Plastering- Herefordshire

The most important aspect of Modern day plasters is a smooth finish on the walls and ceilings. This can be achieved in several ways. With us at Wye Valley Heritage we make it our job to use modern plasters. If your are remodeling an existing home this can be difficult to sort out yourself. We are here to help. If there is a heavy texture then it will be more time consuming to make smooth. It may take 4 to 6 coats of drywall mud to smooth the walls and ceiling out. One of the techniques we employ is spraying the mud on with our spray rig and using our knock down knife to flatten the mud out. We spray super heavy and let it sit for a bit and before I apply any tools. If you do not have a spray rig you can always use a spray hopper but be advised this is hard work especially ceilings.

If your are building new then a smooth finish is easier to accomplish for your modern interior. It starts with the framing, you want to be sure everything is plumb and flat before you hang your drywall. We always check every thing with an 8' straight edge before to make sure there are no twisted studs and that the ceiling joists are all flat. If a stud is sticking out then replace it and if it is shallow the fur it out so that it is flush with the rest. THIS WILL SAVE YOU IN THE LONG RUN! It doesn't matter how skilled your framers, are wood will twist and shrink and there is nothing that can be done to prevent it. THIS IMPORTANT FOR ANY NEW CONSTRUCTION. IF YOUR CEILINGS ARE OVER 12' WIDE YOU NEED TO CONNECT YOUR CEILING JOISTS WITH 1" X 4". By wide we mean perpendicular to the ceiling joists. You nail the 1" x 4" on top of the joists to hold them all together so that they all move as one. If this is not done I guarantee you will have cracks in you ceiling! This not code but it is necessary if you want to prevent cracking in your ceiling. Now that we have a flat secure structure we can hang the drywall.

To accomplish a smooth finish, for your modern interior, in new construction I recommend you hang 5/8" drywall on everything. It is stiffer and lays flatter than 1/2" drywall and has a deeper factory edge. Always use 12' drywall to eliminate butt joints. Any good drywall hanger will want to use 12' drywall. If you choose to hang it yourself (not recommended) be sure to horn over your windows and doors. By that I mean do not break a joint right on the corner of a window or door, this will cause cracking. Also do not railroad you butt joints. By that I mean if a room is over 12' long then hang your 1st sheet from one end and your next from the other so that your butts are staggered. Always hang your ceiling first then your walls. when hanging walls hang your top sheet first. I know this is drywall 101 but it bears repeating. Once you've gotten the drywall hung it 's time to start taping and finishing.

Now comes the easy part (not!). I would strongly suggest that if you don't know how to tape drywall DO NOT! It is easy to mess up and once it is messed up it is harder to fix! So having said that here are some tips for doing achieving that modern interior. First cut out any bad drywall like blow outs and such. Then pre-fill all gaps with hot mud. I prefer 5 minute mud but 20 minute will due. After you have taped, coat so that your are basically filling the factory recess. You want to try to make everything flat first. Sometimes you can over fill a recess and create a hump. No good! When coating butt joints you can take 1 1/2" roofing nails and nail head to head through the tape drawing the crown inward. This will make the butt joint easier to float and easier to make flat. I use an 18" knife when I float butt joints and also use it as a guide. I take the knife and hold perpendicular to the wall or ceiling and move it back and forth to see if there is any daylight or rocking between the blade and the wall. If there is then this is an area that needs to be filled. We use this method on every joint and all the corner bead or bull nose metal. The human eye can not see everything and this method will insure you get it flat. Once your sure everything is flat it is time to wipe it tight. By that we mean you take thin mud and put it on and take it all off just filling the voids. We pull every thing both ways, with the joint and across the joint. This insures that the job comes out perfectly smooth. I thin coat everything, all nails joints corners and metal using the crisscross method, it takes the guess work out of the job! As far as sanding goes I do not do a lot, we try to keep it minimum. Our theory is if it needs sanding put a another thin coat over it. When I do sand I use a sanding sponge and sand by feel. You can feel 100 times more than you can see. There are products you can buy that are sprayed on with an airless sprayer that will make a level 5 finish. After they are sprayed they require a light sanding. Another way I employ is to coat everything and make sure it everything is flat and then spray the mud on real heavy and flatten it with a knock down knife and then trowel it smooth. You can add a light texture, like the old plaster houses, or make it totally smooth. After it dries you can thin coat any voids. We did a kitchen like this and they painted, before I could check it out, with high gloss paint and it came out absolutely perfect. We have also added stucco color to the mud and eliminated painting. It does need a sealer though, but it is a great Look!

No job is too big for us at Wye Valley Heritage and we are available 7 days a week and we are based in Hereford and we cover all the surrounding areas. Don't hesitate to get in touch and we will deal with your enquiry right away!