My plastering has improved
1st October 2015

I plastered the last major internal wall yesterday: the wall adjacent to the staircase wall in our living room, which will in time be
occupied by a television and some rosewood shelves bearing nice ceramic pots. The
plastering of this wall has had to wait because the plaster has to meet the
panelling on the staircase wall in just the right place, so the panelling had
to go in first.

The preparation of the wall took some time, as usual. I
lined up the critical edge bead with the birch ply panels, cut out the holes
for the sockets, taped up the joins in the plasterboard, and made sure that
there were enough screws to keep the board stable on the wall. Plastering is
all about timing, so you don’t want to be distracted half way though because
something hasn’t been properly prepared.

I’m pleased with the result: the shadow gap next to the
panelling is spot on and the finished wall is smooth and free from blemishes that
might distract the eye from the Saturday afternoon zombie movie. I also quite
like the Friesian cow look but that's just a fleeting impression while it dries out.

I was then confronted by the quality of the plastering of the
adjoining wall, which looks out onto the garden. This was the first wall I
plastered, back in May. Having gained some confidence in plastering, I am now
in a position to admit that my first efforts were frankly a bit rubbish,
principally because I made too much use of a sponge when I should have been
using a wet trowel for the final finish. So I did it again, and sorted out the
window reveals while I was at it. Easy enough - but I better not make a habit of it or this project will never end.
Holy cow (Do...do you see what I did there? huh...huh? Genius.) anyway, Holy Cow! That shadow gap is perfection sir bloody hell!
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to look upon your first attempts at anything but I will say that as this home is the story of your journey through this process....do you really want to cover up the first few chapters? If they are good enough, I vote keep them.
Thanks Phill. I have no intention of hiding my early efforts but you're right they are a bit inaccessible. So I have introduced an archive on the right which should make everything easy to get to.
DeleteThanks for the feedback, as ever. Will