, floats, trowels, hawks and scratching tools they have also made adaptations as new materials arrived. This means that trowels are available in polycarbonate, and that floats are finished off with a layer of expanded polystyrene, or even foam.
 The plaster itself is a combination of lime, sand, ox-hair and water in proportions that vary according to the job in hand. The hair from oxen is half the secret – it serves as the binding medium that stops wet plaster from sliding off. Remember this when evaluating Plasterer Quotes. While a Plasterer from London such as you could find on Mr-Skill would never dream of it, other plasterers may try to get away with cheaper alternatives.
These days, the base coat most commonly applied is on interior dry walls and ceilings, to cover studs and seams. These may then be painted, unless the customer requires a specialized textured finish such as artex detailing. A fibrous plasterer none the less takes great pride in the quality of their work, although few these days may even dream of producing a great work of art.
Tags: artex, celing, cement, decorative, fibros, fibrous, find a plasterer, foam, hair, hawk, lath, lime, ornate, oxhair, plaster, plasterer london, plasterer quote, plastering job London, plastering quote, polycarbonate, polystyrene, sand, scratch, seam, stud, texture, toll, trowel, wall, water
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Posted in Plastering & Drywall on Apr 19
Drywall, sometimes also called Gypsum Board or Plasterboard consists of a sheet of Gypsum plaster pressed between two  thick paper sheets. Cheapness, ease of use and the ideal base-finish it provides has made drywall the norm for almost all interior walls and ceilings in houses and offices built in the United Kingdom these days.
While it is tempting to Find a Plasterer on Mr-Skill to apply the final finishing coat, this is also something that handy people can attempt themselves, provided they have piles of patience, and more to spare.
o Apply a suitable primer as advised by the Gypsum Board manufacturer.
o Wet the hawk (the board on a short pole used to transport the plaster to the job) and centre a reasonable blob of plaster mix on it.
o Take some plaster on your plastering float and put it on the wall with upward sweeping motions.  Concentrate on getting the material to stick. When you have the hang of it, add more plaster, smoothing out as you go along to achieve an even coat an eighth- to a sixteenth-inch thick.
o After it has dried off completely, finish with an orbital sander. Then patch-in and refinish, until you have achieved the standard you had in mind.
o Finish off with undercoat and topcoat if desired. If you got everything right, then you can stand proud with any Plasterer in London, because what you have just completed is not an easy job.
At Mr-Skill, we like to encourage homeowners to explore their potential and discover previously unknown skills. At the very least, now that you know how to plaster drywall yourself, you will be able to assess the Plastering Quotes you get from us effectively.
Tags: adhere, board, ceiling, cheap, dry, drywall, easy, find a plasterer, finish, float, gypsum, hawk, home, house, office, paper, plaster, plasterboard, plasterer london, plasterer quote, plastering job London, plastering quote, prime, sand, sander, sheet, smooth, stick, topcoat, undercoat, wall
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Posted in Plastering & Drywall on Apr 05
Plain ceilings are very boring these days. Developers Find  Plasterers to pep-up their shrinking houses with decorative cornices and roundels to conceal their small size. As a result, these have become fashionable and many people with older houses would like to follow suit. You can even apply one to an artex ceiling if you are skilful. The especially nice thing about a job like this is that modern ceiling roundels are so relatively cheap.
o The trick to attaching a ceiling rose (as roundels are sometimes called) is to affix them to a smooth surface. Hence, if you have an artex ceiling you will need to first level up with fibrous plaster where the roundel is going to go. This does not have to cover the entire area – an even 80% spread is sufficient. This job is not easy though, and you may like to Find a Plasterer on Mr-Skill to do it for you.
o Remove any existing light fitting and insulate the wires carefully. If you are in any doubt, Mr-Skill can recommend an Electrician to do this safely for you.
o  Apply a generous supply of no-more-nails or similar on the reverse of the roundel, slip it over the electric wires, and press it to the ceiling with a twisting motion. It should adhere nicely, in which case leave it alone for 24-hours. If not, hold it in place with masking tape twisted around the electric wires, and taped to the ceiling too.
o The next day seal around the roundel with a flexible white acrylic filler. If applicable, reinstall the light fitting after first turning off the mains.
I have seen the most wonderful finishing touches applied to roses by Plasterers in London. There are literally no ceilings to the possibilities, especially when matched to an appropriate light fitting. Just imagine how an neat idea like this could enhance your lifestyle, and add value to your house.
Tags: acrylic, artex, ceiling, cornice, electric fitting, fibrous plaster, fill, filler, find a plasterer, finish, glue, insulate, masking tape, plasterer london, plasterer quote, plastering job London, plastering quote, remove, rose, roundel, seal, skim, smooth, touch
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