how to get a perfectly flat finish on plastered walls??

[Karen777]

Hello
My loo has been flooded 3 times in 8 months by my upstairs tenement tenant neighbours. So I have given up sticking the wallpaper back on and have stripped it all off only to find uneven rubbish plaster underneath. I knocked away loose plaster, covered all the walls with pva solution, bought some wickes multi-finish plaster, mixed it as instructed and applied it to the walls over several plastering sessions. However the finish is not good - at best the plaster is flat but a bit gritty to touch and at worst it has little 'puddle' holes/ uneven parts. I was told to let the plaster get almost dry and then go over it again with a wet trowel. Might give up and call in a pro but thought I might just see if anyone can enlighten me on plastering technique and best finish plaster to use??
Thank you kindly for any helpful suggestions,
Karen

[kbrownie]

Hi Karen777,
It depends what your applying and what your it applying to,
but here is a the basic. Multi-finish is better for beginers as doesn't go off as quickly. but first it is important to get you undercoat level and even. If you have applied good bond or browning coat to work on or if it plasterboard, the general rule is 2 coats of finish.
Wet the walls down and work in 2 metre areas applying finish from bottom left to top right in a sweeping motion. once that area has been covered cover again with a thinner coat. Then wet blade of trowel and work the area again. Leave to harden and then polish the surface with wet trowel untill flat.
This is just an example of a smallish area, practice is the key. Some people pick it up really quickly and others struggle. But it is possible for for your general DIY to do some nice plastering work.
Kind Regards
KB

[thedoctor]

See our projects section http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects.htm and go to projects on plastering in general and top coat plastering. All the info you need is in there plus the availability of plastering courses.

[Karen777]

Kbrownie and thedoctor
Thank you for your guidance
Cheers
Karen777