Before beginning any plastering task, it is important to take into consideration the following advice and methods for good job preparation, especially if you are just starting out in the field of plastering. 1. Pick your location: if you are just starting out as a plasterer, you could find it more convenient to begin in a spare bedroom that already has a bad finish that can only be improved upon. This will significantly lessen the amount of tension that you are experiencing. It is important to keep in mind that you may plaster skim the walls as many times as you desire, which means that you can always go back and fix a work that isn’t ideal later on as you improve. Plastering is mostly a function of the individual’s level of self-assurance, and it is possible that you would choose to begin in a low-pressure situation before taking on your own walls for the very first time. You need not be concerned about this, however, since if you have a solid plastering course to follow, you will discover that this is not a steep learning curve, and you will be astonished at how well your first results turn out. Keep in mind that having the courage to do what we at mastering plastering refer to as the “golden formula” and following it to the letter is responsible for ninety percent of the plastering process. Make sure there is a sufficient supply of water: if cleanliness is the next most important thing after godliness, then plastering is the holy trade! If you ask any plasterer any question, they will all tell you the same thing: make sure that your equipment is extremely clean, and more importantly, clean as you go. It is quite likely that you have seen that mixed plaster hardens extremely quickly and sets in a very hard manner. Because dried plaster adheres like stone, you need to clean thoroughly and continuously as you go along. You might have visions of washing dried plaster off buckets and equipment after you have finished your job, or you might leave it until tomorrow. However, believe me when I say that you should not do either of those things. This is due to the following reasons: * Plaster is much easier to remove when it is wet. * Plastering equipment will typically need to be replaced if it is not cleaned off with water before it dries. This can be an expensive and wasteful process. * Any flecks of dried plaster that are present in your buckets or on your equipment from previous sessions will eventually break off and contaminate subsequent batches of plaster. * contamination in new batches of plaster can result in the drying time of plaster being adversely affected, as you will learn, and this will cause chaos when applying the “golden formula” as used by the majority of plasterers. * contaminated plaster cannot be used and will need to be disposed of, which will cost time and money. * This can be a disaster because these little gremlins will cause streaks or “pulls” in your finish, which will cause you to experience endless frustration and poor results. Messy procedures result in shoddy work, which in turn leads to dissatisfied consumers. A competent craftsman is one who maintains order. You are going to want a sufficient quantity of clean, fresh water in order to guarantee a clean job. On some construction sites, where there is no connection to flowing water, this may be a difficulty. Additionally, since plaster and plasterers may be dirty, you should try to avoid utilizing your own kitchen sink or the kitchen sink of your customers whenever it is practicable to do so. Be sure to note that plaster may clog drains, therefore you should avoid flushing too much plaster slurry down the pipes. Fill plenty of buckets with water in preparation for mixing and washing, and remember that plaster can block drains. Because we have not yet talked about understanding plumbing, you should dispose of water that is contaminated with plaster down a major outside drain rather than a sink drain. In particular, make sure that your buckets and trowel are constantly clean, and while you are mixing plaster, make sure that you only use water that is completely clean. The general guideline is that you should not use anything for making plaster if you wouldn’t drink it. When mixing plaster, you should never use anything else than pure and very fresh water. In the event that you do not, your plaster will “go off” (that is, set) too rapidly, and it will be necessary to dispose of it. Therefore, as a general rule, you should never use plaster that is deteriorating; plaster is inexpensive, so you should get rid of it and start again. Additionally, you should never use plaster that is contaminated with anything. 3. Make sure you give yourself enough time to complete the task. Plastering really moves along much more quickly than many people thought it would, but it is still a process that needs time. As a result of the fact that you will be spending a significant portion of your time preparing and cleaning up, plastering is not the type of activity that you can devote a few minutes here and there. In order to make up for the time it takes to mix the plaster, cover and finish your wall or walls, and then clean and tidy up afterward, you actually need to devote at least three to four hours to the task. Plastering should take at least two to three hours, which is the amount of time necessary for a standard wall for a novice. Additionally, you should allow one hour for setting up and cleaning up after the plastering process. In order to give you an idea, it is possible for you to go home from work at night and make some progress on your walls soon after you have finished eating supper; but, you should anticipate having to wash your gear around midnight. Don’t let me stop you from doing it because, hey, it’s better than watching television. If you are a complete novice, you should give yourself a whole weekend to complete a room. This will give you the opportunity to get everything done. In the first place, you should make sure that you have planned out the plastering work. My recommendation is that you do not take on more than you are capable of doing. When I teach the steps of the golden formula and how it works in my class, I explain that plastering is always a race against the clock. I also explain that it is always a race against time. Therefore, if you are just starting out, you should not attempt to plaster an entire room at the same time (that is, you should try to work on all four walls at the same time). This will quickly turn what should be a satisfying job into a less than satisfactory experience in which nothing is completed to a satisfactory level. Until someone who is just starting off, I would recommend beginning with only one surface at a time, and you are free to save the bigger walls for the very end. Everyone who works in plastering is aware of precisely what they want to accomplish on a given day and makes preparations appropriately. It is important to remember that you should never bite off more than you can chew since you will rapidly choke if you do so. As soon as you begin plastering and are working through the golden formula, you will not have enough time to leave the job long enough to nip out for more materials. Therefore, before you begin, you should make sure that you have gone through the equipment checklist and that you have sufficient plaster for the job. Last but not least, a word of caution: if you are plastering anywhere near an electrical outlet, switch, light fitting, or appliance, you should always be sure to cut off the mains electricity. The majority of mixed plaster is composed of water, and as you are probably aware, the combination of water and electricity is a potentially fatal one. Before beginning any plastering work, it is usually a good idea to consult with a construction surveyor and an electrician who are both trained in their respective fields.
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