Replies

1. 
   Guest_ | Mar 29, 2000 07:36pm | #1

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   get a plasterer in to do a room , or the second floor, hang out and go to school....

   then go down in the basement and do some walls...have fun ...it's better than taping and drywall....

1. 
   Guest_ | Mar 30, 2000 12:45am | #2

   *Mike,

   Try posting your question to Brian Ewing.

   View Image © 1999-2000"The first step towards vice is to shroud innocent actions in mystery, and whoever likes to conceal something sooner or later has reason to conceal it." Aristotle

1. 
   Guest_ | Mar 30, 2000 04:50am | #3

   *Nothing beats taping! (God, just typing "taping" makes me snooze.)The http://www.usg.com site has application info for their products. I used a large wooden float and metal trowel to smooth the finish. Practice makes perfect ... especially because the white coat sets FAST. To be honest, I decided a kinda-knockdown finish looked better after getting aggravated enough trying to get it smooth.Search the archives, this has been discussed here many times before.

1. 
   Guest_ | Mar 31, 2000 06:24am | #4

   *To smooth, wet the plaster with a spray bottle, keep your trowel wet, and skim over the wall. The trick lies in timing the last stroke, and keeping a micro thin bead of water between the trowel and the wall. Use a metal trowel, and keep it as flat to the wall as you can. If you wait to long, you cannot affect the plaster. If you try to soon, you will end up wrinkling, overworking, gouging, or just messing up the plaster.And use the force.

2. 
   Chip_Tam | Mar 31, 2000 01:20pm | #5

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   I'm not a plasterer but I considered doing the walls in a new addition myself several years ago. I finally decided to hire the work out and am glad I did. I guess I agree with Mike Smith: hire the plasterers and watch closely. There really is an art to plastering. I also agree with Scott Davis. Timing is everything. The plasterers would add certain chemicals to either retard or speed up the drying depending upon the the season of the year, size of the job, and number of guys they had on the job. These plasterers used a sponge as the final step but they needed to do it at just the right moment as the plaster was setting up.

3. 
   Guest_ | Apr 05, 2000 04:11am | #6

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   I am a plasterer by trade and will tell you that if you are set on doing the diamond veneer finish by yourself....without any experience, you are in for a frustrating time. I encourage you to find a plasterer in your area, or scout out the trade unions and see if you can obtain information from a pro, or better yet, have a professional work on the project and you be the assistant and learn from them. Can't find a plasterer?...try calling on some Masons, especially stucco workers....ask around. I admire your ambition, but will tell you that plastering, especially white finish coating takes years of practice for a proper finish. may I recommend the book, Plastering Skill and Practice by Van Den Branden, & Knowles put out by the American Technical Society. This is the "bible" for the union plasterers. Look in Amazon Books on the Net and punch in Plastering techniques for finding it. Good luck.

1. 
   Guest_ | Apr 06, 2000 02:41am | #7

   *Would it be reasonable to have the owner/builder do everything up to the brown coat, and bring in the skilled professional plasterer only for the finish coat?-- J.S.

1. 
   Guest_ | Apr 06, 2000 01:02pm | #8

   *John, You may want to check with the plasterers to see how much they will deduct if you hang the blueboard yourself. In my case, they were only willing to deduct $700 on a $3,500 job and I decided to let them do it. I think that they may have underestimated the time it would take to hang the board since it took two guys two days to do it.

4. 
   hotsawdust | Apr 06, 2000 02:29pm | #9

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   I think it depends on the look you want. If the glass smooth, pro plasterer look is what you need, you have to hire someone. If you want a rougher, farmhouse plaster look, no problem to do it yourself. I have been doing my house and its so much more pleasant and better looking (to my eye anyway) than regular drywall.

5. 
   Guest_ | Apr 07, 2000 07:27am | #10

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   Based on recent experience cleaning up someone else's tracks, they may have had the right idea offering only $700 off -- fixing someone else's mistakes takes a LOT of time! (We wasted the last two days disassembling and reassembling a deck, when the job was to finish the pergola over it.) I would be pretty conservative too unless I knew the prep work would leave me ready to go.

   I agree with hotawdust. It would take me FOREVER to get a smooth finish -- so why try? Besides, i don't want anyone to mistake it for drywall!

6. 
   Michael_Cavatorta | Apr 07, 2000 11:42am | #11

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   I am trying my hand at veneer plaster over blue board in my new house. I have had a hard time getting infomation on technique and tips for plastering. Any plasterers out there willing to give me some pointers? I am planning on using the Diamond brand finish plaster but how do I get a smooth finish? Any help would be greatly appreciated. -Mike