spots where it has gone in to hard

by daniel
(chester)

hi paul,

i seem to be having a problem when im troweling my second coat in the final stages of troweling in some parts of the plaster (little holes) it seems to of either sucked in to much and pulled in more then the other plaster and leaves a slight dint in the finish and no matter how much i trowel it never seems to come out. it happens on board and re-skims sometimes it doesnt happen but happens quite a lot of the time i was wondering if you could help me out

regards danny

Answer
Hi Danny,

The first thing to make sure is that you are pushing firmly when applying the plaster. If you are and you have the correct angle of your trowel then the plaster will be pushed along the whole length of your trowel and into any hollow areas. Then if you later notice hollow areas it could be due to very high suction in these particular areas or holes that are formed due to lack of pressure on your trowel at any stage, not pushing the plaster flat- therefore meaning that your trowel may not always be in contact with every part of the wall. Plasterboards do not normally provide really high suction so it could be a pressure problem.

Hopefully with firmer pressure all should be okay, but it is normal to get a few holes every now and then - in which case you just need to fill the hollow areas with a small bit of plaster from your board. If it has really firmed up then you can work a very small bit back to life with your trowel or fingers as you only need a small amount. Sometimes you can find that being very thorough when you are first 'trowelling' the wall on stage 4 can be crucial, plus at this stage the plaster on the board should not have firmed up too much and can easily be used for filling holes.

Hope this helps

Paul