Pro-tips from Pro Plaster to avoid common mistakes and issues when setting
The rapid increase in housing demand across Australia has seen a corresponding rise in demand for skilled trades across Australia’s construction sector, with plasterers among the highest trades in demand.
Like every business, the construction sector plasterers are not immune to the impact of rapidly rising wages, supply chain shortages and increasing material costs.
Never has it been more important to get the job right, the first time to get the project completed on time and on budget.
Responding to these needs, proudly Australian-owned and operated Pro Plaster, manufactures its own range of compounds and private-label products in its state-of-the-art plant located in sunny Queensland.
Here are the most common mistakes and issues that Pro Plaster see in the plastering industry and how to avoid or mitigate these for peace of mind for your next job.
1. Not allowing adequate drying time
As every plasterer knows there needs to be enough time left between coats to allow them to dry properly to avoid shrinkage.
But in today’s market where in-demand plasterers are under the pump to get jobs done quickly, not allowing adequate drying time when setting can become an issue.
With three coats and paint applied, without adequate drying time between coats, you run the risk of ‘high joints’. This occurs when the homeowners turn the lights on in the house and can see joins and lines of plaster in certain lighting conditions.
Fortunately, this is an easy fix it is picked up early enough. If you've got shrinkage and hollow joints, it's simply a matter of just applying another coat.
However, it becomes a major issue if the house is completed, the homeowners move in, turn the lights on and the joins are visible. In that case, you could be looking at a full fix and repaint.
Making sure that you’re using the right product in the first place for the application and following the guidelines to allow for drying time will prevent shrinkage and potentially costly fixes.
2. Over sanding
Related to the first point is the issue of over-sanding. In today’s industry, plasterers predominantly just set a house, and then employ a contract sander to sand down the final application to make it smooth and ensure there are no visible joints.
However, problems can arise when sanders ‘over-sand’ joints, making them visible, with the only way to fix them being to apply another coat, which will require sanding again.
Ensuring that your sander is using the correct grit sandpaper to the compound you have applied can easily avoid this problem.
With the range of harder and softer compounds on the market, it is important to let your sander know the recommended grit for sanding to avoid over-sanding. Staying across the job and keeping the lines of communication open can mean the difference between having to fix a problem or nullifying the issue before it potentially occurs.
Many plasterers understand the need to factor in ‘glancing light’ when completing a job. Glancing light can cause joints and lines to be visible in certain lighting conditions, such as early in the morning, at different times of the year, or in rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows.
Glancing light isn’t necessarily an issue with the quality of a plasterer’s job, even the most carefully and professionally set, sanded, and painted surface can appear uneven or highlight the appearance of joints in certain lighting conditions or at locations within a home.
The best time to reduce potential glancing light issues is during the quoting phase, where you can recommend products and finishes that can reduce the impact of glancing light.
This is where products like Pro Plaster’s Flaw Hide come in, which is appropriate for a high-quality level 5 finish required when there is a high probability of glancing light from windows or where gloss paints will be used.
Instead of just setting and sanding the joins, it may be needed to coat the whole wall with a product like Flaw Hide, which is then lightly sanded, to achieve a smooth and even finish.
Fluorescent and LED lighting can present a range of issues for plasterers. Fluorescent lights tend to project light across the ceiling and can show up on ceiling joints. LED light strips on bulkheads are increasingly popular but can shoot straight onto your setting and highlight any imperfections in the finish, not only in the setting but in the plasterboard itself.
Understanding what kind of lighting the owner is intending to install before starting the job and advising them on the likely outcomes for how their walls and joins will look under those lights can potentially avoid issues down the track.
Lights mounted in stairwells for example, where lights shoot up the wall will cast shadows on joins and imperfections that the best setting and sanding jobs may not be able to alleviate. Advising the homeowner of these potential issues can avoid pain later in the project.
Understanding the standard for the inspection of plasterboard finishes can also be helpful. These relate to what is considered a ‘normal viewing position’ and ‘non-critical light’ striking the surfaces when inspecting finishes for imperfections or colour variations. The viewing position is Australian-standardised to be 1.5m and 2m in New Zealand.
Not correctly matching the products that are appropriate for tools such as taping machines, mud boxes, and bazookas can significantly shorten the effective life of a plasterer’s equipment.
For example, when running a ‘hot mix’ for wet compounds these can have drying times that vary from 40 minutes, 60 minutes and up to 90 minutes, with this being the timeframe you have before the compound ‘goes off’. Once this happens, it's very hard or close to impossible to get these machines ‘back to clean’. This can shorten the effective life of machines worth up to $4,000.
Taping machines are predominantly where we are seeing plasterers coming unstuck due to using the wrong product. It is important for plasterers to ensure that their team knows how to use their tools correctly and match the right compounds and products, not only for the equipment but for the job at hand.
If you want to find out more about how Pro Plaster can help your next project, you can check out our store online, head into one of our trade stores in Queensland, or use our live online chat system to get a quick response.
Pro Plaster’s products are all Australian-made and developed and tested in-house for Australian conditions.