I’ve wanted to build a house for years and if I did, plaster it. I got a price tonight of $1.05 per square foot. I have about 250 sheets.
I think it is worth it…………What is the opinion out there?
Thanks
Roy
I’ve wanted to build a house for years and if I did, plaster it. I got a price tonight of $1.05 per square foot. I have about 250 sheets.
I think it is worth it…………What is the opinion out there?
Thanks
Roy
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Replies
Are you talking blue board with skim coat , or real, real plaster ?
Why plaster? For the aesthetic value? Working on a house presently that the HO insists that plaster is smoother and has a harder finish...I agree with the harder finish part, (sound bounces off of it in a harsher way, too) but it seems (in our house anyway)to have an uneven surface...harder to patch than drywall, also. Not a plasterer, just prefer drywall.
Jen 8)
Can't imagine getting it for $1.05, but what do I know. As a plasterer I will say this, Drywall sucks and books can be written about why, and for not being flat, level or even has nothing to do with plaster and everything to do with who did the work. OK, I'm off my soapbox.
Don
If it were my house, I want plaster. Note the word "want" not "need".
Why? I don't know. Could it be because I want the real thing? It is like hardwood flooring. I want 3/4 tongue and groove, not laminate.
Tom
Check a recent job and OH MY GOD jump on it at that price for 3 coat or skim coat. We're paying $3-$5 here for the same. I love our plaster. Love the look and the hardness and the rest. A good finisher can slick it to almost a glaze.
This is for the three coat plaster............choice of four textures, smooth, figure eight, spray or the rough type. They also use a five foot staight edge on everything to make it all true. I think it is pricey but I've never seen drywall look good at 4:00 pm on a sunny afternoon.
Thanks
Roy
rupert... that sounds like labor only ..... we pay about $1.50 for matls & labor, blueboard, mesh, beads, and skim coatMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Yes, that is pretty much just for labor. I hang it and he takes it from there, cornerbead, tape and three coats.
I'm probably going to do as I really like how it looks and I have some very large ceilings which would look lousy drywalled.
Roy
>I hang it and he takes it from there, cornerbead, tape and three coats.
OK, now I'm confused. What are you hanging? Sounds like gypsum board. If that's the case, I've not heard of 3-coat on that. I've only seen 3-coat on lathe. On gypsum board (not talking about rock lathe, either) it's usually a veneer coat with something like Diamond Imperial One-Coat.
Either way, around these here parts (North Carolina), we'd kill for a price even double what you've been quoted.
Hi Rupert
Boy I like that part about "five foot straight edge"!
I recently had a guy thincoat plaster an enclosed porch for me -- an old-timer, came highly recommended by a contractor friend I respect. I specifically told this guy I wanted to have the plaster finished flush to the jambs, nice and flat, so that I could install stiff, wide casing & trim without the usual pain. That this is why I was spending the extra $$ on thincoat. Told him a few times I wanted it flush.
Well, when he told me he was done, the plaster wasn't flush in quite a few places. Recessed by as much as 1/16". He sure as the devil didn't use a 5-foot straight edge! I really had to press him to fix it. He told me it was ridiculous; that no one had complained about this before. Ultimately the job turned out fairly well, although things aren't as flat at the jamb corners as I'd like.
Is there any standard (or usual and customary level of quality) for flatness/flushness of thincoat? Any hard numbers -- flat within ___ in 12 inches or something? Having worked on some older homes (100+ years) it is obvious to me that the usual and customary practise at the time was to strike the plaster flush to jambs, square to the floor, square at corners. I would guess that at the time it was done, the plaster was flush with and flat to the jambs within 1/32" in 12". Would have made it a cakewalk to install wide, stiff trim.
In closing, I note this: I had the opportunity to watch some interior plasterers at work in southern Germany a few years ago -- finishing off aerated concrete block walls. They put up vertical metal guide bars at the corners of the rooms and would strike off THE WHOLE WALL at the one time!!! Can you imagine how easy it would be to install cabinets, shelving, etc?
Don't accept in your family, friends, or coworkers that which you would not tolerate in politicians, business leaders, or clergy.
My amt of experience with plaster doesn't come close to Mike Smith's and some others. However, I'm surprised to see big fluctuations in the thickness of veneer plaster. That goes on only 1/8" thick or so and with the number of times it's troweled, it's surprising that any depressions wouldn't be filled in. I've never seen a darby used on the veneer--the material is applied so thin that I'd think it would catch an edge too often. I've seen them used with 3 coat, especially with the brown coat to make sure there's a good level base for the final coat.
normal veneer here is about 1/8 or less... two coats.. but the first coat is just the joints..
if there were plaster grounds ( like the jambs ) my guys wouldn't have any trouble striking to them... most times there are no jambs.. because the extension jambs haven't been installed yet..
sometimes we use no casings .... just a sill and have tehm wrap the windows & doors.. nice clean lookMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
OK, I just never called taping the joints the first coat. That's "prep" in these here parts. Different words for the same thing. ita with your take on wrapping the windows and doors. Love that look.
Woody,
I'm not aware of a standard of flatness but during my conversation last night with my plaasterer he explained how he sets his corner bead and did mention the feathering in of the plaster thickness. He sets his cornerbead with all the nails sticking out a little and then uses a 8 foot straight edge and if the bead needs to move a hair either way he simply taps the nail that direction accordingly for a nice straight corner. This might be normal procedure but when we use to drywall a house during slow times we just put it on using our eye. He said the straight edge just makes it easier when applying chair rail or setting of the counter top.
Roy
Rup,
U.S. Gypsum makes a plaster product to which you can add color and goes on over dry wall in one coat (after bonder). Works well although color selection is limited.
Dickie
The US Gypsum product goes by the name DIFS (Decorative Interior Finish System), I believe.
The board is Kalcote ( spelling ?) It's slightly more than drywall but the plasterer said I can hang 4x8's as apposed to 4x12's. The joints don't bother him and also my ceiling height is 8' 4 1/2" which will have a joint down low and this also is no big deal to him. I'm having six arches plastered in. He has been highly reccomended for the 11 years I've lived here. I've seen about six of his jobs with all good results so I feel good about his quality of work. I alss could be mistaken on the three coats, it could be two, the basecoat and a finish coat.
Roy
Edited 1/24/2003 11:02:46 AM ET by RUPERT741
As a plasterer I have to say there have been some things written here that don't make any sense at all, but like I said, what do I know.
I will say USG's plaster can be tinted to any color that paint can be tinted to. Since plaster is not a base as in paint though, this does effect color.
Don
Speaking only for myself, if any of what I wrote doesn't wring true, please feel free to correct it. It's info that comes from watching plasterers specifically under my hire. But if methods or prices or terminology that you're familiar with differs from that, I would love to know.
Cloud,
Nope, don't see where you have said anything I disagree with. Like I implied though, not worth going into.
Fonzie,
It would be really hard to match the plaster, but for the most part, small dings and nicks are insignificant as the "color" is throughout the plaster. With USG's plaster, if and when you want to change color, you can paint over it. It's a pretty tame plaster.
Don
>>I will say USG's plaster can be tinted to any color that paint can be tinted to.
Don,
What if there is a "ding" in the job, say right in the middle of the living room (say, from moving or trimming).
Can you mix a small batch and spot it in- that will match?
don.. did you get to communicate with jean yet ?Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Mike,
No I didn't. Last I remember was you were going to hook us up after the holidays. Anyway, as I said in the email I want to pass this along to Pete as it's more his department.
Don