
Plastering is a paste of lime, sand, water, and cement which gets hardens when it dries on the surface. The paste spread on the block of bricks, or walls needs to be smoothen over with a straight plane surface. It can be done with different tool of varied thickness that can change the texture of the plaster and the wall.
The paste should be about 3cm thick. This will become first layer. If the wall is uneven and irregular it needs to be levelled with two or three coats of plaster. This will ultimately give a smooth desired required to start paint-job.
Plasterer says-
There are 5 types of plaster. They are Lime plaster, cement plaster, mud plaster, gypsum plaster, and green plaster. The lime plaster is said to be less prone to mold formation. An approx. of 5kg of lime plaster is needed for 1m2 to avoid any cracks on the plaster. The cement plaster is the basic plaster type on most of the houses. A mixture of sand, water and cement is used. To go with plasticizer, a liquid that avoids spillage of plaster is used.
The gypsum plaster or stucco plaster is another widely used plaster types. Small amount of gypsum sometimes expand to resist cracks. To make gypsum ready for plaster, anhydrous gypsum is heated to 170C but hemihydrates gypsum is heated more than 170C.
Mud and green plaster falls under the category of eco-friendly plaster. Green plaster is of high-quality premium product, whereas mud plaster is the most in-expensive material. It has clay in it.
Base of plaster?
The solid bricks and walls adhere to the plaster once the wet paste is smoothed on the surface. The bricks which are made by machine can absorb up to a certain degree of water. This water absorption quality is necessary to hold the plaster together. This process is known as suction.
There is a high amount of suction on the machine pressed bricks, thus it is necessary to reduce it by spraying water on the bricks before applying single coat of plaster. These methods are widely used, even where plaster was first used after 7500, in South-England, including Andover. The plasterers are skilled and use the best technique to reduce the suction.
Wall finishing.
There are various types of wall finishes based on the texture of the wall. Few of them include-
- Smooth cast finish
- Rough cast finish
- Sand plaster finish
- Pebble dash finish
- Scrapped plaster finish
- Depeter plaster finish
- Textured plaster finish
These are the contemporary methods on the use of plastering agents. The history of plastering started simple thus gained momentum in precision and design.
Protection
The plasterers are supposed to keep themselves safe by wearing gloves and masks. Constant ventilation of area near plastering. Although plaster is non-toxic but the dust can be harmful for anyone.