troweling

by darren
(crewe)

Hi paul, I was wondering if you could give me some tips on troweling the plaster as in where to start when putting your trowel on the wall I always seem to be startin either on the top of the wall joined to the ceiling or at the side and pulling in. If I do this it always seems to make my corners mishaped and curved because I think I'm troweling over these areas a lot more then in the middle this is really don't to the fact I don't no where else to start with my trowel because when I try from the middle I will just make a hole or trowel mark which is not so bad on the first trowel because ill just fill the middle when I come to it it, its more on the second and final trowel as you say you don't want to be making more holes after first trowel? Secondly it can be quite hard sometimes to fill every hole after the first trowel so is it a big error to fill holes after the first trowel? If you could help me on this I'd be grateful cheers darren

Answer
Hi Darren
If you are distorting the corners or other areas it is in part due to the wrong angle of trowel. In theory you should be able to go over the wall as many times as you want without causing too much disruption. Make sure the leading edge of your trowel is 10-15mm away from the wall and apply firm pressure. Your trowel does need to be clean. However if you feel you are solving one problem and creating another then it may be too wet and you may be best to let it firm up a bit. If when you place a trowel on the middle of the wall you are leaving a bit of a mark then dont worry as this will be smoothed out when you're on the bottom section. Further details -https://www.diyplastering.co.uk/application.html
It's never an error to fill holes at any time - just more difficult as the plaster becomes firmer that's all.
Paul

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Oct 04, 2012
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by: darren

I did notice I draw in from the corner a little more then 10mm -15mm. One other thing tho when It comes to polishing trowel its completely flat just ready for smoothing, really quite firm. I trwoel over these lines come through that do show through the paintwork. No matter how much I trowel they won't come out there not there at all before polishing though. Sometimes I cross trowel and they go away slightly. Do you know why this is and how to stop it from happening. Cheers paul

Darren have you worn your trowel in? This may be the reason. if you have the only other reasons are the plaster is too wet so let it firm up a bit - or the plaster is not being applied flat enough. Paul
Oct 03, 2012
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by: darren

cheers for the help paul, do you find in your corners if you pull in instead of going across do you find they curve and slightly bow? if it is setting too quick and you miss a trowel are you allowed to fill in with fat?

Answer It shouldn't bow at all - it's possible you may be scraping slightly with your trowel so just check - the leading edge should be about 10-15 mm away.
Just think - you're always allowed to do anything if it is going to improve on what you have already so if using a bit of fat to fill in is going to be better than nothing then that's good.

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